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Typo: A Monthly Newspaper and Literary Review, Volume 1

Maori Folk-Lore

Maori Folk-Lore.

The Ancient History of the Maori, his Mythology and Traditions. Horo'o-uta or Takitumu Migration. By John White. Vol. i. G. Didsbury.

An event of some literary interest during the month has been the appearance of the first volume of Mr White's « Ancient History of the Maori, » an official publication, and the immediate sale of a large edition. « History, » in this case, is a misnomer—the secondary title, « Mythology and Traditions, » better explains the character of the book. Mr White possesses a practically inexhaustible collection of native genealogies and traditions, and some years ago was commissioned by Parliament to publish the results of his life-long accumulations. The work has already cost the colony a large sum of money; and it is satisfactory to know that so far as the first volume is concerned, there has been some financial return. This, however, has arisen from causes quite apart from any literary or scientific merit the work may possess. No sooner had the first orders of the trade been supplied, than one of the Wellington papers stated that the book was grossly indecent; and the Government, taking alarm, meditated suppressing the remainder of the impression. The day the telegram containing this information appeared, the whole of the copies in the hands of the booksellers were sold; and a speculative firm in Wellington lost no time in making the Government an offer for the rest of the edition, which was accepted. The charge of indecency was unwarranted and unjust, and the foolish people who rushed to buy the book on that account have doubtless repented their bargain. The Maori traditions have this in common with all other mythologies, that in striving to account for the mystery of life and its beginnings they have made free use of emblems and forms of expression which are not quite in accordance with civilized usage. In dealing with such matters, Mr White has decently paraphrased the original Maori.

We scarcely know whether Takitumu is intended to be classed as a scientific work. To our own thinking, it is not in that respect to be ranked much above the stories of « Uncle Remus, » while it entirely lacks the literary qualities which promise to secure for « Brer Rabbit » and his associates an abiding popularity. There is a too evident want of discrimination in the selection of matter. The same story is repeated again and again with but slight changes, and the result is somewhat irritating. It is much as if some publisher should collect all the current versions of « Cinderella » and publish them one after another in a volume. The conclusion is irresistible that individual narrators felt quite at liberty to vary details at pleasure. Some of these traditions have an obvious admixture of foreign matter; as, for instance, the story of Tu-whaki (p. 57). « He took clay, and kneaded it with his spittle, and rubbed it on her eyes, which restored her sight, » is suggestive of something quite outside of Polynesian mythology. There are half-a-dozen variants of the same story in the book; and in one only does this suspicious passage occur.

Some of the most skilled Maori scholars hesitate to translate native proper names into English, excepting where they convey a simple idea or an obvious compound. Mr White has no hesitation whatever. He breaks the longest names into constituent parts, and gives a more or less intelligible rendering. This, like Mr Tregear's new philology, is no doubt « delightfully easy, » but we venture to say it is an exceedingly misleading process. The short glossary at the beginning is enough to show how unscientific is Mr White's method, and to cast a doubt upon his interpretations. What are we to say to mixed definitions like these:

  • Io: Power, soul, muscle, life.
  • Kahu-kura: Red garment, god of travellers, war, life, disease, and death, now represented by the rainbow.
  • Pa: To hinder … a fenced village.
  • Pu: Sanctity, origin, centre of knowledge, king.
  • Roi: Dwarf, shake, entangled, fern-root.
  • Take: Foundation, origin, cause, king.
  • Whai: To follow, to search after, to scout; a game not unlike that of cat's-cradle.

Here we find nouns, verbs, and adjectives, jumbled in confusion. Words so treated become mere counters. Given some hundreds of similar ambiguous definitions, and all the proper names in Maori could be translated with a facility equalled only by its inaccuracy. Po = night; rangi = heavens; therefore Porangi = Night-in-the-heavens. This is not one of our author's renderings; but it is on the same principle. Every credit must be given to Mr White as an industrious collector; and had he only possessed an equal measure of insight and discrimination, the work would have been a very valuable contribution to philology and ethnology. Perhaps its most important feature is the large number of chants and incantations, which, for obvious reasons, are less liable to perversion than legendary stories. It is a singular fact that all Maori songs are traditional, native poetry having for generations past been a lost art.

As a literary work, Takitumu does not take a high place. Its wearisome genealogies and endless repetitions, make it as somnific as the Book of Mormon. Neither poppy nor mandragora, nor all the drowsy syrups of the world, could more effectually medicine the ordinary reader to sleep than a few pages of this ancient lore. The lithographed illustrations of tattooing are poor specimens of graphic art; and the nude figure of Tiki in the large folding sheet at the end of the book is a ludicrous piece of wood-engraving. Typo's P.D. could equal it with a kauri board and a jack-knife. We notice a slip in p. 26, where references are made to « plates » 1, 2, 3, 4, which really relate to separate figures in a single plate facing the page. As in all other work brought out under Mr Didsbury's supervision, the typography is good.