MORE MAORI MEMOIRS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 819, 13 November 1929, Page 8

MORE MAORI MEMOIRS

To the Editor Sir. — Ttfie public interest which wiff doubtless be accorded to ihe report of the recent appearance of certain ancient Maori manuscripts as recorded in The Sun. will, l am sure, receive added impetus when 1 reveal the details of an extraordinary manuscript which came into my possession a short time ago. As the actual discovery of this document may offer some interest, it may be as well to describe that incident before I go any further. One evening recently, I was walking the sandhills of a certain West CoasJ beach —a favourite resort of mine for meditation. I was accompanied by my aunt, a Miss Martha Finchley, who has already figured in your pages in connection with her discovery of thi stranded Tummy or Tum-Tum My Aunt, l should mention, is a keen student of the Maori tongue, as i| enables her to tel! people what sh* thinks of them without her beind given in charge. As I have remarked, we were walk ing along the sands when, ray Aunt'i foot catching in some obstacle halfc buried in the sand, she fell heavily tq the ground. After having exhausted her Maoi| vocabulary and having invented some more of her own, she removed the half-buried object from the sands and held it up. It proved to be a pair oj trousers, obviously of great age. and while speculating as to the probably fate of the person who put them there, my Aunt felt hopefully in th«

hip pocket- This, however, proved to be empty. Disappointed, my Aunt was about to throw the garments away when she noticed a bulky object in a side pocket. Investigations revealed an old exercise book wrapped in a newspaper supplement, from which the date was missing. Judging from some jokes in the paper, however, we estimated the age of the bundle to be 200 years or so, and the first glance at the exercise book proved our conjecture to be coi* rect. The book, sir, proved to be nothing less than the diary of an ancient Maori, written at the time of Captain Cook’s visit to New Zealand?! I have since submitted the manuscript to my friend Dr. Otto the famous Authority, who endorses; the opinion of my Aunt and myself and who assures me that I have uttered what I have said. The author of the diary, one Hori te Hapuka, was evidently on the reporting staff of “The Daily Kumera,” a native journal of the period, as he mentions that he was sent to “cover” the arrival of Captain Cook's ship, H.M.S« Endeavour, and the subsequent recep* tion and dinner given to the officer* by the Rotere tribe. It was at thif function, the writer notes, that Captain Cook was unanimously elected an Honorary Toheroa of the Tribe, When asked by Te Hapuka for hi* impressions of New Zealand, Captain Cook said that he thought it was a wonderful country, and that British trade was recovering splendidly front the effects of the war. He urged th* country to buy within the Empire, and said that he, personally, favoured a more reciprocal tariff. He hoped to see more of the scenic beauties of the country on his journey to Karangahape Road, where he intended purchasing a new pair of main braces. He might even take one or two of the beauties to the pictures in the evening. The Hori Te Hapuka Diary offers some interesting sidelights on the ilk cidents of the period. It explains the reason for a Waikiki* mookau attack on the Rotere people. Apparently the Paramount Chief Toheroa of the Rotere tribe was in love with the daughter of the High Terakihi, of Waikikamookau. The maiden objected to his advances and finally invoked the aid of Papatoetoe (this may be freely translated as “be* father's foot”). However, she subsequently ran off with the Chief. Unfortunately, Toheroa never got on well with his wife’s family, and it is recorded that the subsequent war between the tribes was a direct result of some insult that he offered to his mother-in-law. The exact phrase used in the diary, “O he putau te tungata” is in archaid Maori, and the meaning is rathe* obscure. For the benefit of those of your readers who are interested, sir, I may say that Dr. Otto Blurge is at present making a complete translation and commentary on this remarkable doett* ment, and that it will shortly be published in book form by Messrs, Gherkin, Oddle and Tweak at 42* net. Yours, etc.. N.B.G-