THE OLD NEW ZEALAND MAORI.

Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2456, 7 April 1888, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE OLD NEW ZEALAND MAORI.

[BY MAJOR WILSON.] WAR. Waii ! black, horrible war, with, in this case, .ill its savage concomitants—was the delight of the old M lori (we, of eoursa, speak of the old Maori), not he of the present, whose only thoughts were of fighting, and how boat to circumvent, and, if possible, exterminate his adversary ; for the vanquished

" Found not a generous friend, a pitying foe Strength in his arms nor mercy in his woe,"

Tho delight of the taua, or war party, was in surprises, for thore was gained their surest advantage, when the foe was

awakened from peaceful slumbers by the " Mingled shout and scream ;

Which froze the blood; in one discordant jar, When whoop after whoop, with rack the ear assailed ! " As if unearthly fiends had burst their bar."

And then the carnage indescribable— witness the dead heaping the ditches at Mawhitiwhiti, whore 2000 fell crushed out of existence by tho Ngapuhi tribe under the savage Hongi-ika. He of all others, who should have known better, havinsr not long before been in Christian England.

When the war frenzy—for it can be called nothing else—is on, father and son are alike commuted to the slaughter—the one by the other; should they happen to espouse opposite side—as we have seen in Heke's war and in the recent war between the kingites and white men — whero Khigito and Kupapa—or friendly —literally crouching —"drew bead " upon each other, and the old native proverb literally exemplified, "Ka mea taku kanohi ki a koe"—My eyes will be asleep or shut towards thee—l shall not soo thee—as it were—when I strike—says the father to tho son and brother to brother, and to-morrow I can mourn for thee.

Colenso in his essay on tho Maori races gives a fearful account of the exterminating wars—between 1822 and 1877, "The Ngapuhi " —he writes—"being well ararrned with muskets revelled iu destruction, slaying thousands. At Kaipara, Manukau, Tamaki, the Thames, the interior of Waikato, on to Rotorua, and even to Tarauaki; and they also came in thoir canoes as far South as Ahuriri or Hawke's Bay, remorselessly destroying everywhere as they went. The tribes farther North were also fighting against oiich other. The Rarawa destroying the Aoponri who were very numerous about the North Cape. Te iVherowhero, at tho head of his people, was slaughtering for many years on the West Coast, from Tiiriiuaki to Wiingauui; To Waharoa and other chiefs in tho interior and overland to Hawke's Biy. The Rotorua tribes in the Biy of Plenty; and Te Rauparaha exterminating in the neighbourhood of Cook's Strait, and along tho East Coast of the Middle Island. From 1822 to 1537 was truly a fearful period in Now Zealand. Blood flowed like water, and there can be no doubt that this numbers killed during this period of twenty years, including those who perished in consequence of the wars, far exceeded sixty thousand persons."

Observe tho iunato love of fighting , as found in this people. Alexander tho Great is represented im weeping because ho had no more worlds to conquer, so TJrukau, a Maori Alexander, stood with his weapon in his hand striking against his own breast because he had no more foes to contend with.

Native logeuds tell that they left their original home in Hawaiki because of war, and left to see if peace could bo found elsewhere but the demon of heredity was too strong for them.; and to fighting they even added cannibalism.

If we except the Zulus, there is perhaps no other race- so utterly possessed of tho war mania as our subject. The science of war has been carried to such an extreme that it has become with them quite an art. Their ambuscades were placed in a manner so masterly that they would have delighted the heart of a Phocion or Philopooman; the construction of their pas, or fighting fortresses, for engineering skill, would have called forth the admiration of a Vauban or a Todleben, and their generals have won the praises of a Monteeuculi, or a Buonaparte.—Famous- among those was the celebrated Rmiparuha, celebrated as much for his skill as a leader, as for his ferocity under success. Wily as a fox, his astuteness in council or in the conducting of a campaign was proverbial. He w.is the embodiment the very Achithopal of Maori sagacity. The rapidity with which he perceived the weakness of our tactics at tho Waiarau; and the adroitness and celerity with which he took advantage of our mistake, cannot soon be forgotten—Not so lontr as the mfmory of the massacre that followed stands on the page of New Zea land history.

When Raxparaha laid seigo to the fortress at Kniapoi li'-ar Chri-tchur-h, h;used 2 saps lo approach tho fort this was the first l.irao thin mnde of attack was used by the natives ; these saps can be seen to this clny and accordiug to Travers.' Life and Times of Te Riuparaha ; " they are as well carried out as if done by the most experienced European engineers. The determined manner in which the Maori fought the British regiments and men of ware-men fully attest their bravery In conformation' of which, ■",hey themselves point to Oheawai. to Rangiriri, to Puketalcauere, to Pukeliinau or the Gato-pa and to Orakau, where tho redoubtable Rewi, with a handful of men and some women, surrounded by some 2000 British soldiers, refused to surrender although imraediato death confronted thorn.

Who has not heard of Rowi'e famous answer whi-n sumrnondod to snrreuder : Kawhawliai tonu ako, ake,-ake, I shall fisht on fur ever and over. Even children become imV.ued with the war spirit, they will do what European children would shrink from attempting.

In the T'irauaki war two Maori boys one 11 and tho othor a year older, armed with one fowiinjr piece between thorn, observed a soldier who had lost his Way in the bush. Tho elder said to his fellow, let us shoot this Pakoha and get his rifle ; so they planted themselves on one side, out of sight of their victim, and as he passed he was shot and his gun taken. To show what proficients the natives were in the art of war, we may quote the account of a review held by one of their tauas, or war parties, as handed dowu in the legend of Tuwhakaro. The army of Wkakatau had a review to show how well they could go through their manoeuvres. They were formed into columns, and one column with fierce shouts and yells, after a war dance, sprang upon the supposed enemy, and whilst they were thus engaged with their imaginary foe, a second coluinu, with wild cries, advanced to their support; then the first column of warriors retired to reform, and thus column after column feigued to charge their foes.

Who has not heard of the celebrated war dance of the New Zoalander? Manning thus describes it : ia silence ; you might have beard a pin drop ; the uproar has turned to a calm ; the men are kneeling , statues; the chiefs have disappeared; they lire in the centre of their tribes. Suddenly from the extreme rear, is hoard a scream, horrid \ ell. A savage, of herculean stature, comes, mere in baud, and rushing madly to the front. Ho seomed haunted by all

the furies; Bedlam never produced so horrid a visage. Thrice, aa he advauces ho gives that horrid cry; and thrice the armed tribes gave answer with a longdrawn gasping sigh. He is at tho front; he jumps into the air, shaking his stone weapon ; tho whites only of his eyes are visible; he shouts the first words of the war song, and instantly his tribe springs from the ground. It would be bard to describe tho sceno which followed. The warning chorus of the war song; the horrid grimaces ; the eyee are all white, the tongues hanging out; the furious yet measured and uniform gesticulation, jumping and stamping. I felt the ground fairly tremble."

It was usually before an attack they performed this now celebrated danoe, if dance it could be called. To see, as we have seen, 800 armed men at this "function," —to use a pressman's phrase—ono would think that Pandemonium had broken loose.

The Maori gives battle in the open, has a regular pitched battle, without hesitation, giving warning that on a particular day ho will fight. Before the introduction of fire-arms, the battle was hand to hand, and with club and spear. The carnage then was dreadful, and when one side fled, the retreating foe was pursued with the most relentless fury. Then the fastest runners among the visitors had an opportunity to gain a name. They pursued, not cariug to kill outright, but were content to lightly spear the foe as he was, but so disabling him that he was an easy prey to those less fleet who were behind him. In this way, some of those Asahels of the cannibal would accomplish the death of tenor even twenty.

Wo have remarked that the pursued would meet with merciless severity ; but as a curious contradiction, if a vanquished chief begged for his life, Haying he would be his captor's rabi or slave, the servility with which the cowardly request was made, actually had the effect of sparing the recreant's life. He was held ever after aa a hewer of wood and drawer of water, and as the old Spartan mothers told their sons when handing them the shield, to return either with it honourably, or on it; so if these returned to their own tribe—the black stigma of Rahi would always attach ; the strain could not be wiped out for generations —To havo such a blot on ones eschutcheon is a calamity only the innate pride of a Maori can fully feel—and to taunt one with it has been the occasion of many a suicido.

After the fi','ht comes the greater horror of cannibalism. Alas, not peculiar to the Maori Savage. As Thompson has it. A rugged wight, the worst of brutes, was

11l 111), On his own wretched kind lie ruthless

preyed; The strongest still the weakest over-ran ;

In every country mighty robbers swayed, And guile and ruffian force were all their trade."

The natives even now speak of tin's practice with smiling complacency ; though tlisl they again go to war, it would not be resumed. Liko their more civilized brethren, our subject, after a long war, will bail with joy, the advent of peace, for " In these uraen days Reviving Mckunsa left her languid head ; Life flows afresh, and feel an inward

Bliss spring o'er his mind." Happily now, the New Zealander, though still as brave iis foimc-rly, sees the expediency of living at peace with all. They are not so insane as to court defeat and possible extermination ; their own motto being " let us die in our own land." They now bow to the inevitable, and appear to do so gracefully, as those who need not bo ashamed of the part taken in the past struggle. They say "are we not bravo to fight the might of England ; her men of war and twenty thousand soldiers for ten long years ?'' The native, unlike most races bears no malice when peace is once secured. They may have lost their kith and kin. Ho may say like Outalissi of liits pouple "Then seek we not their camp, for there The silence dwells of my despair." or like the Indian Logan, exclaim, " there is not a drop of my blood runs iu any human veins" but unlike Oustallissi of Logan ho will givo the right hand of fellowship to those who have slain his nearest and dearest. "Have not," ho says, "both sides drauk deeply of the fountain of life" therefore lot there bo no enmity." \Y:w is now a thing of the past, and ilia only righting for which the Maori is now emulous is on the fl'iorof the House ot Parliament whore tlieir strength has already, on two ocoa-ions, been the means of upr-uttins a Ministry or at keeping them on tin; Treasury benches.

( To be continued.)