THE LAY OF THE LAST MAORI.

West Coast Times, Issue 43, 12 September 1865, Page 2

THE LAY OF THE LAST MAORI.

(dedicated td tho Aborigines' Protection Society.)

(VROM "THE NEW ZEALAND HERAIiD."/ The way was long, tho wind was cold, The Maori was half-starved and old ; His tattooed cheek, and mournful ey« Told tales of better days gone by ; • , Around bis neck, in blanket slung, His greenstone meri loosely hung ; His prized jews-harp, his only joy, Was " toted" by a half-caste boy. The last of all the Maories he Who fought for native monarchy. Alas ! his race's date had fled, His brethren Pai Marires dead ; The Philo-Maories- crafty knavesHad brought their victims to their grates J And he — the last remaining chicf — From door to door now craved relief ; And played, to please each settler's oar, The harp great Thompson loved to hear. Upon Mount Eden's rising Swell He paused, and gazed towards Parnell ; Then turned his eyes upon the Bay, Where many a white wing'd vessel lay ; His restless look from eca and ship, Wandered to Niccol's Patent Slip ; He shook bis head ; then as he viewed The busy, hurrying multitudo In Auckland's streets, he heaved a sigh, 1 Aud wept to think on days gone by. The settlor marked the old man's woe); And to his cottage bade him go ; Where " kaikai," in the shape of beef, Might give his troubled heart relief. With beef and " kunjeras" suppliod, The old chief soon was satisfied ; Then 'gan to rise his warrior pride, And he commenced to talk anon Of crafty Thompson dead and gone, Of Potatau and Rewi too— -' Braver than these ne'er soldiers slew ; Of Kawau's lord, who hard did Btrivo The Maori race to keep alive ; Of Shaftesb'ry— and the famous " Hall" Whose cantingft worked the natives' fall ; Of those who caused the Maori's stir, And Weld, the then Prime Minister. ' Still as he spoke, his faded eye Lit up with savage ecstuoy. Straight for his half-caste boy he sent To play a bold accompaniment ; And, as the jews-harp loudly rung 'Twas thus the Latest Maori sung— Gone is the noble native race ; Through all tbeir former lands no trace Of Maoris oan be found, Save I, descended from a King, Yet now a wretched, starving thing, Spurned like a beaten hound. Tet timo has been when those broad land* Owned men whose ever-roady hands Their bravery had shdwn, When, spite of priests and bloody wftrjj, V Tp>.---And feeblo rulers' wav'ring'hiws, *' • <- . The Maoris held their own, .-•-*•- 'Twas but a space. They fought and died/ No lusty sons their place supplied, No more tho race could thrive ; I Of all, who by their threatened raid Kept Auckland's citizens dismayed, But one remains alive I Whence this decay ? Go ask those fools Who cant about their Ragged Schools, Yet starving leave their poor ; Who struggle in their turgid throes, O'er tbe benighted '• brother's" woes— With wretches at their door. Ask them the cause of our decay ; These Blanderers of your race will say— " The settler's grasping hand From whioh nor truth nor justice saves, Drove the poor Maoris ,to their grave* And seized upon their land." 'Tie false I For our sad fate the.blamd Is theirs ; wbo used religion's name Their selfish aims to speed ; Who raised suspicion in each heart, And counselled us to keep apart And dread the settler's greed. They taught us prayers to say by rote, And told us that this parrot note ■ The good and just would please. Pity, with all tbeir pious prate, They did not teach us till too late, ; " „, ,-v.j To know tbe Pharisees. • -■■'•*• ''; Such men as Morgan Volkner, true , Tried all that Christian zeal could do ' - ' To benefit our race ; Others discredit— to tbeir shame—* •> Brought on the teacher's sacred name— - A Hadnold and a Grace I ;.•.,• That we were brave is known to those Who marked the slaughter of our foe* Id many a bloody fray ; When Tamihana's counsel wise ' Made numbers at his bidding rise To hold tbe troops at bay. Yet what availed our noble deeds, When in our midst the baneful seed* Of anarchy were sown ; When Maoris, urged by fancied wrong* Revolted, and in frenzied throngs Did British rule disown. The settler's patience tired at last Gave way, and fierce reprisals fast Swept our fated land ; Tho' Weld and colleagues tried in vain, With platitudes sought to restrain The white's avenging band. Nought then availed to brunt the shock, The veer of " Daily Weathercock," 14 Cross" readings in eaoh fold ; In vain with ever-changing zeal, Tho " Penny Pitohpipe's" feeble squeal Blew hot by turns and cold. Our race was doomed. I saw it fade ; Yet not alone the settlers' raid Provoked our direful fate ; But that fell practice, ne'er reproved By those who, with their preaching moved Our minds to doubt and hate. 'Twas Commonxsw and not war : Unheeded by us, Nature's law And Heaven's— married llf« ; • And deadlier far was our abuse Of God's injunction for its use Than bloody fields of strife. This caused our fall ; and one by on* They died j the raoe at length waa ran, They quickly passed away j And I, the last of Maoris, leave A curse on those who did deceive And led my race astraj. The yarn was spun,— the Maori gont, And did he wander forth alone, Alone, in his declining hours To exercise his loafing powers ? No ; on the Kawau's sea girt isle Whore Grey erst held vice-regal styl* An old man lived ; content and staid While troops of half-castes vound him play«d, And oft he smiled at questions sly Of Governors, and days gone by, And over thus his story ran— 41 Your father was a mighty man, " And when ho died — as all must do, 41 In Exeter's famed Hall but few " There were who had not heard or rttiA "Hit love tar &• poor raw now dtnV

Gold PaosPKOriNa ik thb Thames. — The Southern Cross states the gold prospecting party in the Thames have had to suspend operations through the jealousy of the natives. A, correspondent of the above named journal, writing from the spot, says— "It has bqen known for some years back, and more especially during the last few months, that gold of a coarse character has been found between Ktiuaeranga and Waiomi Te Moananui's land ; and it was the object of the party to get access to the creeks between these two places, that Induced them to remain so long on the Thames as they did. To experienced miners the features presented by the ranges would lead them to prospect the country for a coarser kind of gold than has been washed down the creek, and they have endeavoured by every persuasion they could bring to bear upon the importance of the discovery to the Maoris themselves, that ■no obstacles should be placed in their way. Several of their chiefs, from party feoling or a reluctance to receive white men among them, have, on every occasion, den'ed the white man the liberty of search, and until an understanding exists between the natives and the Government, that they will be protected and reimbursed for the gold taken out of the land, there is very little hope that the gold resources of the Thames will be fully developed. The late Murders at Whakatanb. — The Auokland papers give a corrected account of the murders of Air Fulloon and the captain and crew of the cutter Kate. We take the following from the "Southern Cross" :— "Mr Fulloon went below with Mr Whit.c The first intimation that Mr White had of the design of the natives was hearing shots fired on the deck. He then said to Mr Fulloon, "My God, Fulloon, they are being murdered on deck I" Immediately after this a shot came through the cabin and wounded Mr Fulloon in the hand. Mr White then went on deck, leaving Mr Fulloon wounded, below. He then saw the three Europeans, Pringle. the master ; a seaman named Ned ; and anbther man, Robinson, all lying dead on deck. One of the natives told him that they hud snapped a piece at him twice, but that it had missed fire : they therefore concluded that he was protected by the God of the Pai-Marire, and ordered him to get into the boat with his son and Alexander Campbell. The natives afterwards landed them at a place called Otumaura, a distance about four miles to the northward of Whakatane. The pah of Otumaura, is situated about a mile from the beach. It belongs to a sub-division of the Ngatiawa ; it is not yet finished, but they are busy at work at it to protect themselves against the Whanauapanui, Ng.iiterangi, and the Uriwhera, who aie determined to have payment for the death of Fulloon, who was connected with those tribes. Mr White remained at this pah for three days, where it appears that he was treated very well, being supposed to be under the protection of the Pai-Marires. He then escaped, and, with the aid of this Fiji Kuiri and his wife, made his way to Maketu, after having suffered innumerable hardships." Sheep Beared without Water. — An Australian paper says :—": — " It will probably be new to our readers to know that sheep may, under some circumstances, be reared without water, as the following facts will show. On Saturday last, Mr Thomas Cadell, of Mullamuddy, slaughtered a sheep which had been bred and reared in his lucerne paddock, and which had never tasted water since it had been dropped. It was twenty-three months old, and weighed seventy-three pounds, with eight pounds of caul fat. He a few days before killed from the fame paddock, a sheep, eleven months old, which weighed forty-seven pounds, with five pounds of caul fat. This also had never tasted water since it had teen dropped,|having never been out of a lucerne paddock. Mr Cadell informs us that the quality of this mutton was unsurpassed."

Woman's Rioim. — Artemus Ward's chapter on " Woman's Hights" will give a fair idea of the way in which he rebukes some of the eccentricitiea of his countrymen and country-women. "I pitcht my tent," he relates, " in a small town in Injianny one day last season, and while I was standing at the door takin money, a deppytoshun of ladies came up and sod they wos members of the Bunkuuiville Female Moral Reformin and Wirain's Rite's Assooiashun, and they asked me if they cood go in without pay in. 'Not exactly,' sez I, ' but you can pay without going in.' — ' Dew you know who we a!r V said one of tlio wimin — a tall and feroshus looking critter, with a blew kotton umbreller under her arm —'do you know who we air, Sir?' — 'My impresssion is,' sed I, 'from a kersery view that you air females.' — 'We air, Sur,' said the feroshus woman, 'we belong to a society wbitch beleoves wimin has rites — whitch beleoves she is endowed with as much intelleck as man is— whitch beleeves she is trampled on and aboozed, at.d who will resist hensfoth and for ever the inoroachments of proud and domineering men I' Durin her discourse, the exsentio female grabbed me by the coat kollor, and was swinging her umbreller wildly over my lied ' I hope, inarm,' sez I, starting back, • that your intentions is honorable ! I'm a tone man hear in a strange place. Besides, I've a wife to hum.' — 'Yes,' cried the female, ' and she's a slave ! Doth she never dream of freedom— doth shp never think of throwing off the yoke of tyrrinny and thinkin and votin for herself? Doth she never think of these hero things ?' ' Not bein a natrul born fool,' sed I, by this time a little riled, ' I can safely say that she cloth unt.' — ' Whot — whot !' screamed the female, awingin her umbrella in the air,' O, what is the prico that woman pays for her expeeriunce !' —' I don't know,' se2 I; 'the price to my show is 15 cents per individooal.' — 'And can't our Society go in free V asked the female. — Not if I know it, 1 sed I. — ' Crooil, crooil man I' she cried, and burst into tenrß. — ' Won't you let my darter in V said annther of the exsontrio wimin, taken me afeckshunitely by the hand. '0, please let my daitor in — shee's a aweet gushing child of nature I—Let1 — Let her gush I' roared I, as mad as I cood stick at their tarnal nonsense ; ' let hor gush I' — Whereupon they all sprung back with the simultanious observashun that I was a Beast. 'My female frends,' sed I, 'be 4 you leeve, I've a few remarks to remark ; wa them well. The female woman is one of the greatest inetitooshuns of which this land can boste. It's onpossible to get along without her. Had there bin no female wimin in the world, I should scarcely be hero with my unparalleld show on this very occasion. She is good in sickness — goed in wellness—good all the time. 0, woman, woman I' I cried, my feelings being worked up to a high poetick pitch, ' you air an anglo when you behave yourself ; but when you take off your proper appairel & (mettyforically speakin) get into pantyioons — when you desert your firesides, nnd with your heds full of wimin's rites noshuns go round liko roarin lyons, sekin whom you may devour someboddy —in short, when you undertake to play the roan, you play tho devil, and air an emfatij noosance. My female freends,' I continnered, a* they were indignantly departin,' 'wawoll what A, Ward bos •id I1"I 1 " Parson Brownlow. — Parson Brownlow, who is now Governor of Tennessee, has been giving his subjects a bit of bis mind upon a topic on which he is used to speak plainly. Some loyalists are instituting Buits for damages against the Secessionists on Account of acts done while secession was in the ascendant, -»nd the Governor, speaking of the defendants, works himself up to this climax : "Lei them be punisbad ; let them be impoverished ; let them be slain, and, after slain, let them be damned 1" Unknown Tongue.— During the long French war, two old Jncliea in Stranraer were going to the kirk, the one said to the other, " Was it not a wonderfu' thing that the Breetish were aye victorious ower the Prenoh in battle?" "Not a bit," said the other lady, "dinni ye ken the Breetißh ayo say their prayers before gain into battle?" The other replied, " Canna the French say their prayers as weel 1" The reply was most characteristic " Hoot, jabbering bodies, wha could understan' them)" American Names. -Amongst (be many things ■which tho Yankeo boys and girla may well remember {n thoir thanksgiving, should be that they aro no longer named "Praiso God Smith," or " Save-Lord-or-I-perishTomkins," or " Enter-into-the-klngdom-of-heaven-through-rauch-tribulation-Dobbs." Nevertheless, I remember a freshman (from Connecticut, I think) at College in Carlisle, who declared that his name was Theodore God-bless-my-soul Primrose (*- Fraaer's M.garine. An industrial exhibition io about to be established at Portsmouth.

An old sea-captain who was in the habit of spending his time while in port among a set of harddrinking fellows, returned to his hotel one evening in a partially intoxicated condition. In going up to his room he wnlked out of one of the windows and landed on the pavement. Fortunately ho was not injured by the descent, and upon going b.ick into the house met the landlord. " Look here, Mr — « ," says he, "if you don't shorten the steps in your stairs, I won't stop with you any more I" A Philadelphia paper has the following piece of bunkum, entitling its perpetrator to the front rank as a master of the art. The future of Irelaud. • The Very Rev, Dr. Moriarty, in a lecture on the " Futuro of Ireland," delivered before a oiowded Philadelphia audience, in Maroh last, gave expression to the following sentiments :: — •• Shall such a people porish — flliall such a nation be washed out of the very bosom of free, enlightened Christian humanity, by the waves of British hatred ? Answor Irishmen ; IrishAmericans, born on both sides of the Atlantic — in Hibernia and America ? Oh, no I it must not be. Tho time has arrived for definite action j not a moment is to be lost. I address six millions in Ireland — my wordswill soon reach their ears -I address six millions made up of sons and sires in America, who have not forfeited their suffrages for then- fatherland, by unjust expatriation. I call upon this mighty host to declare their independence — to petition for the admission of Ireland as a State of the American Union. America will accept her kindred ; her own flesh and blood— her own beautiful friend ; I cannot doubt it." A young man named Lawson, son of a working silversmith of Oxford, is the winner in the Dub' in lottery of the ex -Lady Mayoress's state chariot, horses, and hainess, value 400 guineas. The Yen. Bishop of Exeter has entered on the 89th year of his age. He is Rtill in excellent general health and unimpaired intellect, although his physical strength has diminished of late.