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The Pa Maori

Human Sacrifice for a new Pa or Fort

Human Sacrifice for a new Pa or Fort

The author of a well known work on the Maori people informs us that:—"At the building of an important pa it was usual to bury a slave under each of the main posts of the fence." It seems a pity that such careless statements should be made, there being no proof that it was ever a common Maori custom, indeed only one instance is known of such a procedure, and one occurrence does not prove a custom. The case mentioned is that of a very old fort near Opotiki, a fort said in Maori tradition to have been in existence when their page 142ancestors landed in that vicinity from Eastern Polynesia some 20 generations ago. It thus seems probable that the act of so burying human beings at the base of posts was the work of the Toi tribes of mixed descent who certainly were in occupation of the district at the time of the arrival of the above mentioned migrants. Again, it may have been a custom of the Maruiwi folk, the original inhabitants of New Zealand, apparently a people of Melanesian affinities, indeed this seems by no means improbable when we consider the evidence.

It should be distinctly understood that the Maori has preserved no tradition of such a custom, or of the particular case at Opotiki, which is most suggestive and significant. Many inquiries made of old natives prove their ignorance of such a custom having ever existed; it must therefore have been abandoned many generations ago, or it was merely a local observance.

It is a fact that human sacrifices were occasionally, not often, made by the Maori at the construction of a new fort. The object in these cases, however, was something very different to the above, and the difference has not been recognised by the writer quoted. As in the case of human sacrifices at the baptism of a child, on the occasion of the tattooing of a person of rank, etc., the object was to impart prestige, eclat, to the function, and often a much appreciated dish at the ceremonial feast that ever accompanied such functions. In some cases human sacrifice bore a religious significance, in others the only objects were those given above. Nor did it follow that persons sacrificed were slaves; in many cases a force was despatched in order to slay a member of a neighbouring tribe to serve the purpose. In the Opotiki case there was assuredly nothing about the remains by which an observer could decide as to the social status of the persons sacrificed and, as observed, tradition is absolutely silent.

The following is the Opotiki case referred to, as given in vol. 20 of The Journal of the Polynesian Society:—"In a celebrated old pa, named Tawhiti-nui, situated a few miles west of the entrance to the Opotiki Harbour, Bay of Plenty (the history of which has been given by the late Judge J. A. Wilson), the owner of the property, in digging out the foundations of the former palisading that surrounded the pa, or fort, discovered skeletons in a sitting posture at the base of many of the mainposts. These were in a sitting posture embracing the posts."

Here follows Judge Wilson's account:—"The Tawhitirahi* pa, mentioned as overlooking Kukumoa stream, at Opotiki, lately became the property of a gentleman who proceeded to level the page 143ramparts; along the line post holes were found, time had removed the wood, but in each hole there was a human skeleton; the work-men, disliking the look of the thing, abandoned the job. Taw-hitirahi was no doubt a pa of great antiquity, and the men that built its battlements are a mystery. Their manners and customs, judging by this glimpse, appear to have resembled Fijian horrors described by the early European visitors to that country. They could not have been of the Hawaiki Maori race, whose traditions, generally precise, would have furnished a clue. The same may be almost as certainly said of earlier Maui-Maori people. Other pas have been levelled in many places, but no such ghastly remains, so far as I am aware, have been discovered."

Here we have a more cautious and reliable writer who does not transform a single incident into a widespread custom. His remarks on the matter are restrained and significant. Precision and guarded comment are desirable in describing native customs; love of effect is deplorable and most harmful.

It is quite possible that this savage custom was practised by the aboriginal Maruiwi or Mouriuri folk of New Zealand, and the Maori custom of burying a whatu or stone at the base of one of the large posts of a fort may have been a survival of such custom. The late Andrew Lang collected many illustrations of such survivals, showing that the custom of burying living persons in order that they might 'hold up the walls' was a very widespread one. Several items published in vol. 20 of The Journal of the Polynesian Society show that the custom was practised in India, and the same volume furnishes the following: —"In Cundinamarca (region of Santa Fe de Bogota, Columbia) according to Piedrahita, when the aborigines wished to construct fortifications encircled by a ring of posts, they placed at the bottom of each hole in which the posts were inserted the body of a fine young woman of good family, sacrificed for the occasion; the post was made to pierce the body in entering the soil."

The custom of sacrificing human beings at the building of a new fort seems to have obtained in many parts of Europe. In an article on Irish folk tales published in Folk Lore, vol. XXV., p. 378, occur the following notes:—"A skeleton was found in the wall of Dun Conor, and apparent sepulchral cists in the ramparts of the promontory forts of Cashlaunicrobin in Tirawley, and Bunnafahy in Achil, both in Co. Mayo. The remarkable case in Nennius of a child offered at the making of a fort is well known." This writer mentions similar discoveries at old forts in France.

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In 1877, when Elsdon Tower, in Northumberland, was being examined, it was found that one of the walls was built on a double row of skeletons. Also a small chamber with no opening was found in a tower, and in which three horses skulls arranged in tripod form, supporting each other were found. Here we have an old pagan symbol of northern Europe secretly preserved in a Christian building into our own time. Truly my forbears who roamed the vale of Girslees and occasionally rode across Carter Fell were far from being a civilised folk.

Occasionally a human sacrifice at the completion of a new fort might be as an act of whangai atua, a placatory offering to the gods, as in the case mentioned by Colonel Gudgeon:—"When Ngati-Whakaue re-built their great pa at the Puke-roa, all the tribes in that vicinity lived for a while in a state of apprehension, for they knew full well that some victims would be required to sanctify the work, nor did they breathe freely until the blow had fallen on Ngati-Tura."

An elderly East Coast native stated that, occasionally, a person might be slain at the opening ceremony and festival held at the completion of a new fort, but that it was by no means a common custom. In such cases a slave might be slain, or a raiding party sent out to slay a member of another tribe, in fact several might be so secured; men, women or children; all were fish that came to the raiders' net. Such victims were put to two different uses; their hearts were taken out, placed on spits, and offered to the gods, while the bodies were cooked and eaten; the bones being cast to the dogs.

There is, however, no tradition as to the burial of the person, living or dead, at the base of a post, so far as we are aware.

We know that human beings were buried at the bases of house posts by the Fijians, and there is some evidence that this custom was known to the inhabitants of New Zealand in former times, though it appears to have been but little practised by them, at least of late centuries. The writer is inclined to think that survivals of the custom of human sacrifice may be detected in several Maori usages in connection with house building, and the baptism of male infants of rank.

The form of sacrifice for a new house was a fairly common one in the Fiji group, as pertaining to the erection of houses for the chieftain class. Such a ceremony was actually witnessed by a white man named Jackson many years ago. The following account has been culled from C. F. Gordon Cumming's work, At Home in Fiji:—"A series of large holes was dug to receive the main posts of the house; and as soon as these were reared, a number of wretched men were led to the page 145spot, and one was compelled to descend into each hole, and therein stand upright, with his arms clasped round it. The earth was then filled in, and the miserable victims were thus buried alive, deriving what comfort they might from the belief that the task thus assigned to them was one of much honour, as insuring stability to the chief's house."

* Tawhiti-rahi. Rahi syn. nui.