WAIREWA'S LOVE. A CHRISTMAS TALE OF MAORILAND. By SILAS WEGG. (Concluded.)

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1812, 16 February 1884, Page 1 (Supplement)

WAIREWA'S LOVE. A CHRISTMAS TALE OF MAORILAND. By SILAS WEGG. (Concluded.)

As we neared the shore I saw that my friends were making preparations for leaving the beach, and their terrified faces and gestmes showed that they were flying from an atua, and also from him who had desecrated the spirits' tapu. So I saw that my fate would be isolation as well as death. " Farewell I " they shouted, as they wound along the pathway that led from the beach. " Farewell for ever 1 " I could see my 'father's stern face was very sad, and my mother and sister were weeping bitterly. But what could I do ? I had no power to read the past, and if I went to them now, the touch of my tapu hands would be their death. "Farewell," said I, in reply " we may meet again in the land of spirits." But there was one Maori who did not leave the beach, but stood awaiting our approach in stern silence. It was the great Tobung, (priest) of our tribe " Tiki," or the tomb. He had atuas of his own, and he feared not the strange spirit for bad ; not a taniwha gambolled round bis war canoe in the great expedition against the Ngati Kuri. " Child," said the stern Tiki, " Why have you mingled with the Gods and lost your life. Hope of the hapu Eangitira Nui what have you done." did not answer, but pointed to the recumbent figure which lay on the raft, that had by this time nearly touched the sand. The seer came forward, and his face changed suddenly as he gazed on the lovely vision. Hastily he averted his face and said : " It is, indeed, a spirit ef another sphere that I behold. I will not face it till my own atuas have told me what to do," and so slowly veiling his form and face in his great mat of pigeons' feathers, he slowly wended his way after the others. With some flax leaves I made the raft fast to the beach. The setting sun was gilding the Ti trees and Manuka, and a thousand Moko Mokos were chanting their farewell to the day, when suddenly, I saw a change in the pale face before me, from the hue of the wild clematis to the rich flush of the rata, and then she half arose, and I looked for the first time upon those glorious eyes. It was a fitting scene for a goddess to awake in, for the sea was bathed in the sunset's glow, and purple shadows glorified the hills. As she slowly rose from her couch her eyes met mine, and I saw a look of apprehension cross her face. But it was only for a moment, for that diviue instinct possessed by so many women, told her that the dark man who stood before her, could be no foe to her. Her next thought was to gaze seaward, and when she saw the billows bore no burden, she heaved a bitter sigh, and a yearning look that I long remembered, came into her eyes.

' Then jshe loo'ced round anl smiled at me I and motioned mo to hflp hor to land. It was with bead lowed low and with reverential awe that I took her proffered hand, <md conducted her to a whaie (hut) that ptood near. Obeying her gestures I carried to her the things that were upon the raft and left her in obedience to a signal of dismissal. How that night I hardly know. I exnecied that death would come speedily, and all I asked was that light might come that I might once more see that beloved object for which I had forfeited my all. At times I fancied that the spirits ot my grim ancestors from their tikis (graves) hard by were coming to seize me, but as time went on my courage revived, and at last the notes of the bell-birds and the silence of the Moreporks and Wekas proclaimed the approach of dawn. Tke day was yet young when my divinity came forth and received the Karaweras, Karate, berries, and preserved tuis which I laid befoie her. I brought her some fire and she cooked some Kumeras in the ashes and motioned me to partake. With fear and trembling I acceded, and she then pointed to the beach and signed to me to accompany her there. When we arrived at the strand, she looked I ot q and sadly across the vacant waste of waters, whilist I stood at a respectful distance. It was some hours before she again retraced her steps to the hut, and when we ai rived there she made me sit beside her and tell her the names of the various things she touched. Tha night nature asserted her sway, and I fell into a dreamless sleep, from which I awoke with the hope that I might yet live to be near the object of my love and reverence. The next morning, and for many days we visited the beach, and twice we climbed the hill to have a wider view of the ocean. Those were halcyon days. I only lived for her ; the music of the birds was but a faint echo to me of the meHdy of her voice. The rays i ' glorious sunset that purpled the autumn tinted leaves, had not to me the lustre that fed from her eyes. Father, mother, sisters, friends, all were forgotten, for this strange visitor from a strange land had taken all I had to give. All my mind and heart had gone out to her, and were hers alone. So passed the pleasant days. None came near us, for they were afraid that if they did, the atuas spell would be upon them also. As time went on, I began to understand the meaning of the musical words my idol uttered, and she also spoke in my tongue. It was long, however, before she was able to tell me that she came in a great Kaipuka (ship) from a far off land, where there were other beautiful beings like herself, that her name was Elaine, and that she hoped one day to go back to her own country. She had been aboard the ship, that we had seen on the evening of the storm, and when the vessel struck a rock, and all hope of saving her had gone, had been bound to the raft, on which I saw her, and consigned to the mercy of the deep. So much I gathered by long degrees, and as I listened, my mind gradually opened to the thought that she was a mortal like myself, only of another race. In return I told her tales of my father's mighty valour, of my sister's sweetness, of the great Tohunga's power to raise the dead, of how the atuas warned us or destroyed us. She smiled at my tales of the Tohunga, but said she wondered how it was I had fled from all those dear to me, to minister to her a stranger. And then I told her, how at first sight of ncr all the world beside had passed out of my life — how I had thought her an atua, whose touch was death, and yet had touched her ! And then she smiled, and said that her atua, which was greater than mine, must have placed these thoughts in my heart, to save her from destruction. The winter was very near when one evening, as we were returning fiom another fruitless visit to the beach, I heard some one calling to me from the hill above us, and looking up, saw my father standing there, and by his side the dreadful Tiki, the mighty Tohunga. Motioning to me to stop, my father said " I have come my son to try and save you. The Tohungas have consulted the oracle, and it tells them, that if at the full moon you beat out the strange atuas brains, with your meie ponamu (war club), all may yet be well, but, that if you fail to do so,-our own atuas will demand a sacrifice because you have deserted them and you or I must perish." Then spoke She Tohunga "Wairewa, degenerate son of a mighty j race, the Gods give you this one chance to save you from destruction. Remember that the strange atua must die, for the spirit of all the Tohungas of the Hapu say that if it does not, a tribe of Atuas like to it, will spread over the land, and before three hundred years aie past, the Maori race will be known no more. Will you drive your people to extinction ? I say no more, but wait till the full moon to see if at that time, when alone you have power over the Atua, you will destroy it and save your people." So saying, they turned away, and were soon lost in the dimness of the approaching night. Need I say that they left behind them a a heart heavy with sorrow. It was a mdc awakening from a happy dream. I had hoped they would have deemed me lost to them for ever, and the place so " Tapu" by the coming of the spirit, that they would not dare to visit it again. What could I do? Should I doom all of the race from which I sprung to extinction, or should I kill her who was dearer to me than ten thousand lives of my own. The waning orb in the sky told me that some twenty days had yet to pass before the time of ordeal came, and the thought entered my brain that it would be very easy to die before then, and so escape such a dreadful alternative. But if I did die what would become of her on whom my whole soul was bent? My death must warn her also, for I knew that the Tohungas would issue an edict of death against her, and some other would be told off to destroy her. Better that I myself should lull her to sleep with the deadly juice of the tutu, than that she should be tortured to death by some relentless warriors, like Kapua Mangu (black cloud) or Tai Harurn (sounding sea) ; and, oh, the horror of the thought, her perfumed flesh devoured by the Tohungas and Eangitiras. There was no way of escape. If we went south acroßs the hills, the partiki (flat fish) catchers who lived at my birthplace, Wairewa, or those at Tau Mutu on the great lake, were sure to see and destroy us. If we crossed the other ranges the people at Tekau or Onuku would obstruct our passage to freedom ; and the one little canoe at Peraki was useless against the furious water gales that raged on the coast. Look where I would, there was no hope of escape, and the more I pondered, the more profound became my despair. Elaine had not comprehended the import of the words spoken by my father, and the Tohunga, for her knowledge of Maori was necessarily limited, and she merely thought it was an appeal to me to return to the tribe. Observing my dejection, she came to me that evening, and said, " The words of your father have made you very sad, Wairewa. Do not forsake all for me. Leave me, and return to your friends. Perhaps before many moons have paßsed a ship may come and bear me away to my own home. " Elaine," said I, " I can never leave you, and if the worst come to the worst, we can but die together." I said no more, for I did not dare to speak of the Tohunga's dreadful words. The moon waned fast, and "by and by the new crescent, the harbinger of death, rose in the heavens. All my waking thoughts were agony, and in my dreams I rehearsed the bloody tragedy that was to come. The evening before the full moon

T heard ths sound o many iool'jieps on the hill above us, Bnd I kn^w it wzs my hapu returning to witness my absolution or death. At last the day of the sacrifice daw • ed, and I saw co hope, and resolved that we should die together, so that my race might be saved Mifl <^ie I loved be spared torture and indigait., v ull of these thoughts I sought the whav ■; acre she dwelt, and begged her to follow me up into the bush instead of going to the beach to look for the never-coming ship Without a word she accudod to my request, and we silently wended our way up the valley. It was a lonely and terrible sp'tt that I sought, and one dreaded by my race, for it was said to be the abode of malignant atuas. I In front was a vast precipice overlooking a strange orifice, which we called the Karu-o-te-whenua (the eye of the earth.) Behind rose Riant tv-tv bushes, whose branches even at this seasoi of the year were heavy with the rich eh ste s of those purple berries whose seeds are death. I made Elaine sit upon a mossy stone, and then told her the dreadful words of the Tohunga. When I had told her, all I said, '• Elaine, there is no escape ; let us die together. We will eat of the purple fruit of the tv tv, and when death is near will throw oursalves over the precipice, and no Maori will dare to seek our bodies in ' the e^e of the earth.' So will my race be saved, and you escape the horrors of torture and indignity after death." " Wairewa," replied Elame, you deemed me an atua when ,you first saw me, but I am not one, and these atuas of yours of which you speak are as powerleas a<3 I am. My atua whom I worship is God alike of the Maori and Pakeha; all things are in his hands, and he tells us we must not kill ourselves. He will save us yet in spite of the words of the Tohunga if it is His will. You say the Maoris dare not visit this spot at night ; let us remain here till the shadows of evening fall. We can then cross the hills, and reach Akaroa Bay, where we will take one of your canoes and put to sea in the hope of finding some passing vessel. I will stain my hands and face with the tutu juice, so that I thall look like a Maori, and will throw one of your flax mats over me. Believe me, we shall yet escape." " Elaine," said I, * the Tohunga does not lie, and either you or my tribe must perish, or I or my father be taken by atuas as ' utu (compensation.) But, I will do your bidding, for your atua may be strong enough to save us." Elaine stained her fair face and arms with the purple juice, and when night came we crept by secluded path 3 across the hills, and reached the harbour. We found one of my canoes and put to sea, but the gray dawn was breaking when we were off Onuka, and the rangitua Te-hcu-heu saw us, and ordered us to come ashore. It was useless attempting to resist, for he had twenty canoes to send after us, and so we went ashore. " Who is this, Wairewa ? " said the old chief, looking at Elaine. "la this a wife from another tapu ? It is not the face of your sister Hinemoa, or of the other girls of your tribe." I preserved that dogged silence to which I was entitled by my rank, and we were taken to a whare and food set before us, but we were not allowed to leave the pah, and I knew that messages were being sent to my father to aak him what should be done. It was nearly night again, when we observed the canoes returning from Tetau Bay. I noticed there was something strange in their appearance, for the heads of the occupants of the vessel were crowned with ngaio leaves, the funeral foliage of our race, and a stiange sad dirge, like a wail for the dead, came across the water. As they approached I saw, to my sorrow, that there sat in the canoe, stern and silent, the dreaded Tohunga, Tiki! Theie was no response to the "haere mai" with which the newcomer 0 were greeted. Solemnly they landed, and with stony eyes fixed on the ground, they came to where Te-heu-heu stood. " Mourn" cried the Tohunga, " for liewi is dead ; slain by his false son Wairewa. The spirit within me told Wairewa that he or his father would die, and our race be destroyed, unless he killed a false atua that has bewitched him. He has spared the atua, and our 11 ingitira, bis father, is dead. But he shall not destroy his people if the voice of the departed can save them. Tonight we will tangi (mourn) for our dead chief ; but to-morrow we will go to Ohawe, and there, in the caverns of the spirit of the wind, in the great Banunga House of our ancestors, we will seek council of the dead." We were left unbound, for the fear of the tapu of Elaine was strong, and they dared not touch her till the advice of those trom the spirit land had been sought. 1 heard, in a stupified state, the tale told of how, when my father found in the rnoriyng that I had not obeyed the Tohunga's directions, he had fallen dead, as all thought, owing to my disobedience. The Tangi was kept up all the night long. The women cut themselves with tuhua (volcanic) glass or pipi (cockle) shells till they were a mass of blood, and the quivering of their hands and awful wailing, were dreadful to see and hear. Morning came at last, and I was told to get into a small canoe with Elaine, and the others then embarked and we paddled for the dreaded Ohawe, the home of the wind, which is a peninsula running out into the bay at the head of Akaroa Harbour. We disembarked at the isthmus which connects it with the shore, and there we found many of the Eangitiras of the tribe assembled, for a moke (slave) had been killed, and pieces of his flesh sent to the chiefs as a warning that they were to attend at the great Banunga house to consult on matters of weighty import to the tribe. Food was cooked and preparations made for the awful ceremony of the coming night. When the sun had Bunk behind the Wainui hills, we marched in solemn procession to the old Bununga house. It had been the Council chamber of the nation for many years, and the grim carved figures, and quaint deviceß that decorated the doorway and posts, had been the work of bygone generations. The walls were lined with toi-toi reeds, which had been ornamented by having bands of flax wound round and round a part of them, after which they had been smoked, so that the exposed parts got black, while those covered by the flax remained a bright yellow. The roof was richly covered and inlaid with parid shell, ana the floor was thickly strewn with raupo. Eight down the centre of the whare ran the usual strip of bare earth, on which the fires were lighted. The chamber was of vast ex. tent, and though a dozen great fires lighted the outer portion, the inner extremity where the Tohungas were assembled, was veiled in impenetrable gloom. We were motioned to a place apart, and in the dead silence that ensued, we awaited our doom. Gradually the fires sunk low, till nothing but the glowing embers remained. The stillness was occasionally broken by the sobs of my mother, of my fathers other wives, and of my dear sister Hinemoa. We waited long and anxiously ; but suddenly out of the dark . ness there rose a strange melancholy sound, as if the wind was blowing into the mouth of one of the great war trumpets that hung on the palisades of our fortified pah. I started to my feet, for in spite of the melancholy cadence, I recognised it as the voice of my dead fath*. " Salutations unto you my tribe I Salutations unto you my family," cried the voice, " you have done well to summon me from the tomb, to deal with my accursed son, the betrayer of (Concluded on Back Page.)

his race. "The oracle indeed spoke truth that told you that, if the white atua once got a footing ou this land, our race would dwindle away, as the leaves of the konine fall in the autumn, There is but one eom\-e to pursue. Wairewa and the atna must be sent as a sacrifice to the mighty aluaa, that dwell in the boiling water caverns of Kotorna ; or mu 4 be thrown to lh<? fi«"<s demons that cau^e the earthquakes that live in the f-acred ciater of Ngamuhoj, the mighty mouth of the giant Tougaiiro. Bend to the north for the pawed canoe, the Waka-iapu, and let them be kept here in the caves of the dead till it come. Remember the atua and its victim must be destroyed utteily, for if one atom of their flesh were left to pollute the earth, it would spread and spread till it destioyedour peojjle; therefore they must be bianded by the demons of water, or the demons of fire. Farewell to you my people, you did well to call me, for I alone could toll you how our race could be saved." The sound died away into the daikncss, and the Tohunga io->e and a^ked if the tribe would follow the counsels of the dead. All the llangitiras assembled replied in the affirmative, and we weie at once sent to the caves thai weie to be our present residence. They were at the base of the Ohawe Cliff, and tiadition said that they had been hollowed out by the atuas of my ancestors, as a letting place for them after death. None ever dared to enter them, said Die Tohungas, when they bore thither m scciccy the bodiei of the mighty dead. It was in one of the«e dreadful caves, full of the atiun of depaited chiefs, and in company with the corpse of the fathei -whose death I had caused, that I v?as to piss the weaiy months that must elap.se befoio the Waka Tapu could arrive to bear u-3 to our death. J must have died of terror beioic wo leached this give.some place, had it not been for t!i3 eoraf oiling words of Elaine. "Fear not,' 1 she said, "my atua can serve U 3 yet, for ho is \eiy strong. I can speak to you fiom niv cave, and tell you of his wondrous power" and love, therefoio, b'J comforted." Tlii-5 -was Haul as we »vcre descend mg the steep chii, at the fo -si of .\hich wuiothe dieadful caves of the dead. Oui guaids did not daie lo follow, bin when we descended they threw some ba-Aets ot fern loot and ducd shark aftui' lib and fled. 1 fainted whtn I entered the guie^-oiae cue, foi thoio, befoio me, lav tne di-ad body of my gu-at fathei. When I cime to my-ulf Elaine wa3 btooping over irtv\ bathing <ny temple*-, and a^am s^he spoke to mi. wordi uf cmitoit a-ri'i hope. The dtei.-lful Diyht pa^aed away at last, and with morning hiigiitHi- thoughts aiose. It was on that day that Elaine hint told me the vtoiy of a S mom's love The wondiou* tale bunk deep into r^y loituie 1 heait, and brought with it a sitan^'t cJm, t peace that passed «H uii<l< j i-t'iii(li(i_ # . Tea- 10.-0 to 111} eyes when 1 h<ai'l thnt Cini^t bad ihud for me, do-pau left my weaned soul, and a poitio'i oi that tiust and h<;n ■ that -.uslainud my btautitul Elaine; came to my n lief And «o the cla>s passed iiA.iy. Many times did she tell nvi tho t.ne, id "-lie nevei weaned of repeitmg it, or 1 of listening. My dear Ilincnioa did not loif/tt me, but loweied tome delicate food, though she -would not speak to me. At last the Waka tapu ariived, and v.a weie placed ii it, and accompanied by the To hunga, who went with us to see that the oideis of the dead were strictly adh< led to. We sailed for the iai noith. Spring had come again, and the stormy straits were vciy gentle to us. On we went up the Eibt Coast, pas I the M itikuna, the Alciteo, r,nd the Waiiun, and at la 1 -! landed at Taiuanga. Theie was no lest theie, foi the dread Tohunga hurned us on, anxious to sec the bone^ts of the dead chiet obeyed. It w.i -5 a bught evening in midsummer when we at last «?.\v sketched befou us the beautiful Ilotoiua bunounded bv a thousand boiling spungy that tlncw thciv ]3ts of high rile thecleai an. Tliat evening a council was called of the chiets-.rtho iulud over this land of Xgawhas and puuxs, and they decided tint the erser >sc that coveied one of the hottest spnngs should be hewn away so thin that when we stepped upon it it would give way and precipitate us into the boiling caldron below. The ceiemony was fixed for the following day. That night I deemed wouUl be the last we should spend nn e&itb, but Elaine «aid that if God ivillod lie would .save us .siill, and that she btill believed that .jhe v ould see her dear father again. Again she told me the wondrous tale of a Saviour's love, and reminded me that eien if our bodies were consumed our souls would and in the far heavens a home of eteinil iebt. Morninj found us calm and le&igned to whatever fate was in stoic for u c , and weaiied as we weie we walked without hesitation to the place of doom. It was a gieat cave hung with pink stalactites of wondious beauty. At the upper end benches had been hewn out of the law. rocks, on which '•at the great Tohunga suirounded by the llaugitnas. In the centi2 the floor of the cavern had been hewn away, and the bubbling of the boiling water could be heard beneath. The Tohunga rose as we enteied the cavun, and cried " I have fulnlled the words of the dead. I have brought the ciu&ed white atua, and tne wretch it has bewitched, to be given to the demons of the wa er or the demons, of tne, tne Maioi?«tuas that thiipt for their life-blood. Wretches, advance to your deaths." Elaine raised her hands to heaven, and ciied "O)i ! my God! my God! Show these misguided men that Thou ait greater than the fiends they worship," and then, with steady .step walked to the centie of the cave, and I followed. The thin ciust of eaith bent beneath our footsteps, and at length gave way, and I thought our last hour had come. But Elaine's God had bayed us, for, from the centie oi the boiling pool, rose a pinnacle of lock, and when the exust gave way, our feet found a secure resting place on its summit. The steam that arose norn the boiling pool, hid us lor a moment from the tight ot the council, but as it eddied out of the mouth of the c.ivc-in, showed us, to the Tohunga, standing unhdimed amid the spray and steam. " Witchciait ! " he shouted ; " away with them to Ngaiuhoe, to the fatal mouth ot Tongaiiro, then wiichuaft will not avail them there, though it is too strong for the water taniwha." In his mad excitement he ro.se from his seat, and advanced a lew paces towaids us, and as he did so, the ticdcherous crust gave way, and he was j>recipitated into the boiling depths below. He disappeared into the terrible abyss, as if a thousand hends were dragging him down into the sulphuious depths. The chiefs resolved to obey the Tohunga's last commands, and for home weary days we journeyed towards the fdt<il mountain. The night before we were co ascend the volcano, we rested on the beautiful Hikurangi, " the hill that ascends to heaven. Elaine was very weary irom the long journey, but her spirit was unabated. " Wairewa" bhe said, " do you know this is Christmas Eve, the night before our dear Saviour was born. Do you think he will allow us to die a dreadful death on the day of his nativity? I dreamt last night that my dear father, whom I left on the deck of the wrecked ship, had been saved, and that he was coming in search of me. We shall be saved yet, Wairewa, if we only trust in God and in a Saviour's love." The, fragrant wind heavy with the' perfume of rata and ake-ake, lulled us to sleep, and we rested as calmly as criminals are said to do the night before their execution. The bun rose brilliantly that Christmas morning. The fatal mountain stood before us with its grandeur, and a great column of smoke rose from their Ngauruhoe crater. Our guards made us afecend the mountain before them, by a narrow and precipitous path, strewed with the debris oi past eruptions. Beyond Tongariro, we could see at intervals the snow-clad summit of Buapehu, towering to the skies in sublime majesty. Only two Tohungas followed us now, for the ground was very " tapu," and none but a priest dare venture to tread it. When we were halfway up the ascent, a

sudden daikness fell upon the face oC nature. A great volume of mist stole down the mountain side, and a showor of ashes fell around us. " Haste ! haste ! " cried the Tohungas, " the giant is awaking, he is eager for his prey." Up and up we toiled, and already we could hear the liquid lava seething in the depths of the fatal crater, when a fearful convulsion shook the face of native. The mighty mountain shook like a canoe when the sea ia angiy, or a totara in a fierce gale, and a bright stream of fire shot up from the centre. Great masses of rock thundered clown the mountain sides, loosened by the terrific earthquake, and the molten lava flowed past us in fiery streams. The Tohungas were appalled, " See " they cried, " the Atuas cannot wait, they are coming to seize their victims," and they turned and fled. But they only fled to their destruction, for another shock of earthquake came, and the earth opened beneath them, and suddenly closed upon them, as if satisfied with its prey. And then there came another change. The lava ceased to flow, the mist, cleared away, and a sweet calm fell übon the face of nature, and Elaine turned to me and whispered " we are saved Wairewa, will you now trust in the God that Elaine worships." And so we knelt together that peaceful Christmas afternoon, on the side of the sacred mountain where so many pagan rites had been celebrated, and thanked the Saviour that had saved us in our hour of need. And we wore saved, for the Maories said that we were sacred beings, whom neither the atuad of fiie, nor tlie atuas o£ water would harm. So we journeyed in peace till we reached the coast, where we heard of a great Pakeha Kaipuka, and in that vessel my adored Elaine found her dear father, and I found love and rest. THE END.