WAIREWA'S LOVE. A CHRITMAS TALE OF MAORILANDS. By SILAS WEGG.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1809, 9 February 1884, Page 1 (Supplement)

WAIREWA'S LOVE. A CHRITMAS TALE OF MAORILANDS. By SILAS WEGG.

Amongst the many beautiful districts in New Zealand, that abound in picturesque views of wonderful variety, there is not one that is equal in interest to Banks' Peninsula. It is a mountain land; a land of never failing streams and intense verdure, " Shut out by alpine hills from the rude world." It is situated on the verge of the va<-t Canterbury plains, and serves a barrier between them and the pacific surges. In the " long ago " it was doubtless an island ; in fact, in old gazetteers it is called " Banks' Island," after the naturalist who acooniparied Captain Cook in those wonderful voyages that revealed to the civilised world so many fertile lands lying beneath the beams of the Southern Cross. Volcanic in origin, more than one extinct crater is to be found on the mountains, and the lava beds in which some of its streamg flow, bear testimony of the fearful fiery current they once bore to the sea. But since it was first seen by living races of men, it has been a land of fertility and plenty. Lakes teeming with fish lie at the foot of its hills, which till cleared for pasture, were crowned with forests to their very summits, forests of which the pen can give but a fiint idea of the marvellous variety of foliage. These forests are the home of innumerable birds, many of which are of rare plumage and exquisite note, including the Tui or parson bird, with its strange white bands and deep music ; and the Moko Moko, or bell bird, whose plaintive song so strangely reminded the early navigators of the sounds that had summoned them to worship in their far-off homes. It is no wonder then that those human beings who first saw this beautiful place, were resolved to make it their future residence. And it is iully three hundred years ago, that some Maones, voyaging in their mighty canoes from far-oil Pacific isles, " saw the land that it was good," and rested there. There was no cannibalism in those days, for food was abundant, and there were no feuds ; and many traces still tell of the wealth and prosperity of these halcyon days, besides the many oral traditions still preserved. At a later period, other tribes of Maories who resided in lesi favoured regions, coveted this laud of plenty, and then arose desperate struggles wnich terminated, as is generally the case, in the overthrow of those who had been lapped in luxury, by tLe needy strangers who had learned the lessons of adversity. Even then there were long intervals of rest, for after a brief sojoarn, the savage conquerors v/ere invariably lulled into a gentle life by the calming influence of the land they had won. There are still living among the natives many aged men and women who preserve the legends of their ancestors, and of their own earlier days with wonderful accuracy, and it is one of these legends which the writer gathered from the lips of one who claimed to have seen more than a hundred summers, which he has selected as being peculiarly suitable for relation at this blessed Christmastide of the year 1883. " The Kowai," said the venerable narrator, "has shed its yellow blossoms fully eighty times since the events I have to relate occurred. My father and his family were living at Peraki at that time, for the cieeks there were full of tunas (eels), and the trees were full of the wild pigeons, who came to feed on the Kaikikatea and Hinau berries. It was one bright evening in the autumn of the year, and we had been sitting together and telling wonderful tale 3 of the great taniwhas that live in the sea, and of the atuas that watched over us, when suddenly a marvellous light was seen. At the mouth of the bay there sailed into view a mighty waka waka, (canoe) a great kaipuka (ship) with its white sails gleaming in the setting sun. The sight appalled us for we had not seen the ships of Captain Cook, and we thought it waa some great spirit of the deep that had come to visit us, and fled into the bush. With darkness our apprehensions increased, for there was a terrible storm and the sound of the fierce waves dashing on the beach made us think every moment that the strange thing we had seen must be some fearful spirit full of malignity to man. Many a branch was torn by the furious wind from the loftier pines, and the thunder showers swelled the creeks into mad torrents that dashed over their rocky beds with fearful violence. Morning came at last, and, as the sun rose the storm abated, but the waves atill beat on the rocky shore with intense fury, and it was not till midday that my terrified relatives and myself, dared to descend to the beach to see if the cause of their fears had departed. The rain drops glittered on the leaves of the tree ferns, and the fragrant manukas, and the tall toi-toi grass hung heavily, laden with excessive moisture, as we Maories wended our way through the forest paths to the sea. We i were few in number — a dozen in all — for the head quarters of the tribe were at Onawe and Onuku, on the shores of Akaroa Harbour, some twenty miles away across the mountains. When we reached the beach, we eagerly scanned the waters for the fair vision of the preceding night, but nothing was to be seen, but the white crests of the waves, and we deemed that the dreaded atua had departed, carrying the storm to other places. But the mystery was soon to be solved. We had not been long gazing at the sea, "when we observed something strange floating upon it. It came nearer, and nearer as we looked, and at last was washed ashore close our feet. It was a piece of wood, and it bore strange marks of wnich the following is a copy:— ,W4NDKRER OP HULL. We wondered much at this, and at last came to the conclusion that it must have> been a vessel like those in which, Captain Cook' had visited Akaroa, which we had seen on the preceding night, and that she' had been

'lashed to pieces <.n the rocks during the dreadful storm. Much we wondered if such had been the case, whether any living th-jeg had survived the vessel, and my father, Rewi, smiled grimly at the thought that the deep would probably yield us many useful things from the wreck. We watched anxiously for something more, and before long our pains were rewarded, for rising and falling on the waves came towards us a great mats of timber rudely bound together. Our fears had by this time nearly vanished, and I and my sister Hinemoa ran to where a canoe lay in the sheltered creek, and seizing our paddles put into the bay detprmined to be the first to inspect the rude raft. iho sea was going down fast^'and we quickly neared it, hut as we did so we were almost inclined to go back, for wo saw something white and strange lying upon the timber — something that looked like a human form hidden in white drapery, and we feared that after all there might be something supernatural to be dreaded. Hinemoa'a cuiiosity, however, got the better of her fears, and she urged me to proceed, and being a man I did not like to show terror, though my heart heat veiy loudly, for I dreaded that it might be a spirit of the storm, and that our canoe might be upset and ourselves drowned if we dared to investigate it too closely. Nearer and yet nearer it danced to us on the waves, and our hearts beat less anxiously as we saw no movement of the object on the raft. A short vigorous paddle brought us alongside, and I leaped on to it as we touched it, determined to inspect it and incur any danger in preference to the ridicule that was certain to be my fate if I allowed my sister to anticipate me. Never shall I forget the sight that met my gaze. There, bound to the raft amid a mass of drapery, lay the inanimate shape of the loveliest creature I had ever seen ; there stretched in a sleep as deep as death, lay the fait form of a pakeha (European) girl. Oh, how my heart thrilte even now at the rememberance of the perfect calm and rest which overspread those]delicate, clear cut features ; pale as the petals of the wild convolvulus that hangs its white bloom in such profusion from the branches of the Ngaios and Koninis. Long after in the town of Akaroa, I saw a wonderful picture of a dead girl floating on the water, -with a halo round her head called the " Martyre Chretienne," and I have always thought the artist, who painted it must have seen Elaine I I was so spell bound that I stood without a word, and it was only the voice of my sister Hinemon, that recalled me to myself "Wairewa," she said " this is no mortal creature this is some afcua, from the land of death ; beware how you touch the drapery, for it is doubtless tapu (sacred), and may bring destruction. Why do you not move? &ome spell of our enemies must o'ershadow you. Come my brother, let us seek our friends and consult the Tohunga." Through my veins coursed the blood of some twenty summers, and my heart said "do not leave this heavenly being ; what has the earth to offer in exchange ? What if she is an atua and lam under a spell ? Better stop under such a spell and' die, then never have been under its influence." Filled with such thoughts I heeded not my sister's voice; but, taking some of the drapery in my hand, I rearranged it. This terrified my sister so much that she at once pushed off the waka waka, crying " oh, my brother is poure (mad). He has touched che drapery of an atua, and must die. I will go to the Tohunga, and try to save him ; " and so she paddled to the shore. So there we were alone, I and my fate, I and this wondrous vision that had. in a moment raised in my heart a thousand thoughts of which I had before been unconscious. Though I expected death, thinking the tapu I had violated must be strong indeed around a creature so lovely, I feared it not. All my savage heart had gone out to her, and the time before I had seen her seemed a desert and I felt truly those wondrous words of the poet that she afterwards taught me, that it was, indeed, "Better far to die with her Than live for all the world beside.' And so we floated on, I and my goddess aud love. I say love, for she wa9 to me a spirit to wordhip, a divine being, a holy of holies, the light of whose eyes was fatal to mortal being. I wondered if some huge taniwha would rise from the deep and destroy me for my presumption, and I prayed that it might not be so, but that I might fade away, as those struck by the tapa generally did, in the presence of the object of my adoration. (To be continued.)