TRADITION, IDOLATRY, AND ROMANCE.
Origin of the Maoris--Te Kupe--First canoes--The _runanga_
house--Maori carving--Renowned ancestors--Tama te Kapua--Stratagem
of the stilts--Legend of the whale--The Arawa canoe--Noted
braves--Mokia--A curious relic--Gods of the Arawas--Mokia by
night--Hinemoa--A love song.
When I went to Te Ruapeka to view the _runanga_ house, it was in
company with Mr. C.O. Davis, a gentleman well-known throughout the
colony as an accomplished Maori scholar, and as one who has done much
to advance the spiritual welfare of the natives; and it was to his
kindly assistance I am indebted for much of the information I gained
on that occasion respecting the singular history of the Maori race,
and the remarkable legends connected with the graven images of their
curious temple of ancestor-worship.
From the earliest period of Maori history Te Ruapeka has been the
principal home of the Ngatiwhakaue, a section of the great Arawa tribe,
whose territory extends over the Lake Country to the East Coast.
Attracted, as it were, from their first landing upon the island to
the magnificent scenery of this portion of the newly discovered land,
the Arawas made their homes among the lakes, whose very shores and
mountains echo even to the present day with their songs and legends.
Whence they and the remainder of their race came, or at what period
they arrived from their mysterious dwelling-place beyond the sea, is
one of those interesting events in connection with their history which
have been lost in the dim vista of the past. The Maoris of the present
day refer to Hawaiki as the fatherland of their race, and hence the
proverb: _I kune mai i Hawaiki te kune kai te kune tangata_, "the seed
of our coming is from Hawaiki, the seed of man"; but of the locality of
this place, beside the belief that it was an island somewhere in the
broad waters of the Pacific, absolutely nothing beyond conjecture is
known. They have, however, a distinct tradition that their ancestors
migrated to New Zealand in certain canoes, the names of which, with
the principal historical events connected with them, have been handed
down from father to son through countless generations,[20] and although
these ancestral reminiscences may appear to the ordinary mind like
a labyrinth of mythical fancies, since many of the incidents upon
which they have been founded appear to have been dimmed and distorted
by the march of time, yet when considered in connection with the
rude monuments which serve to perpetuate their memory, they form, as
it were, the missing links in the unwritten annals of a splendid,
albeit savage, race of people, who by their singular intelligence and
chivalrous valour will be remembered in the history of the world so
long as the brilliant record of the rise and progress of the British
Empire shall endure.
According to general tradition, the first of the Maori race to reach
Aotearoa, as the North Island was termed by its original discoverers,
was Te Kupe. This hero, who may be looked upon as a kind of Maori
Columbus endowed with supernatural power, is said to have severed the
North Island from the Middle Island, and thus to have formed the wide
channel of water now known as Cook's Strait. His achievements are thus
commemorated in a characteristic native song:--
I'll sing, I'll sing of Kupe, great and brave,
Who launch'd his bark and cross'd the mighty wave;
He--when the world from chaos rose to birth--
Divided into continents the earth;
He form'd the valleys, and the mountains too,
And gave the fruitful earth its vernal hue;
Alighting as a bird upon the deep,
He call'd the islands from their death-like sleep;
Then Kapiti and Mana[21] kiss'd the wave,
And Aropaoa[22] left its ocean grave;
These are the signs which my ancestor wrought,
When Aotearoa first his vision caught,
And now will I explore each nook and strand,
And take possession of this fertile land.[23]
When Te Kupe returned to Hawaiki, he gave such a glowing account of
the size, beauty, and products of Aotearoa, that a fleet of canoes was
immediately raised by his people to proceed to the newly discovered
country.[24] Each canoe was under a separate navigator, and contained
representatives of the principal Hawaikian tribes with their head
chiefs and _arikis_, or high priests, and it was the final dispersion
of these canoes to different parts of the North Island which gave rise
to the great tribal divisions of the race as resented at the present
day by the Arawas, the Ngapuhi,[25] the Waikatos, Ngatimaniapoto,
Ngatituwharetoa, Ngatiawa, Ngatiruanui, Ngatihau, and others, with
their various intertribal _hapus_, or families.
We found the _runanga_ house to be a well-built structure, about
seventy feet long, by forty feet in breadth. The carving about the
portals was of a very elaborate kind, and formed an interesting
specimen of native decorative art. On the left-hand side of the
entrance was a grotesquely carved figure, about twenty feet high, of
Pukaki, of the fifth generation of ancestors, and on the right-hand
side was an equally remarkable one of Pimiomarama, also of the fifth
generation.[26] At a short distance in front of the entrance was a tall
square flag-staff of singular design, and at the bottom of it a figure
of the chief Puruohutaiki elaborately tattooed in pink and white.
He is represented as grasping a _mere_, and is said, according to
Maori legend, to have been a noted ancestor in the mysterious land of
Hawaiki, and to have lived three generations before Tama te Kapua, to
whom the temple is dedicated.
[Illustration: SPECIMEN OF MAORI CARVING.]
Stepping inside the _runanga_ house, a very curious sight presented
itself. The roof, high and slanting, was supported by a decorated
ridge-pole, while the rafters, painted in bright colours of red, black,
and white, presented all those singular varieties of curved and twisted
lines which form one of the most remarkable features in the varied
designs of Maori decoration. In fact, it is the wonderful blending of
the circle and sweeping curve which adds to the carving and painting of
this ingenious race its special and most attractive charm, and places
it far beyond that of any other savage people for beauty combined with
a unique and graceful simplicity.
The lower walls of the temple were entirely surrounded by grotesque
figures, representing renowned ancestors of the Arawa tribe, and whose
genealogy dated back both before and after the landing of the first
immigrants. All these singular effigies appeared at the first glance to
have been carved after the same model, but, upon closer examination,
it could be seen that each one had some peculiarity of feature, some
distinctive turn or twist in the singular design of its elaborate
carving, while each had some facial expression or bodily characteristic
for which the particular hero represented was supposed to have been
remarkable when in the flesh. One and all were depicted with distorted
features, protruding tongues, and defiant mien, while their big staring
eyes were formed of the pearly shell of the fresh-water mussel.
As already stated, the _runanga_ house is dedicated to the memory of
Tama te Kapua, the captain of the _Arawa_ canoe. Before the canoe
landed, he acted the part of a primitive Lothario, and won the favours
of the wife of Ngatoroirangi, the _ariki_,[27] or chief priest of the
war craft. Indeed, he would appear to have been both a "gallant captain
and a bold." The effigy of this warrior occupies a central position
on the left on entering, and, curious to relate, he is represented as
standing on _poutoto_, or stilts. Now one of the legends connected with
the eventful life of this adventurous navigator is very remarkable.
Ages ago there lived on the island of Hawaiki a chief named Uenuku,
who had a garden filled with a fruit called _poporo_. Tama te Kapua
went for that fruit at night-time on stilts. The tribe could not find
out who it was that committed these midnight depredations. There were
no foot-prints around. Taipo[28] was the man. At last they found Tama
te Kapua up a tree _in flagrante delicto_, stilts and all. The natives
cried out in exultation, "Ah, we will fell the tree, and catch him."
Tama te Kapua replied with the greatest _sangfroid_, "If you fell the
tree, and it falls on land, I shall escape; if it falls in the water,
you will be able to capture me." He had, however, studied the question
from a strategic point of view, and knew that it was "heads," he won;
"tails," they lost. The tree fell into the water, but Tama te Kapua
dodged his pursuers, and, striking out with his stilts, got off with a
clean sheet.
It is not, however, for the above youthful escapade that the memory
of Tama te Kapua has been handed down to posterity in Maori song and
legend, but rather for what may be called the "stratagem of the whale,"
and which in its inception appears to have been quite equal to that of
the "wooden horse" of classic memory.
When the crew of the _Tainui_ canoe parted company with the crew of
the _Arawa_ canoe on the voyage from Hawaiki, the former came across
a whale. They captured the whale, and secured it by means of a rope
to a _pohutukawa_ tree on the coast, hard by Whangaparaoa. Early on
the morrow the _Arawa_ canoe came along, and sighted the whale. Tama
te Kapua resolved to annex the monster mammal. He could only do that,
however, with any show of justice, by establishing a preemptive right
to it. He was equal to the occasion. He fixed another rope to the
whale, but in so subtle and crafty a way as to leave no room for doubt
that the monarch of the sea had been first captured by his own crew. On
the following day a dispute arose between the two crews as to who had
captured the whale first, but Tama te Kapua pointed triumphantly to the
way his own rope was "bent on," whereat the Tainui braves struck their
colours, and sheered off. The _Tainui_ canoe passed along the coast to
the Tamaki River, where it was taken across the land to the Manukau,
and thence by sea to Kawhia, where it was drawn up. The _Arawa_ crew
landed at Maketu, where they ate the whale.
The _Arawa_ canoe is represented by a somewhat rude design upon the
wall, fully manned with crew and fuglemen in full war-costume, while
the prow is plumed and carved like those of the present day. The sun
and moon are depicted in the heavens, and right ahead is a bright star,
representing the brilliant constellation which is said to have guided
Tama te Kapua and his followers to the shores of Aotearoa. Two trees,
presumably intended to represent _pohutukawas_, are ahead of the canoe,
and to one of these a whale is attached by a rope.
There were many grotesque warriors and noted braves, around and among
them was a curious carved figure of Tutanekai, the lover of Hinemoa,
with his _putorino_, or flute, in his mouth, and by the magic strains
of which he caused the dark syren to swim, nymph-like, to his island
in the lake. It was a singular instrument, about a foot long, pointed
at both ends, and flattened out in the centre like a fish. Near to him
was the effigy of Uenukukopako, father of Whakatira, who was in his
turn father of Tutanekai, and with his tongue hanging far out of his
mouth, his eyes glaring wide, and his enormous hands pressed across his
stomach, he looked as if he were still suffering from the effects of
his adventures in the _Arawa_ canoe. Opposite was Whakatira, brother to
Tama te Kapua. He is also represented on stilts, and is said to have
been in partnership with his brother in the orchard-robbing business.
Here also was Tiki, with a flute in his mouth. He was the friend and
companion of Tutanekai. Near to him was Hurutirangi, grandson of
Tutanekai. He is represented as grasping a curious weapon, the top of
which was shaped like a bird's head. With this instrument he is said to
have killed a chief called Wahiao, of another tribe. Near to the top of
the central ridge-pole of the building was a curiously carved figure of
the warrior Whakarra, with his feet resting on the head of a dog called
_potokatawhiti_, and whose memory is curiously blended with the history
of the tribe. At the bottom of the pole was a squat, dwarf-looking
effigy, with slanting eyes and elongated, tattooed visage, and whose
general appearance represented nothing so much as an ugly, ill-formed
baby. This was Kuruaro, a chief who is said to have walked the earth
six generations after Tutanekai. There were many other noted ancestors
of the tribe, all hideous in appearance, yet all elaborately and
marvellously carved, but it would require a volume to repeat their
histories.
It was on a bright morn, when in company with a native youth I stepped
into a canoe and headed across Rotorua to the island of Mokia, which
rose to a height of over five hundred feet from the centre of the lake.
As soon as we had landed, my guide took me to a tree, into the hollow
part of which the skeleton of a chief had been placed ages ago, but
the forest giant, continuing to grow, had clasped the grim remnant of
humanity in its firm embrace, and thus preserved the bones from decay
in a very remarkable manner.
We mounted through the thick fern to the summit of the island, where
formerly stood a _pa_, but nothing of this remained save the graves,
where some of the principal chiefs of the Ngatiwakaue await the coming
of the great day, and the subterranean caves wherein the stone idols,
said to have been brought from Hawaiki by the Arawas, dwell in a kind
of pagan solitude, as if anxious to hide their diminished heads from
the light of Christianity.
There are few more delightful places in the Lake Country than
Mokia--rich in Maori legend, and renowned far and wide as the scene of
one of the most interesting of the many love romances of the Arawas. It
rises boldly from the water, has hills and deep valleys, is rock-bound
and fringed with trees, and is all that is enchanting, fairy-like, and
beautiful. To view it with the sunlight playing over the glittering
surface of Rotorua and sweeping over its rounded, fern-clad hills
with the most charming effects of light and shade, is pleasing in
the extreme, but it is at night, when the lake is as calm as the sky
above, and the pale moon floats over its surface in a silvery sheen,
and countless stars are mirrored forth in the depths below, that the
picture is the most enchanting; for it is then the spirit of romance
steals over one, and leads the imagination back instinctively as it
were to the dark days of Maori history, when tattooed warriors glided
over the water in swift canoes on some midnight raid, and made the
welkin ring with their war-cries, when Hongi "the terrible" gladdened
the hearts of his conquering Ngapuhi with cannibal feasts at the
expense of the vanquished Ngatiwhakaue, when song and legend resounded
from hill and dale, and when Tutanekai, by the magic of his flute,
wooed the dark-skinned Hinemoa, and caused the heroine of Rotorua to
act the part of a primitive Leander by swimming _in puris naturalibus_
across the lake to his island home.
Now, be it known that the spirit of Hinemoa hovers around Mokoia like
unto a bright halo around the sun, and the hills and the vales, the
rocks and the stones, the trees, and the hot and cold springs, all
whisper tales to her memory. Her home was at Ouhata, a jutting point on
the shores of Rotorua, where stood a village of her tribe. She was the
daughter of the chief Unukaria, and the fame of her beauty spread far
and wide over the country, and poets sang of her charms, and warriors
plighted their troth in her honour. Never was maiden so talked of in
prose and sung of in verse. At Mokoia lived Tutanekai, a foster son of
the chief Whakane, who fell sick for love of the beautiful maiden of
Ouhata. The two hearts beat as one. Then, as now, the adage that "All
is fair in love and war" held good, and it was agreed that Hinemoa
should flee to Tutanekai, to whom she had been forbidden, under pain
of death, to give her hand. The strains of his flute were to herald the
beginning of operations, when the maiden was to paddle her own canoe
across the water. Now when the night was calm Tutanekai took his flute,
and seating himself upon a rock hard by Kaiwaka on the shore of Mokoia,
the sound of his music was wafted by the breeze to the home of Hinemoa.
Then Hinemoa came down to the lake to step into her canoe, but, alas!
the frail craft had been hauled up high and dry upon the land. To
launch it herself was impossible, and to seek assistance would be but
to divulge her movements. There was no course open but to swim, and,
with the innate courage of her race, she was equal to the occasion. She
took six empty gourds and fastened them to her body, on either side,
and then plunged from a rock into the lake. The stars and the moon
shone upon her from above, but the waters were wide, and there was no
guide save the music of Tutanekai, but with love at the prow she shaped
her course bravely until she landed on the shores of Mokoia, at a point
where a warm fountain bubbled up amidst the rocks, and which is known
even unto this day as "Hinemoa's Bath."
A LOVE SONG.
Far o'er the lake slept romantic Mokoia,
While the pale moon shone bright from above,
And on a rock the brave Tutanekai
Tootled his flute to the gay song of love.
Softly lamenting sings he to his darling,
"Come to my arms, O my sweet Hinemoa,
Let not the sorrow of anguish divide us;
Come, that we never may part any more."
Gently the echo sped on the night air,
Till spell-like it broke on the glad maiden's ear;
Lightly she came to the brink of the water,
And swam o'er its surface so limpid and clear;
Brightly the stars shone forth from the heavens,
Glittering like gems in a mantle of blue,
And the strains of the flute seem'd to ripple the water,
Wafted on by the wings of the wind as it blew.
Swift the dark beauty swept o'er the wavelets
Till she kiss'd the white sand of Mokoia's fair shore;
When brave Tutanekai, ceasing his music,
Cried, "Come to my arms, O my sweet Hinemoa,"
Lock'd in embraces, the lover and maiden
Were wedded by Cupid, who flew from above,
And dark Hinemoa and brave Tutanekai,
'Neath the light of the moon sang their anthem of love.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 20: As the natives had no written language, their numerous
legends, fables, songs, and proverbs were transmitted by oral
tradition.]
[Footnote 21: Islands in Cook's Strait.]
[Footnote 22: The Middle Island.]
[Footnote 23: Translated from the original by Mr. C.O. Davis.]
[Footnote 24: The canoes were named the _Aotea_, _Arawa_, _Tainui_,
_Mata-Atua_, _Takitumu_, _Tokomaru_, and _Kurahaupo_. According to
tradition, the _kumara_, sweet potato, the _taro_, the _karaka_ tree,
the rat, _kiore_, and the green parrot, _kakariki_, were brought in
them from Hawaiki. The _Aotea_ canoe was the first to reach the land,
hence the Maori name Aotearoa was applied to New Zealand. The list of
canoes, as here cited, was given to the author by Topia Turoa, head
chief of the Whanganui tribes.]
[Footnote 25: When a noun in the Maori language has the prefix _nga_ it
refers to the plural number.]
[Footnote 26: The Maoris divide their genealogical history, both before
and after their migration from Hawaiki, into various generations,
the duration of each of which, however, appears to be uncertain,
consequently the period of their arrival in New Zealand, even by their
own traditions, cannot be fixed with any degree of accuracy.]
[Footnote 27: The word _ariki_ means, literally, a chief priest, or
deified man; the head of a tribe is an _ariki_ by birth.]
[Footnote 28: _Taipo_, the name given to an evil spirit or devil.]