MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 June 1939, Page 9

MAORI MEMORIES

HONGI IKA—A CONVERT. (Recorded by J.H.S. for “Times-Age.”) There was but one original recorder of the events of which we now speak —F. E. Mailing—and the year wps 1845. Hongi Ika had been shot through the body and lingered for years during which he apparently decided to repent, an act for which the Maori had no conception. As there was no such word in his language he adopted ‘ Repeneta.” When he saw there could be no recovery, he summoned his hoa, huanga, and hapu (friends, relatives, and tribe) addressing them with apparent sincerity: “Children and friends, pay attention to my last words. After I go to Te Reinga, be kind to the mission and other pakehas. Welcome them to our shore. Trade and live with them as one people. If people who wear red coats with guns in hand, who do no work, should land, beware. Their sole industry is war. Make war against them by hopu (surprise). Be strong, be brave, lest you be a slave and lose your whenua whakapono rahui (sacred trust, the land).”

Years passed by and the Pakehas increased. They traded with the Maoris. The Maoris were pleased for they got guns and blankets, axes and tobacco, and all this wealth became theirs. There was no fight. All were friends.

“Then,” said an old chief, “came a governor, a thing for which we have no name and no use but to get more goods. Then this governor travelled everywhere with a large sheet he called a fool’s cap. We heard he was to induce us to put marks on this cap and be privileged to wear it in exchange for what he called a sell; then he would live on the land and teach us the 'new religion of giving it in exchange for a beautiful home among Te Whetu Marama (the shining stars).”