THE OLD MAORI.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 October 1921, Page 9

THE OLD MAORI.

SOME OF HIS CUSTOMS. THE LAWS OF MURU AND TAPU. (By ‘•Juvenis.”) In the old days the Maori had some curious customs. Happily, or unhappily depending upon the point of view—they have been gradually shed, so that to-day your young Maori is about as ignorant of the customs as the modern pakeha. It is, however, interesting to occasionally reflect upon the old customs. One of the most curious was the law of “niuru. ' To-day it would be best described by the Boer word, “commandeer.” It was daylight robbery, but was accounted quite legitimate, indeed an honor, the value and significance of which could not properly be minimised. A man. woman, or family could be * murued” for anything, or for nothing at all. Let a man stumble and accidentally place his hand ever so lightly on the head of a chief, that most sacred part of the human frame, and immediately a "tuua muru" or plundering party was organised, and the culprit had to make a pretentious defence with spear ir. hand, the result being nearly always that the defendant was vanquished. He allowed himself t-o be so, for it was a disgrace to him not to be plundered; he knew, too, that his own opportunity was coming, and he was satisfied.

The greatest excitement in these ways was on the occasion of the elopement of a damsel with one of the young men, which constantly happened, as when the brothers and other relations were asked to give her away. As they often refused, an elopement was sure to result, and then a family "tausi muru” ensued, and the Lothario had to defend himself with his spear. There is a case recorded of a very old pair, Parakaia and Hera, who, in their youth commenced life together by eloping down a river in a canoe. They were followed and finally caught up a tree, a dog having carefully "pointed” them. On returning to the settlement the young man defended himself so manfully, and gave such well directed thrusts, maiming two of his opponents, that they were fain to welcome him as brother-in-law. A HARD EGG. ‘ The results of the operation of the law of muru were more often ludicrous than tragical. The famous chief Te Ngakau. was in a house in the Waikato. He made quite free of the house, as was his wont anywhere, for was he not a great r&ngatira? Walking into the kitehen, ho espied an egg, which, as he was going to appropriate, the servant seized. This was an affront not to be tolerated, so he said, “I will muru your hen house and cook the eggs in your own saucepan.” And away he marched, returning with three eggs, which he boiled for about ten minutes, not being cook enough to know they only required three minute. One of the eggs was a fine large one, which he said he would reserve to the last as a bon-bouehe. When he had finished two he commenced at the third, but could not break it. Turning it over several times he exclaimed. “Ha! he aha tenei? awe! kua makuturia!”

“Ha what is this ? O dear! it is bewitched,” and throwing it from him, stalked from the place. No wonder the egg to his untutored mind seemed of a hardness uncanny. It was a nest egg of porcelain. ROASTED HIS GRANDFATHER!

Another example equally ludicrous is taken from Manning’s book: “I have, been often myself paid the compliment of being robbed for little accidents occurring in my family, and have several times also, from a feeling of politeness, robbed my Maori friends, though I can’t say I was a great gainer by these transactions. I think the greatest haul I ever made was about half a bag of shoi, which I thought a famous joke, seeing that I had sold it the day before to the owner for full value. A month after this, I was disturbed early in the morning by a voice shouting, “Get up! Get up! I will kill you this day! You have roasted by grandfather! Get up, stand up!” I, of course, understood that I had committed some heinous, though involuntary offence, and the stand up hinted the immediate probable consequences ; so out I turned, spear in hand, and whom should I see armed with a bayonet on the end of a long pole, but my friend, the erstwhile owner of the bag of shot. He came at me with pretended fury; made some smart lunges and thrusts, which I parried, and then explained to me that I had cooked his and that if I did not !ome down handsome in the way of damages, deeply as he might regret the necessity, his own credit and the law of muru compelled him either to sack my house, or die in the attempt. I was glad enough to prevent either event by paying him two whole bags of shot, two blankets, divers fish hooks, and certain figs of tobacco which he demanded. I found that I had really and truly committed the most horrid crime. I had on a journey made a fire at the foot of a tree, in the top of which the bones of my friend’s grandfather had once been deposited, but from which they had been removed ten years before. The tree caught fire and had -burned down, and I, therefore, by a convenient sort of figure of speech, had roasted his grandfather.”

On the conclusion of many of these combats, the vanquished had to run the gauntlet of a sarcastic badinage, which was terribly galling, for the Maori could not stand being laughed at. “Te mahi taunu” 'taunting) was to him, gall and wormwood. Call a Maori any thing on earth; liar, thief, rogue, even murderer, but not fool. Do not laugh at him. EFFECT ON THE MAORI. Cases of suicide from simply being laughed at are known. One poor young woman, whose sensibilities were hurt in this way, threw herself off a cliff at Tauranga harbor. Mr. John White, in his book “Te Rou,” relates a case of severe bantering an unsuccessful combatant had to undergo. A young chief named Heta had taken to wife a damsel named Aramia, and her relations, as in duty bound, assembled from all quarters to muru them, while the principal party aggrieved, who, too, had been refused by the young woman must have a tilt with the spear. The damsel feared it might be to the death, though such a termination was neither usual nor according to custom. Heta said to Ara, his spouse: “I shall have to face one of them, but do not fear; I shall not be killed.” Ara answered: “If they kill you I will die with you. You know the custom, and if some of my relatives meet you they will kill you. Hani will do his utmost to spear you. His is a double revenge. I refused him and you obtained me.” Hani was heard to say: ' “What a great chief must that hoy have j thought himself! Come, my child, and let ae kill you, for my heart will not 1

I sleep until I have revenge/’ Heta eall[ed out: “My spear is in my hand; I am not a dog to bark and run away.” The end of this combat, was that the aggressor Hani was speared through the arm, when his opponent said: “You can now sit down and pull it out.” Hani turned round and walked towards hta party, when he said to them: “He is brave and can keep her.” Ara now' rose and said: “My bird can not only sing to me, but can cause you, to sing and i make any faces for the amusement of children.” One young woman said aloud, “Who can love a man who has two mouths in his arm?” Another one answered, “If anyone would listen to him now he could make love to her with threefold power.’’ “No,” answered another, “He has but one mouth and that is dumb. But he has four eyes, he can see a little out of two. The other two have no pupils, and are quite blind. He has gone in the dark to have a chat with the god of revenge, Rone—the eavesdropper. TAPU.

Tapu is a peculiarly Polynesian institution, signifying sacred or uncommon. It is synonymous with the word “ta*boo,'” which, like many other words, notably one of recent origin, “boycott,” has been incorporated into our language, and which convey in one short word a whole paragraph of meaning. Supreme over this institution was the tohunga, priest or wizard, a dreadful personage, the very embodiment he was of all that was malicious and unholy. He might well be classed with a ghoul, the old, old and terrible witch of Ryder Haggard’s “King Solomon’s Mines,” a hag of the most diabolical description.

"Than whom, a fiend, more fell is nowhere to be found.” Unlike, however, the master of the Castle of Indolence, the tohunga was anything but a “most enchanting wizard,” for both his appearance and character indicated the fiendish cunning hidden beneath his calm exterior. He was so wary, too, in his prognostications. His astuteness was so astounding that even white people were his dupes. When an apparent corroboration of an augury occurred, “There must be something in it, you know,” they would say", with a puzzled yet credulous expression. The auguries of the Delphic Oracle were not one whit more surprising. What wonder then that ignorant, if not simple savages should believe and tremble 2 THE CUNNING TOHUNGA. Let us observe the Tohunga’s custom in answer to enquiries. From Manning may be quoted one of the two predictions which came under his own observation. “This instance quoted, I witnessed myself: —A captain of a large ship had run awa.v with a Maori girl, or a Maori girl had run away with a ship captain. 1 should not like to swear which is the proper form of expression, and the relations, as happens in most countries, thought it incumbent on them to get into a great taking, and make much noise about the matter. Off they set to the tohunga. I happened to be at I his place at the time, and *saw and heard all I am about to recount. The relations did not merely confine themselves to asking questions; they demanded active assistance. The ship had gone to sea loaded for a long voyage. The fugitives had fairly escaped, and what the relations wanted was that the atua, or familiar spirit of the tohunga, should bring the ship Back into port, so that they might have an opportunity te recover the lost ornament of the family. I heard the whole. The priqst hummed and hawed. He did not know, could not say, we should hear what the toy would say; he would do as he liked, could not compel him, and so forth. AN INCREDULOUS SPECTATOR. At night all were assembled in the house where the priest usually performed. .All was expectation. I saw I was 'de trop’ in the opinion of our soothsayer; in fact I had got the name of an infidel (which I have since taken care to get rid of) and the spirit was unwilling to enter the company of unbelievers. My friend and priest hinted to me politely that a nice bed had been made for me in the next house. I thanked him in the most approved Maori fashion, but said I was very comfortable where I was, and suiting the action to the worU, rolled my cloak about me, and lay down on the rushes with which the floor was covered. About midnight I heard the spirit salute the guests and they hailed him as relation, and then gravely preferred their request. The response, * after a short time, came in the hollow, mysterious, whistling voice: ‘The ship’s nose I will batter out on the great sea.’ The rest of the night was spent in conjecturing what could be the meaning of the words. As for the priest, he said he could not understand it. that the spirit was a great rogue — a “koroke hangareka” —but talked generally in the “we-shall-see-style.” Now here comes the end of the affair. About ten days after this in comes the ship. She had been battered with a vengeance. She had been met, by a terrible gale, when a couple of miles away from shore and had sprung a leak in the bow. The bow in Maori .is called the nose —“ehu.” The vessel had been in great danger, and had been forced to run for the nearest port—the one she had left. Now after such a coincidence ac this I can hardly blame the ignorant natives for believing in the oracle, for I actually caught myself quoting “Can the devil speak the truth?” “These priests or tohunga,” Manning concludes, “would, and do to this hour, undertake to call up the spirit of any dead person, if paid for the same.”