AN INLAND JOURNEY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 January 1941, Page 7

AN INLAND JOURNEY

<4> — j IN WAIRARAPA'S ERIDGELESS DAYS I •By N.J.8.. jJanv livii's Masu-rttm might .-till ( remember the Intv .Mr J. !. w.. • some fifty years ago. In a i- v. volume, entitled "Sixty Years in Nev Zealand" (and published in 1909*. I author. Mr A. Hone Blake—-one <1 I New Zealand's martial-spirited ' eers associated with Mr Moffitt when I lite latter was a lieutenant of n 1 I devotes a chanter to him: which, precis style for benefit of your many Wairarapa district readers. 1 would I like to see rets id | Thus, chapter Iff wr.icn >\\y. i well-known Wellington dentist, Mr ; Moffitt, once lock occasion to make ; one stage of which jo ;irn?y hv himself not onlv benighted but num’c and cMd th tn ugh hr. in : ; : ■ v ;•<•<• --- veral rivers en route. See -,ng ;-. I |pa handy, he decided to walk it; :ts direct;. n and seek shelter for the night. Not knowing it w.-s tyuic..! ■ their hospitality, here as elsewhere. he was greatly surprised when the • not only supplied him with much needed shelter but. in addition. treated him to a clean, warm pair . f blankets. and cooked him ;• fine ne;d (pork, poiatocs. pumpkin, etc.’ in . Maori i.vcn. as. well. Next morning arising thus refreshed, both by good i food as well as good sleep. Mr Moffitt asked to be especially taken to see I their aged, warrior chief, to thank him as well as his retinue for the real kindness shown unto him a sts'onger in his hour of need: only to be told that their chief ton the other hand had meanwhile enjoyed no sort of sleep at all; having spent a restless night on account of an aching tooth ia rare complaint among Macris ; s well as pioneers, those days, says Mr Blake), and in which reverse case den • list Moffitt now saw a rare opportunity for giving a practical demonstration of his intended words of th:.nits by inducing the aged chief and Tinged molar to part with each other under the latest scientific methods, so familiar to Mr Moffitt at least. With customary stout, warrior fortitude the aged chief underwent this new form of added torture, without slightest s‘:gof twitching facial movement or roll of eyeball or anything near denoting Pakeha pain, in like circumstances - , those pre-ether days of dentistry hero i described. Holding out his hand to his.; latest and most venerable client. Mtq

Moffitt then looked for his bag con- I taming its several instruments of tor-1 ture, only to discover it had beer, i spirited out of sight by one or other of the chief’s henchmen, according to! ancient ?.laori custom that anything to i do with a chiefs head, or face, must ’ henceforth be "tapu" (or sacred) unto I him. Nothing on earth (in either Pa-j keha or even Maori language) would! allow Mr Moffitt re-possession of his j "kit of tools" even after he had at last ! sighted them, in a dark corner of ihe ! chief s whare, so he had recourse to a ! piece of ‘voodoo’ recalling similar deeds performed oy white men travellers in ’darkest Africa,’ and of which he had doubtless read. Nature having earlier deprived him of his original fine woolly crop of hair. Mr Moffitt doffed the wig which covered his otherwise, and now fully-exposed! bald crown: at the same time remem-! boring a tine upper set of teeth in his ! vest pocket carried about for advertis-! ing purposes with which also to make i mystic signs, as he made ’incantation'' noises in the loudest voice-tones at his ! command, not to mention weird gesti-: eolations with these relic-adorned’ arms; when, greatly alarmed. Mr Mof-i fill's audience (chief and all/ prveip:-i, tated themselves j.ell-mell out .ff do.u's. i ' leaving their 'rm dicine-man' Pakeli.ii visitor his one and only soemuigl chance also to retrieve h:s beloved I 'tools of trade* once more m hand, and' . vanish the scene of w:/aixtr ■ .iwcli, ' t In long eonelusion, it might further’ \ enhance this story if your readers .— • I } biographically told that the lute Mr.J. L. Moffitt Wai-: b. rn ii: Northumb,-.'-landshire; and. with his parents, eumc't out to New Zealand in the good sliip > Louisa Campbell, which landed them ■ mid other piom.er ss-ttlcrs, ctl Auck- I: land shores, in tin,- year 1843—a rather’ 1 sad year for immigration os ; i.cc-mr-t! of the Wairau Valley tragedy in Marlborough Provmce. .nd of wineh dr.- Ji "ccurrence. your columns !..>■ y, j-i 1 wo-- permtiu d to -nierweavi-. with its mirr.itson. ’hr- n -me of :he i de C’iu- ' tain H- nry Bent!- • Ma-i.-rt i , ' > ' like the late Mt Moffitt • office-. • f Mil!’:,: doing great rai t. to,- : iv those days are al! lm:g smee ig .'.u". ; iind haw been : glowed by an imb ; . i ;en tiwnd-hip <-wn men. rcmarkaule' lha>: tl nt <•••:>’. .■ ; :■ !!■ vs Fmnlly. be < f lit! ,me ■ < Ins n - • ;i ■■■ . ' I‘il-r. w. the- fact ■ t L ii ■. Sclv. . -: . ;> , ■ ?< .t j. '■ Ai.e-.i . .! ( •

||c- p tllM'lj’L- ; b-'ll Li \ ?■; , •