OUT OF EXILE
Canoeing on the Patea--The voyage to Hukatéré--The white man's
world again--Bent the medicine-man--_Makutu_, or the Black
Art--Bent's later days--The end.
All was ready for the voyage, and the _pakeha_-Maori and his companions
loaded their canoe and embarked for Hukatéré--thirty miles down-stream,
not far from the sea-coast. The Patea was a very winding stream,
flowing between high forest-covered banks; its course was impeded by
frequent rocky shoals and accumulations of sunken logs, which formed
rapids. Aboard the canoe, besides Bent, were Rupé, Hakopa and his
niece, and a man named Te Rii, who was an _urukehu_, or "fair hair."
The white man and his Maori companions paddled along merrily for seven
or eight miles, lightening their labours with canoe-songs. Then, in
shooting a rapid, the canoe struck a rock, swung broadside on to the
swift current, and immediately capsized.
The crew reached the shore safely, and hauled the canoe up on to a
shingly bank. Fortunately all the cargo--the baskets of dried eels and
the calabashes filled with honey--had been made fast to the thwarts, as
a precaution against such an accident, and so was saved; but old Hakopa
lost a little kit--his bush savings-bank--containing a sum of money
which he had acquired at the Waitara. On the bank a fire was kindled
by means of flint and steel--commonly used amongst the Maoris in those
days, and still occasionally seen in use in remote forest districts,
such as the Urewera Country. By the blaze of the great fire the wrecked
canoeists dried themselves and their garments, and they camped there
that night.
At daylight next morning they embarked again, and another day and a
half at the paddles took them down to the Hukatéré _kainga_, a large
settlement of _raupo_-thatched houses, standing on the left bank of the
Patea, in a beautiful bend, with the lofty, forest-fringed cliffs of
Pariroa jutting out abruptly on the opposite shore.
The approaching canoe, its four paddles flashing in the sun and dipping
again all together, was seen from the _kainga_ while still some little
distance up the river, and the men and women of the Hukatéré gathered
on the water-side and cried and waved their welcome to the long-absent
people of the bush.
"_Kumea mai te waka!_" they chanted, and the women waved shawls and
green branches in the poetic greeting of the _powhiri_. "_To-o-ia mai
te waka!_ Oh, haul up the canoe! Draw hitherwards the canoe. To the
resting-place--that canoe! To the sleeping-place--that canoe! Oh,
welcome, welcome, strangers from the forest-land! Urge swift your
paddles, for home darts your canoe!"
So, chanting their ancient song, the villagers received the new
arrivals, and, still waving their garments and their leafy branches,
retired slowly before them as they landed and walked up the sloping
banks until the open _marae_ in the centre of the _kainga_ was reached.
There the guests from Rukumoana were received by a dignified chief,
white-bearded old Nga-waka-taurua (Double-canoe). Now the _powhiri_ was
succeeded by the doleful sounds of the _tangi_, and one after another
the Hukatéré tribespeople pressed their noses to those of Rupé and his
household; and they wept long and unrestrainedly for the dead, for
those who had passed away since they last met.
And then the feasting. The bush-family and their "tame white man"
enjoyed a meal of truly huge proportions and variety in comparison with
the meagre forest-fare to which they had been confined so long. And
when the _pakeha_ tobacco and _pakeha_ grog came out--unwonted luxuries
to the _mohoao_, the bush-people--old Rupé and his household were
indeed in the Promised Land for which they had longed for many a month;
they had all that the heart of the Hauhau could desire.
The feast over, the dried eels and honey, conveyed with so much
toil from distant Rukumoana, were brought up to the _marae_, and
ceremoniously presented to old "Double-Canoe," who distributed the
food amongst the people of the village. The canoe itself was similarly
presented to the chief as a gift of _aroha_ from Rupé. In return, the
men of Hukatéré placed before the visitors their gifts--£5 in money
(representing the sum total of the _pakeha_ cash in the village), and
blankets, shirts, and other articles of clothing, of which Bent and his
companions were in much need after their rough life in the bush.
"While I was in the _kainga_," says Bent, "the local chief went down
to the town of Patea, a few miles away, to get me some European
clothing. He informed some people in the town that Tu-nui-a-moa, the
_pakeha_-Maori, who had been with the Hauhaus for twelve or thirteen
years, was in his _kainga_, and next day about twenty Europeans rode up
to the settlement out of curiosity to see me. We had a long talk, and
they gave me some articles of clothing, and told me all about the white
man's world from which I had cut myself off. This was about the end of
the year 1878.
"After a month's stay we returned to our own village, in a canoe
belonging to the Hukatéré natives, loaded with goods and 'tucker.'
Five days' paddling and poling up-river took us to Rukumoana.
Planting season came round again; then we whiled away the time in Maori
fashion--hunting wild pigs, snaring and shooting birds, catching eels,
and getting honey--until the crops were harvested. And not long after
that we bade farewell to our old _kainga_ for ever, loaded our canoe
for the last time, and once more paddled down to Hukatéré."
* * * * *
[Illustration: KIMBLE BENT, THE PAKEHA-MAORI.
(_From a photo taken in 1903._)]
From Hukatéré the _pakeha_-Maori and his girl-wife went to
Taiporohenui--Bent's old home in the war days. There he lived for a
year or so, blanketed like a Maori, and working in the cultivations.
Here, too, in the long nights he was much with the old men of the
_kainga_, and from such learned men as Hupini and Pokau--true
_tohungas_, or priests, and soothsayers--he learned much of the strange
occultism of the Maori. He saw singular ceremonies, the rites of the
_makutu_, the black art. He learned scores of _karakias_--incantations
useful in Maori eyes for all sorts of purposes, all conditions of war
and peace time. Some of these were _makutu_ spells by which the wizard
could slay an enemy, by witchcraft and the power of the evil eye. Many
a case of death from _makutu_ came under Bent's observation during his
life among the Maoris. Old Hupini, says the _pakeha_-Maori, undoubtedly
killed men with his _makutu_--a combination of three factors:
projection of the will force, the malignant exercise of hypnotic
influence, and sheer imagination and fright on the part of the person
_makutu_'d.
Many Maoris believe that the witchcraft can be wrought by an adept
or _tohunga_ by taking some of the hair or clothing or even remains
of the food of the person intended to be slain, and pronouncing the
appropriate powerful _karakias_ and curses over it. The enemy's
_hau_--his life-essence, his vital force--then lies in the hollow of
the _tohunga's_ hand.
A _tohunga_ can take the _hau_ of a man's footprints and thereby
_makutu_ him; he can even _makutu_ an enemy's horse so that it will
fall sick and not be able to travel!
Amongst the prayers and ceremonies which old Hupini taught Bent were
the _karakia_ for combating the evil spell of the _makutu_ and for
restoring a bewitched and ailing person to health and safety--to the
Land of Light and Life, the _Ao-marama_.
One of these rites Bent describes in true Maori fashion:
A person is taken seriously ill; it is the _makutu_. The wise man is
called in; he divines that the illness is caused by another _tohunga's_
witchcraft. At daylight in the morning the sick man is carried to
the water-side. The wise man then takes three small sticks or twigs
(_rito_)--fern-sticks will do--and sets them up by the side of the
river or the pool. One of these sacred wands represents the invalid,
one the tribe to which he belongs, and one the mischief-working wizard
(_te tangata nana te makutu_). A charm is said over them, and then two
_rito_ are taken away, leaving only one--that for the wizard--the "wand
of darkness."
An incantation, beginning:
"_Toko i te po, te po nui, te po roa_" ("Staff of the night, the great
night, the long night"), etc., is repeated over this wand. When this
is said the priest conducts the sick person to the edge of the water
and sprinkles water over his body, repeating as he does so a charm to
expel the _makutu_ spirits from his body, ending with a curse upon the
malevolent wizard--"Eat that _tohunga makutu_, let him be utterly eaten
and destroyed."
When this is ended the patient is taken back to his house. He is told
that the wise man has, by virtue of his very strong charms, seen the
rival _tohunga makutu_, and that it will not be long before that evil
man dies. The curse falls, the wizard is himself _makutu_'d, and the
invalid--perhaps--recovers.
About the year 1881 Bent--now able to venture into the towns of the
_pakeha_ again in safety--left Taranaki, and travelled to Auckland and
up to the Waikato. Then he went on to the west coast, and spent some
months amongst the Maoris of the Ngati-Mahuta tribe, living in the
historic old settlement Maketu, on the shores of Kawhia Harbour, close
to the legendary landing-place of the Tainui canoe--the Waikato Maoris'
pilgrim ship.
Tawhiao, the Maori King, was then living at Kawhia, and he asked Bent
to remain with him and be his _pakeha_ and interpreter. The white man
was now, however, wearying to be back in his old home, Taranaki.
"Tawhiao," says Bent, "insisted on me remaining with his tribe, but I
repeated a Maori incantation which I had been taught by the _tohungas_
in Taranaki, a _karakia_ used as a charm by strangers (_tangata
tauhou_) who may desire to leave the place where they are staying on a
visit and proceed to a new _pa_, and who fear obstruction. The charm
begins:
"'_Ka u, ka u, ki tenei tauhou,
Ki tenei whenua tauhou._'
"When the old king heard me repeat the incantation he exclaimed:
"'Ha, so you are a _tohunga_!'
"'Yes, I am,' I replied.
"Then the old man said, '_Kua tuwhera te rori mou_' ('The road is open
to you.') He permitted me to return to Taranaki, and sent four of his
men to escort me through the King Country to Waitara."
The last quarter-century of Kimble Bent's life has not carried much
adventure. Living amongst the Maoris, he acquired some reputation as a
"medicine-man." During his wild life in Maoridom he had become expert
in the rude pharmacopœia of the bush, and learned to extract potent
medicines from the plants of the forest. Native herbs and tree-bark and
leaves, prepared in various ways, are exceedingly valuable remedies.
The knowledge of these herbal remedies, gained from many a _tohunga_
and wise woman of the bush tribes, the white man now turned to
practical account. His fame as a doctor reached Parihaka, the village
of Te Whiti, the Prophet of the Mountain. The prophet's people sent
for the white medicine-man to come and heal the sick. He spent a week
in Parihaka, and returned to his Taiporohenui hut with more money in
his pocket than he had possessed since he left his old home-town of
Eastport to see life in England. "And I was luckier than most _pakeha_
doctors," says the old man, "for none of my patients died!"
* * * * *
And so the tale of "Tu-nui-a-moa" is told, and we take our leave of the
old _pakeha_-Maori--Kimble Bent, sailor, soldier, outlaw, Hauhau slave,
cartridge-maker, _pa_-builder, canoe-carver, medicine-man, and what
not--sitting smoking his pipe in the midst of his Maori friends. He is
still living with the natives; working in their food-gardens, fishing
with them, house-building for them. A grey old man, of mild and quiet
eye, who might easily be taken for some highly respectable shopkeeper
who had spent all his life in city bounds. Yet no man probably has
lived a wilder life, using the term in the sense of an intimate
acquaintance with primeval, passionate savagery, and with the ever-near
face of death. He is the sole living white eye-witness of the secret
Hauhau war-rites; the only white man who has survived to tell of those
terrible deeds in the bush, to tell the story of the last Taranaki war
from the inner side--the Maori side.
Bent has reached the age of seventy-three; and now the old man's
thoughts go to his boyhood's home in the far-off State of Maine, and
he sometimes expresses a wish to reach his homeland again. "If I could
only get a berth on some American sailing-vessel bound for New York or
Boston, I'd even now try to work my passage home," he says. "I'd like
to die in my mother's land." But that can never be. He is for ever
beyond the pale; and he will die as he has lived, a _pakeha_-Maori.
APPENDIX
TITOKOWARU, THE TARANAKI WAR-CHIEF
The following interesting supplementary particulars concerning
Titokowaru, one of the leading figures in this book, were supplied to
the writer by the Rev. T. G. Hammond, of Opunake, Wesleyan missionary
to the Taranaki Maoris:
"It was Titokowaru's right eye that had been destroyed by a bullet
in some engagement. He was about five feet nine in height and
somewhat spare and muscular, with fine bone, an alert, active
man, but by no means good-looking. His skin was rather darker
than the general run of Maoris, and his nose low in the bridge,
with wide nostrils. His face rarely lit up pleasantly, and he
was of reserved manner. His knowledge of _tikanga Maori_ was
considerable, and during the war he conducted the usual ceremonies
to make the war-parties successful.
"The late Rev. Stannard, of Wanganui, told me that Titokowaru's
name given him in baptism was _Hohepa_ (Joseph), and I have heard
from Tairuakena and others that Tito was one of the young men who
accompanied the Rev. Skevington on his last visit to Auckland.
(This was long before the Maori War.) They journeyed overland
from Te Waimate to Auckland, Mr. Skevington going to attend the
Auckland Synod. While in the old High Street Church, Auckland,
he died suddenly. Titokowaru and the other young men returned to
bear the news to the people, as he (Tairuakena) put it, '_Ka hoki
mai matou tangi, haere ki tena kainga, ki tena kainga._' Mr. Woon
succeeded Mr. Skevington at Heretoa, Te Waimate.
"I had one interview with Titokowaru which I shall never forget.
I think it was in 1876, and before I knew Maori. Mr. William
Williams, of Manaia, Taranaki, was going to visit Titokowaru at
Omuturangi, on the Waimate Plains, and, as I was on my way to New
Plymouth, he persuaded me to delay a day and go with him--a most
unwise thing, as the Maoris had said they would shoot any one
who crossed the Wai-ngongoro. We went from Hawera to Normanby,
and then picked up old Kātené Tu-Whakaruru, who was just then
acting as a Maori policeman. We rode along over these vast plains,
with the cocksfoot brushing against our knees as we sat in our
saddles. We came to a house on the edge of the bush, and found
only one woman, whose face was deeply scarred; she had lately lost
her child, and had been cutting herself in her grief. This woman
told us that Titokowaru and the men were in the bush planting
potatoes, and pointed out a narrow path, along which we galloped
for a good distance, perhaps a mile.
"Suddenly we came upon about eighty Maoris, all men, and
Titokowaru with them. They gathered round us as we dismounted, and
Titokowaru came and took my right arm, and a big burly fellow my
left. They sat me between them, holding me fast, while the smoke
from the fire close by almost smothered me. An old bald-headed
Maori began to speak in an excited manner, and when he had done
a very rascally looking young fellow made a speech, coming up to
me and smacking his thigh, and letting out an angry grunt at the
end of every period. When he finished, Kātené spoke, and did
his best to turn away their anger; reminded them of the good the
missionaries did in getting them released from bondage in the
Waikato and the Ngapuhi Country.
"Then Williams spoke, and at the close of his speech a fine man
in a _piupiu_ (flax waist-mat) orated, and then came forward
to _hongi_ (rub noses) with me. After which there was a little
fraternisation, and we came away. Even old Kātené looked
very white while the row was on, but I did not know enough to be
scared. It was a narrow escape; I, of course, know now what I did
not know then. I thought at the time Titokowaru was protecting me,
but I think now he was making sure that I did not get away."
Titokowaru died at his village near Manaia, on the Waimate Plains--the
scene of his olden battles against the whites--towards the end of
1889. To the end he was a sturdy enemy of the Europeans, and though he
did not actually fight against them after 1869, he was the leader in
many obstructive movements against white settlement, surveying, and
road-making.
REWARD FOR TITOKOWARU'S HEAD
Under address and date Downing Street, February 26th, 1869, the Right
Hon. Earl Granville, K.G., Secretary of State for the Colonies, wrote
to Sir George F. Bowen, G.C.M.G., Governor of New Zealand:
"I see it stated in the newspapers that you have offered a reward
of £1,000 for the person of the Maori chief Titokowaru--I infer
alive or dead--and £5 for the person of every Maori rebel brought
in alive. I do not at present pronounce any opinion as to the
propriety of these steps, but I must observe that they are so
much at variance with the usual laws of war, and appear, at first
sight, so much calculated to exasperate and extend hostilities,
that they ought to have been reported to me by you officially with
the requisite explanation, which I should now be glad to receive."
In the course of his reply to this despatch Governor Bowen said:
"It is contended that this passage implies that the Maoris now in
arms ... are foreign enemies, or at all events belligerents, with
whom the usual laws of war must be strictly observed."
On this, Earl Granville remarked in a despatch of November 4th:
"I think you would have done well to point out to those who
thus argue that my despatch nowhere hints that the Maoris are
foreigners, a doctrine which I had never heard of before I
perused the Attorney-General's opinion; and that the legitimate
inference from my despatch is the direct contrary to that which
is drawn from it.... I do not clearly understand how you justify
this notice as a matter of law. I understand you to disclaim the
application of martial law; and viewing Titokowaru merely as a
notorious, but untried and unconvicted rebel and murderer, I am
not aware of any Colonial enactment which would make it lawful for
any chance person to shoot him down."
_Printed and bound by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ld., London and
Aylesbury._
FOOTNOTES
1 Those flags, displayed on the war-poles in the Hauhau villages in
1865-70, carried many a strange device. The ground was white
calico, on which red patterns and lettering were sewn or painted.
Favourite designs were a red half-moon, like the crescent of
Islam, a five-pointed star representing _Tawera_, "the bright and
morning star," and what was called a _Kororia_, in shape like the
half of a _méré-pounamu_, or greenstone club, cut longitudinally.
These colours had been made in the Waikato during the war, and had
been sent round after the manner of the Highlanders' fiery cross
to the various tribes in the Island.
2 There is an interesting Maori proverb concerning this rapid
rapid Tangahoé stream and the Tangahoé tribe who lived on its
banks. This is the proverb, or _pepeha_:
"_Tangahoé tangata, e haere;
Tangahoé ia, e kore e haere._"
This, being interpreted, is:
"Men of Tangahoé depart;
But the current of Tangahoé remains."
A _pepeha_ which recalls Tennyson's "Brook":
"Men may come and men may go,
But I go on for ever."
3 We have survivals of this widespread ancient custom amongst
ourselves, in the practice of placing coins, etc., under the foot
of a mast of a new ship, and under the foundation-stone of a
church or other important building. The cult is found amongst many
savage nations in its primitive form. Here is an instance narrated
by Mr. T. C. Hodson in an article in _Folk-Lore_ (Vol. XX., No.
2, 1909) on "Head-hunting amongst the Hill-tribes of Assam": "The
head-man of a large and powerful village (on the frontier of the
State of Manipur) was engaged in building himself a new house, and
to strengthen it had seized this man (a Naga) and forcibly cut off
a lock of his hair, which had been buried underneath the main post
of the house. In olden days the head would have been put there,
but by a refinement of some native theologian a lock of hair was
held as good as the whole head."
It was the olden Maori custom to place a human head beneath the
central pillar of a sacred building, and to have a human sacrifice
at the opening of a new house.
4 Compare this with the ingenious form of "spring-gun" which an
English exploring expedition found in use in 1910 amongst the
Negrito pigmies on the slopes of the Snow Mountains, in New
Guinea. This spring-gun is made by setting a flattened bamboo
spear against a bent sapling, fastened to a trigger in such a
way that it is released by the passer-by stumbling against an
invisible string stretched across a game-track. These hardened
bamboo spears inflict serious wounds, as they are launched with
considerable force.
5 Tihirua died at Ohangai, near Hawera, in 1907.
6 Of this Hauhau Colonel W. E. Gudgeon wrote in the Polynesian
Society's _Journal_, No. 59 (Sept. 1906): "Had there been but
ten men of the stamp of Takitaki the redoubt must have been taken;
but luckily there were not, and therefore a mere handful of men
held the redoubt to the end."
7 See von Tempsky's sketch, showing General Chute's column setting
out on this march.
8 The following account of Major von Tempsky's death, given in
Auckland by Mr. James Shanaghan, who fought at Te-Ngutu-o-te-Manu
as an A.C. private, and was wounded while attempting to rescue the
major's body, is worth placing beside the Maori story for purposes
of comparison. It is the most circumstantial narrative of von
Tempsky's end ever given by a European survivor of the
bush-battle:
"Our brave old major was walking to and fro with his sword in
hand, furious at being caged as he was. I met him and he spoke to
me in his kindly, thoughtful way, and asked why I did not take
cover. I answered by putting the same question to him. He then
said, 'I am disgusted. If I get out of this scrape I will wash
my hands clear of the business.' He then sent me to take up a
position and keep my eyes open, as the bullets were coming thick.
I left him to obey the last order he ever gave. I had not gone
far when a man of our Company was shot. The major went to his
assistance and was shot, the bullet entering the centre of his
forehead. He fell dead on top of the man to whose assistance he
was going. That was how von Tempsky died.
"A Frenchman named Jancey and I went to the major and lifted
him up and laid him on his back, and just as we did so a bullet
struck Jancey on the side and travelled across his breastbone,
and another struck the cartridge-box he had on his back. I
left von Tempsky and picked up Jancey, carrying him out across
the clearing. I then met Lieutenant Hunter (of the Wellington
Rangers), and when we were about ten paces from von Tempsky's body
Hunter was shot dead. I got hold of him and started to pull him
back. Then I said to one of our men, 'Come along for Major von
Tempsky's body.' This man refused, but Captain Buck (Wellington
Rifles) came up and asked if I knew where von Tempsky was. I
said, 'Yes,' and he said, 'Come along, lad, let's get him out.'
When we came to the body I was hit by a bullet on the left thumb,
which was shot nearly off. Just as I changed the carbine to my
other hand a bullet went through my left hand and struck the
carbine-stock, knocking me backwards. Then Buck was shot dead,
and as I got up a bullet took my cap off. I got away from the
clearing, leaving von Tempsky and Buck dead together. There were
four of us who went for von Tempsky's body; Jancey and I were
wounded, and Hunter and Buck were killed."
9 "_Ko koe te kai mau!_"
10 This name Papa-tihakehake was given to the place after the fight,
in commemoration of the defeat of the troops. _Papa_ means a
battle-ground; _tihakehake_ refers to the dead bodies of the
whites which strewed the ground.
11 Colonel W. E. Gudgeon writes me: "For the number engaged Moturoa
was the most desperate engagement fought in the Maori War.
Whitmore's return did not give nearly our losses. I made it at the
time fifty-two out of less than two hundred actually engaged. At
Te Ngutu-o-te-Manu all did not behave well, but at Moturoa any one
might have been proud of the men. No force in the world could have
behaved better."
12 Kereopa, in the days before the war, had been a pupil at the
Kai-iwi mission school.
13 The Taranaki Maoris used to cultivate the _mamaku_ fern-tree
for the sake of the edible pith. The natives point out one of the
olden _mamaku_ grounds just to the north of Keteonetea (near
the present township of Normanby), where the old Whakaahurangi
track went in towards Mount Egmont. Here there were two or three
miles of _mamaku_ forest. The Maoris used to cut off the upper
parts of the trees and plant them in the ground, thus making
two _mamaku_ grow where only one grew before. The old tree so
decapitated always sent out a new head.
14 This name _Rukumoana_ originated thus, according to the
Maoris: About the year 1830 a war-party from the Waikato attacked
and slaughtered a number of Taranaki people here. One of the
Taranakis saved his own life and that of his brother in a
remarkable manner. These two men were cousins of Hakopa, the old
warrior who befriended Kimble Bent in Te Ngutu-o-te-Manu _pa_ in
1868, and later on the Waitara. One of the men was wounded, and in
another moment his head would have been slashed off by a Waikato
savage, but his brother seized him in his arms, and leaped over
the steep bank of the Patea into the river below. He dived to the
bottom, and still holding his brother, crawled along the bottom
until he reached a place under the banks where the overhanging
shrubs concealed them from view. The pursuers failed to find the
brothers, who presently escaped to the forest. The Taranaki people
commemorated this heroic deed by naming the spot where Hakopa's
cousin took his daring leap "Rukumoana" ("Deep-Sea Diving").
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Transcriber's Note: |
| |
| Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. |
| |
| Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant |
| form was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed. |
| |
| Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained. |
| |
| Mid-paragraph illustrations have been moved between paragraphs |
| and some illustrations have been moved closer to the text that |
| references them. The List of Illustrations paginations were not |
| corrected. |
| |
| Italicized words are surrounded by underline characters, _like |
| this_. Words in bold characters are surrounded by equal signs, |
| =like this=. |
| |
| Footnotes were moved to the end of the text and numbered in one |
| continuous sequence. |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
End of Project Gutenberg's The adventures of Kimble Bent, by James Cowan