He waiata tangi mo Maihi Paraone Kawiti

Tu Tangata, Issue 23, 1 April 1985, Page 25

He waiata tangi mo Maihi Paraone Kawiti

Margaret Orbell

When Maihi Paraone Kawiti died in 1888 at Waiomio, near the Bay of Islands, his passing was mourned in at least two waiata tangi composed in his honour. Later, both were published by John McGregor in his collection Popular Maori Songs (Supplement 1, 1898; pages 55-6 and 57-8). The second of these songs, by an unknown poet, is published here with a translation.

Maihi Kawiti, of Ngati Hine, was an important leader of the Ngapuhi confederation of tribes. As a young man he lived in turbulent times. His father Kawiti was a famous warrior chief who in 1845-6, with his ally Hone Keke, challenged the Government and tried the strength of the pakeha soldiers. Hone Heke four times cut down the flagstaff at Kororareka, which he regarded as an affront to his mana; but in the end, after fighting bravely, Heke and Kawiti were defeated by the pakehas’ artillery and a somewhat uneasy peace was made. Kawiti became a Christian, and

a few years later, in 1854, he died. When Maihi Kawiti succeeded to his father’s position, he saw a need to cement the peace which had been made with the Government. Maihi had long been a Christian, and had speht some time as a Christian teacher, so it was natural for him to listen to the advice of the missionaries when they urged him to effect a reconciliation. As well, those of the former warriors who still held aloof were beginning to experience strong economic pressures, for until they made their peace they were not able to deal freely with the pakeha settlers and traders. Maihi therefore sought to uphold te ture, the law, and te Rongopai, the Gospel. After the flagstaff on Maiki Hill at Kororareka had been cut down for the fourth time, the Government had sensibly refrained from attempting to replace it. Maihi now resolved that this flagstaff should be reerected by the hapu that had been involved in its destruction. As well as wanting to make a gesture towards the Government, he had another reason for this. The Waikato people were then establishing their King, and they had sent a deputation to Maihi, offering him the governorship of the north and a place in Te Kmgitanga second only to the King. This was not acceptable to Maihi, all the more so because the memories of the wars which had occurred in the fairly recent past between the two con-

federations of tribes. So a noble tree was felled, 400 specially chosen men hauled it up Maiki Hill, and the Queen’s flag flew there once more. The flagstaff was given the name of Whakakotahitanga, The Making of Unity. References to the past In his waiata tangi for Maihi, the unknown composer refers, in line 12, to his role as an upholder of the law. In line 9, Te Tiriti, The Treaty, is probably the site of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, which Maihi supported. At the same time, however, the poet refers obliquely to a past victory against the Government. Mount Puketutu is a hill by Lake Omapere, inland from the Bay of Islands, where at Puketutu Pa, Kawiti and Hone Heke in 1845 successfully repelled the pakeha troops and their Maori allies, though with the loss of a number of men. This pa belonged to Hone Heke, though Kawiti and his men fought alongside him; Kawiti later faced the soliders in his own territory at Ruapekapeka Pa, and was finally defeated there. So Puketutu must be spoken of in this song because it was the scene of the famous battle in which Maihi’s people had, with their allies, triumphed over the much more heavily armed forces of the enemy. It is not known whether Maihi fought at Puketutu, but he probably did so.

Traditional concepts and new ones In the traditional religion, Whiro was regarded as the figure who bore men off to death. Christian poets quite often continued to assign this evil role to Whiro, while at the same time they spoke of Jesus as the source of salvation. This poet blames Whiro for the existence of death, but then, in the last lines, addresses Maihi and sees him as mounting up to Jesus. Most of the images and ideas in the song are traditional. Motau, in line 19, may be a name associated with Te Reinga, the underworld, for there is a phrase, ‘te rimu i Motau’, which refers to the seaweed at the entrance to Te Reinga. In line 20, Maihi is seen as te puru, the bung or plug, of the earth. In traditional Maori thought, stormy waters symbolised strife, and a great man was sometimes spoken of as a bung which kept such waters from his land and people; the poets must have been thinking of the plugs of clay which stopped the holes at the side of canoes where the topstrakes were lashed to the hulls. The last words, ‘ka moe i te hau’, he sleeps in the wind, refer to the traditional belief that at a tangihanga the person who has died is greeted and wept over by his or her ancestors, who come in the wind.