THE OLD NEW ZEALAND MAOR

Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2453, 31 March 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE OLD NEW ZEALAND MAOR

.» [r.v ma.liik \vi;,'<o\.| CIIAKACTKR. To show how thu Maori adapt,.* himself to ciroumstancos, the following incident. may be given. A well-known railway contractor in Auckland hurt a Maori who was for throe years overseer over his men, Europeans mill natives alike, ami who received Is a rtay more than the other.". Oil this gentleman bring asked where h' n obtained such fi treasure, he replied that he hart graduatetl ..t Mt. I<Meu gaol, where he had been incarcerated for assault in a drunken sprffc ; seldom does a gaol prove a reformatory but this appears a bright exception due, doubtless, to race characteristic!*. The native informed his employer that thenceforth ho ceased to (lrink nfyrrll. That he was so horrified when in prison, at the language and con duct of his fellow prisoners that at lunch tune ho would eat his morsel apart. No people sees more quickly what is bent, to be done under certain physical or moral conditions. As an example of their ncutonc.'H in this way we may take a ease, as reported by the Rev. Mr Burrows, from his diary 011 Hoke's war. Archdeacon Brown preached before lieke and his followers, taking his text, from James IV. —I, " From whoneo come wars, &c.'' After tho service Hoke quietly walked uji to him and advised him to go and preach the same service to tho soldiers. Tho way they manage the capture of tho whako or octopus may also be mentioned. On approaching they grasp it quickly and firmly with one hand by the centre or body, and if, even, the monster has already fastened upon them with tho suckera attached to tho tenticles, tho creature becomes powerless and its hold is relaxed. (It will bo remembered by those who have read Victor Hugo's "Toilers of the Sou," that he makes the victim of an attack, cut the body out with a knife. Tho Maori method is more simplo and is as effectual). They similarly catch tho gigantic oray-fisb. Instances have been known where it was taken hold of undorneath, that the tail closed and the hand has been almost severed at tho wrist. LOVE. Lit us now approach the subject of lovo—that old, old story which commenced with Adam--though unfortunately for him shall wo dare to sav— ho bad but small pleasure in his wooing—seeing lie had a partner of his joys and narrows duly provided for him. Happily they, the happiest of their kind, Whoso gentle cares unite, and in one fate Their hearts, their fortunes and their efforts blend As with most, if not all tho primitive races, lovo and war are tho great, themes on which they descant—primarily war and then lovo—as with too many amongst us lovo and marriage are not always concurrent. Tho system of Puhi, tho practice of engaging girls from their infancy, as in India and elsewhere, in Kastern parts, to particular individuals, often to old uen—kills love—and the consequence is youth seeks a m ate of its own choice — then a merlins of tho relatives takes place, and it may bo that they are allowed to live together, which constitutes marriage. If the relatives are obdurate there may be an elopement, or, as is nfnni 'he case, suicide in committed. We have known of many oases of such, in both sexes. We know of one girl tyliiLr a basket of mussels to her waist—she had been out with others gathering those—and in crossing an arm of the sea on her way home, she purposely dropped from the horse she was riding ami was drowned. Otheroases, whore they throw themselves from cliffs, but, before doing so, they will, like the American Indian, chant their own death sonir in accents tho most despairing, calling to miud the lino from Hymn—" Then swanlike let me sing and die." We ourselves once saved a woman iu this strait, who had quarrelled with her husband, hut who w>re most devoted to each other ever afterwards. Tho most common way of talcing their own lives is to eat the shoot of the tutuhe rio tutu—-when they quickly fall into convulsions and die with all the symptoms of poisoning by strychnine. The tutu wheu in season hears most lovely dark bunches of fruit—sometimes a foot in length. The natives are fond of gathering the juice. They mix it with seaweed, and take it as a jelly, but often drink tho fresh juice from pannikins.. This is quite harmless if there bo none of the small seeds or of tho tend rills, and if this be the case poisoning is sure to ensue. Many deaths occur through their carelessness in expressing t.ho juice. The tutu we ourselves once tried without knowing its properties. Wo chewed and swallowed a shoot of tho shrub ; and in about two hours tho symptoms of poisoning ensued. Swelling and giddiness, followed by strong convulsions and delirium, in this last, unlike poisoning by strychnine. Two doctors attended. One wished to administer morphia, which would have resulted in sleep—the sloop of the dead—tho other followed the more "heroic" method of keeping ns awake and plying with emetics and warm water, with a result which, of course, you all perceive. No one, surely, would take his own life unless he were in a sad state. Tho irrief of tho Maori is a greit. grief. They, too, have their slings and arrows of slUiotiou. They often pine and dio a. slowly suffering death on tho loss of a child or a husband .md often, too, commit suicide. The wife of Ten" Ponui nearly died of starvation. .She eithercould not, or would not take food ; and like kaohael mourning for her children alto ■•■■li, ,r | n be comforted, an 1 Mbhou rti rnaay advantageous off-Ts were m ule In- leading chi"fs .-ho w is ivcoirablo an 1 ullinately, after two years, died of giief. It is curious to note the beginning of lovo in th" "'lVaire breast, though, for the matter or 'h it, it is the same the world over, tho oil, oil story is repeated, and apoeais tho same in all ages and amonjr ail people Note this nat ive confession of a young Maori damsel, and mark if it does not substantiate what we have said. 1. "Alas, and well-a-day ! They are talking of im still : By t.ho tingling of my nostril, I fear they are talking ill. Poor hapless I. —p >or little I—so many mouths to li 11, And all for this strange, feeling—o this sad sweet pain 1 0 senseless heart—O simple ! to yearn so and to pinn .For one so far ,ab >vc me, contest o'er all to shine — For one a hundred dote upon, who never can be mine ! O 'tis a foolish feeling—all this fond, sweet pain ! 3. When I was quite a child— not so many moons ago — A happy little maiden; " then it was not Like a sunny dancing wavelet then I sparkled to and fro, And I never had this feeling—() this sad, sweet pain. 1 think it, must, lie owing to the idle life I lead In the dreary house for ever that this new bosom-weed lias sprouted up and spread its shoots till it troubles me indeed With a restless weary feeling—such a sad, sweet pain." It will bo observed that the Maori is qaiio as simtime.nt.al as she of the higher ei' iii:anon. When a few more years has taken the girl into the woman unrcquieted lovo can bicak forth : O for s: me cavcrn unespiod, Whereto I may escape and hide, Let my deep love, in my despite, Leap u]». and break away into the light. And again a. wail 1 rcaks forth : It rniinot ho ; it never c n bo s i! J lint .1 v. e; b a n, compelled to lovo, I kinov ; JTiin I shall lovo -him ever—till tho day When with thick coronals of freshest leaves The maids and matrons to my funeral go ! The natives cover their heads with leaves as a ;.ign or mo.nnhig when they follow to tho grove a friend or relative.

listen, tio, to the tangi of one who laments for her absent lover : O sail 1 O '"ark! 0 happy wind! 0 lakeAll happy for his sake, Why cannot I too lest, Im 1 liferent, unoppressed, No aching at the breast. Why not behold a boauteous thing with heedless airy pleasure, Sleep, sport or speed away like you, untortured by the treasure !— But I'must moan and writhe and languish, And almost envy in this anguish The poor fishes, for they die. But close to liini—beneath his eyo : — And death with him to life without, O who its bliss could measure ! [To he ( 'n/l I .)