THE OLD NEW ZEALAND MAORI.

Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2459, 14 April 1888, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE OLD NEW ZEALAND MAORI.

« ■ \BY MAJOR WILSON.I

MEDICINE, ETC. With regard to the knowledge of the Maori in curing disease, comparatively little is known possibly becauses they had few diseases with which to combat. They mostly consulted tho Tohunga who was their physician as well as priest. The Maori should be a good enough surgeon, as many opportunities wera afforded thorn in " comparative anatomy. Yet we hear little of their skill in this direction. Wounds received quickly healed, but they caunot, as a rule, stand the shock of an amputation. So many of the wounded used to die under the operation, that all the surgeons refused to amputate ; and it surprised them not a little to see how many used to recover the use of their limbs, by simply leaving them to nature combined with careful nursing, which they could get from us but not amongst themselves. There is a disease the Maories have—deemed by them incurable—called ngerengere—leprosy indeed. It greatly distorts the features; and tho Angers and tons often drop off. It is said not to be infectious or contagious. We know of married people where either tho one or the other has it, without the mate being attacked. The natives have a curious notion—that if a whare has been unoccupied for some time and burnt down, and a person either sit or sleep over the ashes that, he will become effected with ngerengere.

Whon a Maori is poisoned with the tutu they strip the patient atu.l takn him to the writer unci hunt him with flix leaves. When sheep are so attacked the shepherds, either wit the ear or separate the vein under the eye, which oau*es the blood to flow. The people in South Africa for a similar poisoning give a wine glass of vinegar. Query—would not vinegar answer in the human suhjoet? Tho natives are often poisoned by the kernel of the karaka berry. Tho pulpy covering l of this is good to eat. The Maories cook the kernel for many hours and then steep them in water—when they become fit for food and are very nutritious—but they sometimes in cooking them try them and if not sufficiently steamed poisoniDg ensues and a dreadful death. The Maoris under such circumstances, dig a hole and put 'ihe patient in up to the neck, so that the head only can be moved ; and it is the part of those watching to keep the head straight as otherwise, they say, the head would be screwed off," neck dislocated, wo presume, by the extraordinary strength of tho spasm. Only in this way can proper control he had of the patients convulsive movements. In tho Chatham Islands whore the karaka grows in such abundance—pigs are often seen with one side contorted, and so, too, are horses. The wild honey is another source of poisoning. If the bees feed on the fragrant" blossoms of the wharangi— Melicope Ternata—the honey becomes most virulently poisonous. Dr. O'Carroll, of Taranaki, formerly 3rd Waikato Regiment, mentioned to us the death of a European from " eating honey," but he did not seem to know that it

becamo poisonous from tho cause indicated. Nowhero in Now Zealand is there more of this beautiful shrub them in the Province of Tariinuki. When travelling through the bush the Maories are most careful that their horses do not eat the leaves of the wharaugi, it being a more virulent poison in this way than tutu. We once bought a native horse with the tips of both ears cut off, to save it from the effects of eating some leaves of this plant. When a native is bitten by the katipo—tho small black spider, whose habitat is the grass aud toi bushes on the sea coast—he endeavours to catch the insect, and after killing it, to rub the wound with the dead body, there being, presumably, some virtue in it that counteracts its own poison. Many Maoris die from the effects of the katipo bite. It is surprising that so much constitutional disturbance can follow the bite of at) insect no larger than a small plea. We one day saw two lying ill from this cause—one at Whakatane and another at Matata. The celebrated Ngatiruanui chief Te Hanatana, who was said to have died of his wound at the battle of Wairaka, actually died from the bite of a katipo ORATORY. Nothing shows the native to greater advantage than when engaged in debate. His display of oratorical power, with accompaniment of graceful gesture being manifest to the most casual observer, his declamatory logic being often of a character tho most convincing. To the native mind a certain mode of avium' is necessary, and what would be scarcely understood by a European, however well versed he miyht be in tho lan"-ua"-e, would carry undeniable conviction to the native hearer. They deal largely in metaphor, often the most apt. Proverbs also enter largely into their discourse he who has a stock of trite proverbs, or wliakatuaki, obtains an advantage over him who is not so fortunate as to remember there, or who has been forestalled in their use, though sometimes the adroitness of a subsequent speaker will, by a well-chasen whakatauki, render worthless that of the previous speaker. Such consummate debaters as Te W T hiti or Ngakau being peculiarly happy in this direction, and never failing to carry the listeners with them. A gifted orator will also make a sensation and carry a point, by quoting or repeating any well-known waiata, or song, bearing' upon the subject discussed, especially if it have a refrain in which nil join. So is their custom. One chief of our acquaintance, Te Haikai, was so gifted in this respect, and had such a musical voice withal, that when he used to speak the women would climb on to the roofs of the houses to see and to listen.

Wo wore once amused at a Native Land Court in Wausranui, presided over by Judge H . Oue witness wns being examined, and he said there was a song that bore upon the question ; might lie give it in corroboration ? On leave being "■iven, he commenced to sing it, and much to the astonishment of the court, the words were taken up, and lustily sung by all present—men, women and children. The face of the j'»d»e and consternation of the court were something indescribable in t^eir

ludicrousness. The judge rose and actually danced, putting his fingers into his cars, and altogether impulsively, acted in a manner quite as indecorous as those who had caused this ebullition of temper. DEBATE. If there be one thing more than another in which the Maori is fastidious, it is in that of euphony of expression, words that seem to have a hard termination, being discarded for those more pleasing —or the construction of the word is even altered to suit their taste in this respect. "It is notergawari," soft, and smooth, they will say. On hearing a name that engages theiratteution, they will exclaim, "He ingoangawari," a smoothly sounding name, pleasing to the ear. What wonder, then, if we find many really eloquent orators amongst them, and that their harangues are as effective as are those of other peoples, celebrated for their powers in this respect ? We have seen a Maori Demosthenes keep his hearers simply enthralled for hours. Te Whiti, the Paribaka prophet, in one instance that came under observation, spoke for five hours. To see and hear a man like Tarapipipi Te Kapara, a man of commanding presence, standing ft 3in, and weighing 18 stone, stirring the crowd of listeners, was worth travelling miles to hear—or that even greater orator, tho celebrated Wahnnui, a Hercules weighing 21 stone, whose dignified deportment before the bar of the House of Representative excited the surprise and admiration of a whole house of legislators. To hear and see him addressing an assemblage, as it was once our privilege to do at Maunga- I tautari, was a pleasure not soon to be forgotten. When the " Kingites," of which ho was tho spokesman and the " Qeeenites," who were also well represented, met to discuss the great and burning question of land which was then agitating all the island. Seldom has one witnessed such a display of grand oratorical debate as was there furnished by those two debating gladiators, Wahnnui and Tarapipipi, the latter ably assisted by the Queenites Raihi and Te Ra.igiUaheke, both orators of no mean degree. But it was towards Wahanui that all eyes were directed. There was no straining of the ears to catch tho sonorous sentences as they were poured forth deliberately, distinctly, and with due and marvellous precision and emphasis. Every syllable being clearly enunciated, until the speaker ended with the words " Koti run, mete Reti, mete hake me mutu me in lit u me mutu " (tho survey ceases and and sales upland must henceforth cease, must cease, must cease, must cease), and those listening knew that, ho nor. only meant them to, but that they should.

To observe the action and gesture, not much of either, the gracefulness persouified, of this ponderous Demosthenes, action which the best of our English tragedians might, emulate, but whoso perfection in that rcsoect ho may never hope to reaeh, was worth a long day's journey to" behold. His sonorous sentences and graecful accompanying gestures electrifying even opponents, and drawing foith the admiration of those who understood not one word of the language spoken, even as in Italian Opera an English audieueo will sit .spellbound for hours.

The power of many of these men to sway the multitude has often caused astonishment. One high-born and gifted chief, celebrated alike for his oratorical and debating powers, travelled some hundreds of miles to confute Te Whiti, whom he called the false prophet, he was going to make a name for himsell by demolishing the iin pot tor—there were some two thousand assembled at Parihaka, the prophet's residence, lint although tho chief had been bragging all the way that he would leave Te Whiti, tho shining one, speechless, after the prophet had delivered his address, his boasting adversary was mute, and returned to bis home a confirmed believer, and so has it fared with everyone who has made a similar attempt.