NOTES FROM MY FIELD BOOK. (By Joe Fernroot.) NED TALLY'S MAORI LECTURE.

Waikato Times, Volume VII, Issue 360, 3 September 1874, Page 2

NOTES FROM MY FIELD BOOK. (By Joe Fernroot.) NED TALLY'S MAORI LECTURE.

ciiup. We had spoilt the heat part of the summer in survey^ s und hoped to have finished our work before the winter rains set in, and everything seemed to indicate that our hopes would be reulised, for we had only a week's work to finish and the weather still held fine, — olear frosty niguts and eiinny (lays. Ned Tally, the chainman, was open to bet anybody anything that wo .should pull through, and Mr Ltctapit, the surveyor, siid little, but secretly cherished the fond thought that he woul 1 be m Auckland in another week ; but alas, i,\\e weather cbanued, the sky became overcatt, thunder, muttered amongst tlio neighboring mountains, and then the gates of heat en opened, and we were rained at, thundered at, lightened at. and blown ah, with such energy JULitljieiyeverance d.iy after day, and night after night, tlint we' shut ourselves up in our raupo w hare in despair. Our two Maoris, named respectively William and Bill, looked upon the situation in a philosophical light, and squatted all day nnd evening in front of the fire and played .innumerable games of .Yankee grab, poker, euchre, &c, with a dirty pack of cnr"d3,-and lost -innumerable pieces of Maori tobacco, getting ov.er their losses and gains as much excited as if the stakes had been £5 notes. Unfortunately we were badly off for am thing to read, — one novel with the covers off and mirih* the first .five pages, and when that alight omission was supplied by one's fancy, and you 'were getting deep in the plot we would discover another obstacle, for the story would take a jump from page 105 to page 125, and stnrt off again in another direction altogether. Wo had also a Weekly Herald, three weeks old, but that was soon read and re-read ; Snyder — the inimitable Snyder, in Ins comic sentiments — convulsed us with laughter, and the political leaders convulsed us with grave tpprebensions about the immediate future of >'ew Zealand. At last we were in such desperate straits for BOiuo^hißg to read that we actually began to cast hungry looks at tlie advertisements, and then we begun to nibble, till at last we fairly settled down amidst a whole cargo of potatoes, and learnt that Young Ilyson sold better 1 gunpowder and cheaper tban any other grocer in Auckland, and that Grub was the best baker. Then we made a dash at cheap ironmongery, and drapery, and furniture -and millinery, and all sorts Of things too numeious to mention ; all of which information made such a deep and lasting impression upon my mind that I believe to this ' day I could instantly inform the render, if so requested, where to purchase th© best aud cheapest articles of trade in the province of Auckland. But relief from an unexpected qunrter was at hand and our monotonous existence was suddenly cheered by Ned Tolly commencing his never to be forgotten conversation, until the two natives — it was an intellectual treat of the highest order — principally on account of the wonderful fact that Mr Tally waa almost entirely ignorant of the Maori language, and resorted to a patois, a sort of broken English nuied up with cracked Mnori, and enlivened by pantomimic questions, tbo like of which has never been seen apart from a builesquo, that defies description. One thing is certain, that whether the Maoris understood what he was saying or not, they became deeply interested, and the dusty pack of cards was Bhoved on one side, for they had never heard the like before. Ned Tally related to them all sorts of wonderful stories a.bout, England and what was to be seen there ; and if the natives but understood half of what he was saying to them, Mr Tally must have appeared to them either to be a very, wonderful personage or elao a very great stoFy teller — for he told of London and iti celebrated bridge, whereon bo many horses are continually crossing that there is always a grey one to be I seen upon it, and more people walk across that bridge in one dny than there are Maoris in New Zealand altogether. He described to them the Palace of Crystal at Sydenham, accompanied by wonderful pantomimic gestures suggestive of fountains playing, thnt seemed to excite the natives muchly, for, thereupon, Maori Bill, upon his aide, told of the famous Hot Springs at Rotorua, with its jets of steam and boiling waters, which enabled the natives to dispense w ith a fire for cooking purposes, and even blankets were at a discount, for all that Mr Maori had to do if he felt a little bit chilly was to dig a hole in the ground neur a hot spring, curl himself comfortably down in it, and wait lor the result, which would soon follow in the shape of warm water, and so Mr Maori, up to his shoulders in a tepid bath, goes to sleep ; happy man, independent of blankets. To be tucked snugly up has no charms for him, and a warming-pan he laughs to scorn. Not to "be outdone with the wonderful, Mnori Bill in conclusion gravely -assured us tbnt the Rotorua natives drive the flsh with their nets out of the cold water in the lakes into the.boiling water, and then draw them out ready cookjed. Now, I dont wish on any account to impeach the veracity of Maori Bill or any other man, but at the time time I must 'say that I had a slight suspicion that be had drawn the fishing-nets a little too far — in fact, that his yarn, like the fish, was cooked. NedJTally wonnd up his interesting discourse with a vivid description of English railways, overground and underground, and the Zoological Gardens, with its liwng animals, birds und fiehes, there to be wen. Maori Bill waa delighted with Bill Tally's picture of that shaggy King of the Forest — the lion — he had evidently heard of him before, nnd desired full particulars. Maori Bill knew that he had long hah- about his head, all the same ns a more-pork, was very strong, had a loud voice, and Mispected that he would have made a very good sort of Taipo ; but ho wns doubtfnl of his color ; he wanted to know what color he was, whereupon Ned Tally informed him that it was brown. Oh, said Maori Bill, quite satisfied—me know. Brown, thePHlfceba nt'Taupiri. A roar of laughter from Mr Loi'kspit came as a fitting finale to our evening's entertainment, and was a signal for turning into the blankets. The next morning brbke fine and clear — the sun sailed grandly thiough a bright blue eky and poured its cheering roys upon the drenched earth, The feathered tribe took wing once again and warbled forth their song of joy," nnd the wind in gentle murmurs sighed through the forest trees as if a storm had never been. Only the sound ot rushing waters from the overflowing Komnkorau told of the past. Our survey work ended at a native village where a slight incident occurred which I must relate ere I close these notes. It was this :— Outside one^of the native it bares stood a bevy of dark-eyed damsels watching onr Manoeuvres nith apparent interest, so Mr Lockspit called one of th»m to take a sight through the theodolite, which he had set on the native girls ; the'young lady with eagar ouriosity rushed to • the glass, and looking through the telescope, beheld, oh horrors, — her companions, must it be said — upside down. She screamed out to the c'i*ls, who, in a dreadful state of anxiety and alarm instantly clutched their loose print gowns tightly round themselves and squatted on the ground, from which they could not be induced to budge an inch until they beheld the horrible theodahte w ell strapped up in its leather case.

'Fbosi the summit of the ranpe that terminates the Taupiri (Jorpo, a glorious view \< obtainod of the Wniknto district, which lajs stretched like a panorama at the feet of the spectator. At the immediate foot of the- range and washed hy that prince of New Zealand rivers, tlio Wftikato, nestles tho embryo township of Taupiri, — whilst on the west bank of thn river, buried amidst A grove of peach tree§, slumbers the native villiije, with it« primitive little church and schoolhnuse, presided over by that old friend nnd pnstof of the plain's, tJn» l\ov B. Y Ash well, and his able native assistant, the Rev Heta Taravthiti. Far away ■ pa*t tlie CDnKecated houndnry, tho Riant Pirongia rears its lpfty .peaks, overshadowing the sky an a dark-clo^d, and frowning threatengly liko a Maori sentinel down on the homesteads of the hated pakeha. To the ea»twai\l the Mangawara and Komakornu •trenniß, like » silver thread, wind then* silent courses till lost in the distant swamps, which as fnr as the eyo can reach Inok like nn iminrni' 1 sea of flax. Some thoiw'tnds of acres of theio swamps, which strofch from tho Puiko on one side, to Hamilton on the other, are now hemg reclaimed by a comprehensive system of drainage, under the auspioea of a private company formed for that purpose, who hiivo acquired the land on favourable terini from the Government upon curtain condition* relating to (training, roads, &c.,anc) thero can br no doubt but Hint the conioany will succeed in not only wt toting from the hands of nature a large area of country nt present uscle-s, but will alfo.ownv; to the natural faciltttt • for draining, leap for thom«»lve* nn nhundnut hai vest of gold. AbUt a mile down the Komokor.r- from whno it emerges •nake-likc from tho big swamp, \ as situated our nu'vfj