AN AWFUL BEING.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1830, 29 March 1884, Page 2

AN A WFUL BEING.

Tm; Tauvanga Telegraph of the 2lst hist, has thp following : — Among the mourners who ga.th.eied at \Vh.ueroa- during the past week to I, intent the death of Enoka te Whanake, and do honour to his memory, one, came, who, once seen, will never be foi gotten. On Monday she at rived by boat from Te Puna, find at once proceeded to tbe canopy under which the deceased rangatira lay in state— a small withered creature with little human appearance, and naught save hei dress to indicate her set. This, the gaib of a female, hung upon what appeared to be but a meagre frame wotk — a living skeleton. She advanced towards the corpse, extending her bony arms to it, twitching convulsively death-like fingers, which one could almost imagine rattled, and drawing towards her body as though she beckoned the dead towards her, as in fact blie did, uttering at the same tune a plaintive, unearthly, uncanny wail of invitation and lcuucmt. But her face ! Therein was no semblance of humanity, no grace, no womanly beauty — no, a skull, noseless, flat, unrelieved by sable cheek or sparkling eye, and baiely concealed by the parch-ment-like skin tightly sti etched over it, lantein-jawed, mouth but a '•lit in the awful visage, eyes sunken in their sockets, and only opening 1 art ally as they seemed themselves to call tie dead man to that biny enihiace. Such wa. her face. Eyebrow^, lashes, flesh, no c or lips there were none. Children bnrst into tears at her appvnch, and a* shi uttered that weird, unr.irthly invitati >n o the dead they fled like frightened chick to the maternal wing and hid uudei the s rts of their parents And who w. s this ful being? Tarewa, chieftoas, of miny illustrious ancestors, once a buxom, Hi ghi »q, brown-skinned matron, with four little sons — now past man .- estate. But one day she sickened and died — yes, died ! A great gathering was held of kinsmen and people from far and near. For five day 3 the corpse lay in state, as Enoka te Whanake lies now. On the seventh, according to native custom, it would be buried. But on the fifth day she arose, returned to life— but, how changed ! And this is what she said of heiself : — Her sphit was fleeing, but had not fled. The taipo (e\il spirit) met her, and feiried her over the river of death. But she pined to return to life, winch had seemed so bright. " Speak not," said the devil, "or thou art damned." She spoke, she called upon the atua, upon the ancestois of her tiibe and people. The taipo, with one devilish caress, sapped the life blood, which had been but stilled in her veins, withered her frame, and destroyed her visage. Then he fled. She returned to this world, but to this day bears the mark of that awful embrace. She is in the woild— not of it. She walks as the living, but communes with the dead, a very waif fioin another sphere, a mysterious wreck, lejected and cast off by even the spirits of darkness, but still looked upon with superstitious awe, though not with j everence by her race.

Sheep are the only animals that will eat beans whole. Ground and mixed with ground com or oats they are valuable for cattle, horses, anil pigs, Advertising in New York.— The spirit of utilising whatever lies nearest to hand is shown in the matter of advertisements. The ugliness of New Yoik is in places accentuated by the upheaval of lumps of sandstone rock, standing on bleak bits of cleared land. If this were Paris the opportunity would be seized to make a bright spot in the heart of the city. Beds of flowers would bloom on velvety turf, and the bare rock would be coveted with climbing plants. The practical mind of the American is struck with the excellent position of these 5 stones for advertising purposes, and they are accordingly covered with imperative injunctions to " Buy your Dry Goods for Cash," or to lo3e no time in ordering the " Rising Sun Stove Polish." On the outskirts of the city advertisements are planted out like cabbages or celery along the fields skirting the "lines of the railway. Down by the City Hall some building is going on which necessitates the putting up of scaffolding, the poles of which stand in barrels full of earth. These barrels bad not been fixed an hour before they were hired to display the advertisement of a pianoforte maker. For several seasons the hotelkeepers at Coney Island, who have their private advertising connections, have been driven wild by a small boat with a large sail that tacks up and down off the crowded beach. On the sail is printed in gigantic letters "Give Batty 's Soap a Show." There is no escaping this. People go down to Coney Island to be near the life and freshness of the Atlantic ; and looking out seaward there is ever in view this small boat with its large mainsail bearing the strange device •• Giveßatty'a Soap a Show." There is little doubt that had the Ark happened to be stranded on Jersey Heights, instead of on Ararat, Noah, on stepping out in the morning, would have found the structure plastered over with injunctions to "Use Gastrinefor Dyspepsia," or to "Give Gargling Oil % Tutu,"— Corre* pw4TO*^W&.Dwlytfew«, , :