MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 February 1941, Page 9

MAORI MEMORIES

GIFTS (HOATU NOA). (Recorded by J.U.S., of Palmerston North, for ihe "Times-Age.") ! In 11)36 there was a notable hakari I at Matamata. where a sailor counted j approximately 3.000 baskets of potatoes. £OO pigs, and estimated half a million eels. One chief distributed 300 Kaitaka (bordered mats) each of which to him was as valuable as a cashmere shawl to a while lady. On this occasion a curious scene of reciprocal generosities occurred. Many of the Maori hosts were clad in die fashionable European knee breeches and swallow tail coats, some in top hats all of which they had acquired trom a British trader, each at the cost of a ton or two of tine hand dressed flax fibre. The many guests in response to this bountiful hospitality had presented their hosts with a large supplies of foreign tobacco acquired in a similar manner. To refuse or return a gift was a breach of honour, so the gratified hosts "sold" their valuable clothes to their guests one article each in return for the coveted tobacco. Like Indians who fall trees to gather fruit, the Maoris overlook the future for the present. Britishers respect men for their wealth, the Maoris for what they give away. The aim of a Maori feast is abundance, that of a European banquet elegances. Euro-! pcans know that industry is the only | road to hajtpy life.