'Now Mr. Interpreter,' said our President,' we are waiting for your story.'

'Well,' said the Interpreter,' I must obey I suppose, but I fancy when I have finished, that some of you will wish I had never begun. However it still page 121rains, and as my yarns may help to run off the hours, I will do my best to interest you.

'I have no story of battle or imprisonment to tell. I never saw a Taniwha, nor was I ever nearly caught by one—at least that I know of. But I have certainly seen a good deal of Maories and Maori customs and perhaps I could not do better than tell you something about them. I may as well begin with

'The Makutu.

'The Maories are a very imaginative people, and have, perhaps in consequence, many superstitions. They are the Celts of the South. The superstition of the Makutu (bewitching) took deep hold of them in former times, nor is it yet extinct, more than one instance having quite recently occurred amongst them.

'The origin of this curious Maori superstition is lost in antiquity. Probably it is an ancient survival brought by the Maories from the far-off Aryan lands, from which they are supposed to have come in the long, long ago, or from some country at which they dwelt or touched, in the marvellous succession of migrations and voyages, which finally ended at" Te Ika a Maui," (the Fish of Maui) dragged from the sea by the demi-god Maui," the Islands of New Zealand."

'The belief in the" evil eye" is not yet extinct amongst Western Nations, and the power to "be-page 122witch" is still believed to exist, by the most ignorant amongst them. These ideas survive amongst the Maories as the Makutu. When a Maori is makutued, he believes he is bewitched. It is sometimes caused by a Tohunga (priest), making incantations of a simple or occult kind; or by touching a dead body; by an imprecation or curse; by a glance of the eye; by touching the head with food, or even by passing under food, suspended in a house or tree.

'When a Maori believed he was makutued, he knew his death was certain, and resigning himself to his fate, died without loss of time, unless the Makutu was removed by the incantations of a Tohunga, or by the priest who had imposed it, or by one more powerful than he.

'An instance of the Makutu came under the notice of a friend of mine forty years ago, which will illustrate some of its peculiar features. My friend at that time was building a ship on the coast. There were then no European ship carpenters to be had, and being himself a master of the craft, he engaged two parties of Maories, who, under his skilful guidance—with the quick apprehension and readiness of hand natural to the Natives—carried on the building of the ship in a fairly satisfactory manner.

'After a time however, one of the tribal parties became dissatisfied with the influence of a young Chief at the head of the other tribe. The young fellow, by his quickness and docility, had become my friend's right-hand man in the work. The scheming of the first tribe under the influence of their priest, page 123for the removal of the young chief and his tribe, was unavailing. When, one day at low water, the young Chief said, that he and his tribe must depart without delay. Being pressed for the reason, he said the old Tohunga of the other tribe had makutued him, by placing a small boulder on the shore just below high-water mark, and that if he did not depart before the water rose over the stone there would be an end of him. 'The poor fellow was in an agony of terror, begged my friend to allow him to leave the place at once, as he knew he would certainly die before next morning if he remained.

'With much difficulty, my friend persuaded him to delay his departure till next day. The master carpenter at once went to the camp of the malcontent tribe, and in their presence, reproached the old priest for putting the Makutu on the young Chief, telling them that he also possessed the power of the Makutu, and, drawing a circle in the sand round the old Tohunga, and making a few mesmeric passes over him, looked steadily for a few moments into his red eyes, and then declared, that before the tide had risen twice, he would be a dead man.

'The old priest raised his eyebrows, shot a mocking glance at my friend, and said "Taihoa" (wait, we shall see).

'At evening, there came, as usual, to the large hut, where the young Chief and his Maories were at supper, a dog belonging to the old priest of the opposition tribe, for the usual scraps of meat and biscuit. When page 124the dog appeared, my friend stroked his back, ears, and tail in a way he had never done before. He then said,

'"By sunrise on the morrow this dog will die, I have makutued him. If he does not die, then, the Makutu I have placed on the old Tohunga (priest) will fail, and the priest will live."

'During that night, a sullen deadly terror pervaded both camps. It may seem strange that the Makutu (bewitching) should have such extraordinary power over the Maories, but it is nevertheless a fact. Undoubtedly, their strong and vivid imagination renders them peculiarly liable to its influence, as well as to many other beliefs and illusions. The young Chief was in mortal terror. Nothing that my friend could say, comforted him. He declared he would be dead before high water. His retainers bemoaned his hard fate, and tangled (mourned) over him beforehand, as though he were already dead.

'In the morning, before sunrise, the Tohunga's dog lay on the sandy shore, dead. Then the old priest and his tribe knew they were under the influence of a Tohunga Nui (great priest), from whose terrible Makutu they must escape without delay, or they would be all dead men.

'Rapidly gathering their more necessary articles into the canoes, they put to sea, so relieving my friend the shipbuilder of their unwelcome presence.

'From that hour the young Chief began to recover. One of his retainers carried the smooth round boulder page 125far above high-water mark, The Maori workmen at once became merry and active as before. The shipbuilder's influence was unbounded. Was he not a great Tohunga?

'In due time, the building of the good ship was finished, and the Maori shipbuilders departed to their homes.'

'What an extraordinary circumstance,' said the Surveyor, 'how on earth did it happen?'

'I was about to say,' continued the Interpreter, 'that the master shipbuilder had given the dog a dose of arsenic the night before.'

'Ah,' said the practical Station Manager,' I've makutued a good many Maori dogs in that way myself

'Now,' continued the Interpreter, 'as the Maories say," that ends." Having given you an instance of the superstition of the Maories, I may as well tell you a story of their courage and devotion.

'Courage and Devotion.

'After the defeat of the Maories at Orakau, the soldiers pursued the retreating fugitives at all points "as they escaped from the untenable fortress. A little party of Colonial troops led by a dog, came upon a party of three Natives, two old men and one youth. The latter was the only armed man of the party, the old men having thrown away their guns the better to make their escape. The pursuers were rapidly page 126approaching. Before they could reach the forest not far ahead, the young Maori was observed to drop behind, and facing the pursuers, he knelt and presented his gun at the advancing foe. They stopped, fired, and missed him. Without discharging his piece, he sprung to his feet and ran on in advance, until he had overtaken the weary, unarmed old men, when he again faced about and presented his gun as before, but evidently reserving his fire, as he did not discharge his piece.

'By this time, the old men were drawing close to cover, the advancing soldiers rapidly lessening the distance between them. Again they fired at the youth, but missed as before. Once more the gallant fellow turned and bounded on. The worn-out old men were now close to the forest. Again, the now fainting youth faced his pursuers, and kneeling down presented his gun at the soldiers, now close upon him, but still no flash nor bullet came from his weapon.

'He remained kneeling, and, shooting him as he knelt, the soldiers rushed on into the forest, but failed to capture the older fugitives, for in the tangled undergrowth, they made good their escape. Returning from their fruitless search, the soldiers found the gallant youth lying dead on the track, without either caps or ammunition in his pouch, and that his gun was empty, not having been discharged nor even loaded; the brave fellow having, with an empty piece, gallantly covered the retreat of the two old men and secured their escape, by the loss of his own life. When the soldiers saw this, they were glad the old men had page 127escaped, and heartily sorry they had killed their gallant defender.'

'I should think so,' said the Major,' I have seen many gallant deeds done in my time, but I never knew anything to equal that'

'No more gallant deed of heroic devotion and noble self-sacrifice, was ever done in any age or country,' said the President,' it makes one regret, that a race capable of such deeds, should have met so hard a fate.'

We all expressed our admiration for the brave young warrior, and our regret for his untimely end.

After a short interval, the Interpreter said, 'You all seem rather sorrowful, let me tell you a story of another kind.

'Cooking Soap.

Long ago, in the very old days, there came ashore at a sea-side Maori village a number of articles from the wreck of a small Sydney trading schooner. Amongst other things, a cask containing some bars of soap came ashore.

'"White man's food," said the Maori wreckers," let us eat it," and seizing each a bar, they struggled hard to swallow the mouthfuls of soap, but their teeth sticking into it, and finding it worked up into a lather, they concluded it required cooking.'

'Come now,' interrupted the hard-headed Station Manager,' you are laying it on too thick.'

'No,' said the Magistrate, 'I don't think it strange, that the unsophisticated savages should eat soap; why, page 128I remember at a dinner at Luxor, seeing some Egyptian colonels wash out their mouths with pieces of soap.'

'Well the Egyptians might like it,' said the Station Manager,' but I know the Maories don't, for I have never seen them even wash with it until lately, much less eat it.'

'Perhaps their dislike for soap may have arisen from the wreckers' experience,' laughingly replied the Surveyor.

'Well,' continued the Interpreter,' I don't know about that, but let me finish my story. Full of the cooking idea, the Hangi (oven) being already nearly filled with Kumaras (sweet potatoes) and fish, they placed the bars of soap over all, and sprinkling the food with water from a gourd, they covered all up with fern leaves, mats and earth in the usual manner. After the proper time had passed, they prepared for their evening meal, by removing the covering. The Kumaras and fish were properly steamed—for the Maories are excellent cooks—and the food placed on mats by the women, with a piece of the new food on each, by way of a special Kinaki (relish).

'Hungry as usual they were, but strong as a Maori stomach is, this new food was too much for them, and with many hideous grimaces, they were reluctantly compelled to give it up. The steamed soap had penetrated fish and Kumaras; they could eat nothing in the oven. Worse still, the oven itself was so saturated with soap, that they had to prepare new food in a new oven.'

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'No wonder the Maories don't care for soap', said the comical Major.

'Though the Maories', continued the Interpreter, 'are a hard-headed, matter-of-fact race, they are by no means devoid of sentiment, as the following incident will show.

'The Spirit Land.

'Long before the introduction of Christianity into New Zealand, the Maories had ideas of a Spirit Land more or less defined. They believed that all, young and old, chief and slave, took their journey thither after death. Many legends exist in connection with the Spirit Land, abounding in beauty, pathos or sentiment. Let me give you one of them.

'In a village on the sea-coast, a young Maori Chief of high rank, fell in love with a Maori maiden of great beauty, but of low degree. She returned his love, and many were the love passages and secret meetings between them, but, as in other communities, the course of true love did not smoothly run, for the youth's father, the great Chief of the district, forbade their union, and determined it should not take place. This opposition, as usual, only made them love each other the more, but in vain, for the grim old Chief was inflexible. The young Chief was inconsolable, refused to eat, and died of grief. Heart-broken, the maiden destroyed herself, saying as she threw herself from a cliff into the sea, page 130'"O Parengarenga I come, I come to thee," and the ocean waves carried her to meet her lover in the Spirit Land.

'The old Chief hearing of her dying words, declared the union should never be. And rushing to the edge of the cliff Taiaha (battle-axe) in hand,

' " I go," said he, "I go to break asunder the chains with which the daughter of a slave seeks to bind the son of warriors," and plunging from the cliff into the waves, he was seen no more.'

'What a touching story,' said the President.

'Touching, do you call it,' said the Station Manager, 'when you next tell that story Mr. Interpreter, I think you might call it, "The Story of Three Fools."'

'Dick,' laughed the Major, 'I'm ashamed of you, you'll be in love yourself one of these days, and then you'll know better.'