Adventures at Parihaka.

Patea Mail, Volume VI, Issue 530, 8 June 1880, Page 3

Adventures at Parihaka.

THE LOST TRIBES OF ISRAEL. Captain McMurdo, formerly of the Grenadier Guards, recenGv bearded the Parihaka prophet in his d.-n, and in the course of a profound argument on occult, theological, and archaeological subjects, succeeded in completely modyifying the prophet’s views on prophecy. To Whi i was dressed in rags .and tatters, Uis shirt and waistcoat had evidently not been in contact with soap and water for years. The nether part of his person was covered with a dirty old blonket. His height is about sft B|in, he has an intellectual face with keen searching eyes, a small beard, and his hair is rapidly turning grey. He possesses knowledge of the Scriptures, which he is engaged in studying. The Captain said : I am told that you claim Israclitish origin. If that is true, why do you not show some of the points of identity which Anglo-Israelites find fulfilled in the British of the present age? Te Whiti: Name one. The Captain : Open your Bible. Road the Fourth Commandment. To Whiti here motioned to one of his disciples, who promptly hit upon the passage and read it aloud. The Captain ; Why do yon not comply with that, and keep the seventh day holy ? Te Whiti : We keep a perpetual Sabbath. Captain ; I want to enlarge your views. Sit on the top of yonder whare; look around upon the face of affairs. Look at Europe. Arc the preparations for one of the greatest wars the world has ever seen any indication of an approaching millenniuum ? Look at the 700 armed men at your gates. HasTohu washed oif his war paint? Have you beaten your swords into ploughshares ? When you have done these things you may talk about the millennium. Tc Whiti :If I stole your waistcoat what would you do ? Captain : Run you in. Te Whiti : Then why dues the Government steal my land ? Captain : I do not come to talk of politics. I want to know why yon do not keep the Fourth Commandment, if you arc the Lost Tribes.' To Whiti : “ Behold the old things have passed away, and all the old things have become now.” Captain : Whose words are those ? To Whiti : They are the words of Christ. Captain: But Christ said “I do not come to break the law but to fulfil it,” and that law has never been revoked. To Whiti: Be careful! lam inspired! The Captain : So am I. (Here Te Whiti’s features assumed an expression of incredibility.) The captain, always fertile in expedients, produced “Anglo Israel’s ” Genealogical Tree, illustrating the fact that the English are the descendants of the “ Lost Ten Tribes,” The formidable document. “ flabbergasted ” the prophet for a moment. The Captain : If you, as a nation, corresponded with the prophecies, you might claim to be descended from the Ten Tribes. If you were a nation, and more in number than the sands of the sea, you might set up a claim to identity ; but your numbers are diminishing, and 3’ou are not a powerful nation, as Israel was to be. The English nation, however, show all the points of identity. Te Whiti here went through the genealogy of the Old Testament, and asked who were the descendants of Joseph ? The Captain : The British. Te Whiti: No ; the Maoris. Hero all present partook of food, and the Captain overcame his repugnance to rotten shark and other kinds of kai-kai, which he affected to take with the same relish as the delicacies of the season.— A uchland Star.