DISCOVERY OF MAORI REMAINS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2082, 10 November 1885, Page 2

DISCOVERY OF MAORI REMAINS.

An intere-ting and valuable collection of relics of the native race h is been brought to litfht in a somewhat lemiikable manner. The dncoverei, a native named Te Tmili.uiß i, an intelligent young fellow belonging to .1 hapn of the Xgatihaua, told bis «toiy to inn C">ue-)>i>ndiMit, who reprodncei it a* follow -, di\ ested of the ihetoric.il ornaments with which the Mious delight to encumber oxen their ordm.iry convervation :— One morning iibont it week ago, just .it tho horn of Mtnrw', Te Timli mg.i a.i-. ruling past the long-deported settlement of Wtliuitt.uo, u'lien gl incmg up .it thf hills on the we-l lie m« wh vt L conclude to be a mirage. He snv- .1 river appeared to inn along the tops "f tlio hills, and green tieos giew along its «n.irgin, and as phinly as ho could Nee me .it that moment he s.tvv it chief in a canoe gliding orer tho -tieain. His first impulse was to liyfioin whit he legarded as an uncanny visitation, but something impelled him to KMiiiin. He says the chief pointed down\\aid> with his finger mju-i.il times, and then the mirage, or uppaiitioii, as Tnuh.uigti pur-i-tod in calling it, f.»<i<^<l .»"■>. This ptrt of the story I am not quite propued to believe, nor do I Mippiwo it w ill nui)os,f on the credulity of tv my c.f ui\ readers, and were It not that it foiui-. a fitting pu-liule to the story «<f a le m.ukable discoiery, I should not hue taken th tiouble to note it d nvn It Is quite tin" tin' in I i^es have been observed in the W .i!v it >, b it t'n) aiitu nn, ii"t the spun,', i-. I sh >u •! opine, the piojier mmsun, ami it nt-\ ii' .\'iwtion«d wlietliei the phenoui >ii i e.i i i.s|,ii- such <I 'finite feihue- as t'cM- d-si-i'li-d In uiv native fiirml Hov\-v.i t'n- is n>t dl. To Timh.mg.i gill"ji-l miv ti"'ii the place as s miii as Ii • iei,i,-i-d In- b -iti, and did not feel <|Uitt- sife mif'l !)• w is in the bosom of his famiK. l'>'"i^ "f ■> sln-ud, lnquiiing tuin >>f in. ii 1, b' 1 was ninth pu//.led to i iic -i\' v\lnt the shadowy clurf nieuit by |i >m in ' o«wnwards so 'penistciitlj , an 1 on Satuidiy week he m »dc up his mind to pnr<p>U tin hillside, ueai the old settletnent. Thcfoimation h stoii" 1 ), with patfhcK of heilMge, and Tinihan^.i 'might have fossicked ab.inl the lull until tho Diy of .ludgment and he would ptobablj b.ivo found nothing, had ho not happened to light his pipe at a piitiL-ulir spot and carelessly, ,n people will, thiow away tbo lighted in itch. .V pitch of diy fern caught file, .iml spread ing to home low <oruby growth, ele.ue.l a»ay a space tnthciunt to lay b ire whit Hoemod tho entiance to a civo, which a c.rsoiy oxamination pio\ed to be a ]ilace ofbuiial. The ovistenco of such a plato was unknown to Tnnlianga, and «mi'|uiiics wlueh ho made fiom the, natives m the neighbourhood lovealed the fact that thny, tno were lgiiotant on the mattei. Vftci making some objections, they pennittcd a Kuiopean mined Uigly, to p\plme the in linoleum, and f i out him I, in the. In-t place received an intimation of tho "find." Tmihsng.i told me tho stoiy about the milage on Tue->d iv, after I had inspected the u\-k\ The leiuams e\ idently belong to n poiiod long .inteiior to the advent of the pxkeha. The native- of the Hauiaki(!uH and the countiv suriouud in" were amongst the enliest to enjoy, 01, pe"haiH, I should s.iy, suffer fiom nitLrcouisc with the white man, and no ti.xce of ,in\ thing w hioh is comipcted in any w ay with Kuiopo is to be found. Indeed, the uu iii»nse m/e of Homo of tho skulls indicates that tboie who giant-*, or .it 1> .v-t *nno l>ig men, in tho old days The quantity of hum m leni.uns is no* gieat, but of weapon*, implements and ornaments there is an immense Ttiiotj. 1 cannot piH#id t> clarify them, and it is not easy to do so, as long is they lem.un in their pun-nt dim and stufTy repiisitoiy, and the natives mi (ay are obstinate in their refusal to allow anything to be lemoved. I tiied to pocket a small greenstone ornament, but my guide' was too quick fm me, and F hud to disgorge. There are splendid specimens of the p-itu iwaoi, a we.tjion iu.uU> of tho bones of the whale, beautiful poeiiamu hoitikis and whtvka kaias, niatus, taos, and tekn-, the lattti, a sott of dait, being \eiy «cave There wis a cunningly caned taiaha, but age bad told upon it, an-1 it looked us if it could not longer boar the brunt <nf tho battle. Many of the implements weroiauiii»r>wcba 1 » tl>o wall-known «tone

a\e head, but others were quite sttaiiKO, :in(i neither Timhanjj.i nor ln-> fnends could tell their tiio. 11)0 protesqnely i>rn.\ mcnted tawhu and rapt; i>f a whak.itaua were .iiiioiigst the ciuios, tojfeth'T with a tihern, a contihance foi bnhng out a c.moe. Tli" cli wiilxm had o\ td^titiy been onstiucted with skill, ;»nd is dmibtlc-s the last iv«tinß pl.ico of soino line of arc it clii'jf«. N.ituially theii! h not a trace of written language, but on the Imii^tone \\n\U are t' Ivj seen tho out-li-nc-t of mile d av'.njs executed in boiiic *trt of red pigment. Unfoituii itely, ajjo ami the infeii'iiity of the |>.unt h,i\e combined t<» blur tlie outline-., and nothing intcllijjihle rcin.uni of what no doubt w.i-. a, jiiutoria l tecord of the achun (Miicnts of a race of doughty warrior-*. It i- to be regretted tint the discovery was not in ule a little earbei, as pressure iiiij,'ht )u\t> bei'ij bionjfht to bear <m the natnes to induct- thiMii to allow the spULinieiii to be .sent to the Wellington K\hibiti»n. l*ut though it h too late to c.v i V o\it that idr i, it i-> to be hoped the (lowinment will take sti«pn to liavt- the collection to the Indian and Coloni.'.l X Jnhitioti in London next you. Many of the implements and oin itiient-* .u c siu genciis, and f.ir as tho nitiv-i wlioha\e seen them know, h.i\e no fellows extant. •