THE KOROTANGI.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXV, Issue 2876, 18 December 1890, Page 2

THE KOROTANGI.

Thosk who visit the S. Andrew's Church fete, nt Cambridge on Boxing-clay, will have sin opportunity nf inspecting the Korotangi. Many nf our readers will doubtless: ask, " What is the Korotangi ?" It is a relic of by-gone ages, and is said to be the oldest antiquity extant of the Maori race. It is a stctie bird, said by the Maoris to have been brought by them from Hawaiki in their canoo Tainni. At the time it was found it created a great hubbub amongst the natives ; nor was the excitement confined to them, for it also infected the philosophical savants amongst the Europeans. The Korottmgi is the property of Major Wilson, it having formerly belonged to the late Mrs Wilson. In ISiT tho Major read a paper on this relic befofe the Wellington Philosophical Society, in which he stated: "The Maoris assart that they brought the Korotangi with them from Hawaiki, and that it came in the canoe called Tiiinui, which first lauded on the East Coast, but it was dragged over the Tumaki portage into tho Manakau, thence navigated to Aotua, on the West Coast, between Raglan and Kawhia. It is a curious fact that tho Korotangi was found in » rua, or hole, in which was growing a largo kahikatea tree (Manuka), very old. The tree had been blown clown, and the bird was found in the roots by n Maori. It is owing to this fortuitous circumstance that we know anything of this interesting relic of native antiquity. Mr Albert Walker procured the stone bird, and left it iur a short time with Major Drummond Hay, in Cambridge. It was in his house that an old chieflainess saw it, and on hearing where it was discovered she bowed herself, and then sang the song which To Ngakau (usually called the King's .Secretary) afterwards wrote for me. This eong is known in all parts of the country. Tho knowledge of its having been found caused much excitement nninng.it the natives. 'I'awhiao, tho Maori King, carue to see it, and Kawi took it away with him, and rose several times through the night to tangi or cry over it. Many songs were written bewailing the loss of the Korotangi, and in .Sir George Grey's coiled ion of Maori poenu published in 1853, there are several that refer to it, but in thorn it is called " Korotan " instead of " Korotangi." I This volume was published some nineteen years before the bird was found. To our mind there is no doubt that tho bird was hidden or deposited whore it was found ; placed there possibly for safe keeping much in the same way that the bodies of renowned chieftains were conveyed out of the ken of the vulgar, and known only to the old tohuno'aH appointed to the service. It would have been considered a calamity if such a famous relic as this should havo fallen into the hands of aliens. Sir George Grey has in his fine collection a small stnne figure, presented to him by the Rotorun chiefs. This image may have been sculptuiud by the ancient Maoris in their old home across the sea ; but it presents nothing of the artistic design and finish of the Korotangi. The position of the bird is so natural that even a Cariova need not have been ashamed to claim it as a conception of his genius.—Mr Edward Tregear K.R.G.S., connects the Korotaugi with tho Polynesian account of the Deluee, and states:—" It may be quite the oldest relic of primitivo men and their beliefs now in existence."