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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 74

The Whence of the Mataatua Canoe

The Whence of the Mataatua Canoe

"The Mataatua canoe came from [unclear: ti] The Arawa came from the [unclear: and] culled Pain. Tainui and Kuro-[unclear: po] came from Rurutu."

[unclear: Tua] was a chief of Tahiti when the [unclear: atna] left. He lived in that far-[unclear: land] with the tribes known as Te [unclear: o]-Te-Oropon or Nga Mann kuru-[unclear: Te]-oropoa and Te Whana-i-a-Hurej [unclear: Te-]-Taumata-a-te-whsna-i-a-Ilurei. [unclear: Tua], wished to make a canoe, so [unclear: went] forth to the forest and selee-[unclear: a] tree and having felled it he ro-[unclear: ed] home. On re-visiting the place [unclear: t] day found the tree erect in its [unclear: mer] position Twice this strange [unclear: ing] occurred and so having fellow the [unclear: a] third time Tua remained to [unclear: ch] it in order to discover who it [unclear: that] was deceiving him. And as watched in that lone spot he was [unclear: ed] by the appearance of a "nga-[unclear: a] great monster of strange [unclear: u]. And Tua fled—fled through [unclear: u] great forest in fear. But it was [unclear: a] avail for he was pursued and [unclear: ed] by the ngarara (monster-[unclear: on)]. Now this ngarara was a [unclear: le] of the species " taniwha " and [unclear: me] was Tuamatua. And Tua-[unclear: a] carried off Tua to her hornet far away across the great hills. There they lived together as man and wife—Tua and Tuamatua. And as they lay together at night Tua was affected by a violent cough (mare). So when their child was born it was called Po-mare. Then Tua returned to his dis-taut home. And the child Po maro grew up and when he had attained a certain aged he noticed that his appearance was very different to that of his mother. He enquired the reason of it. Tuamatua said, " It is because your father was not such as I, but a different being, who came from afar off." Then Po-mare said, " I wish to see my father." So Tuamatua took him to the summit of a great hill and pointed out the direction in which lay the home of Tua. Then she returned to her home. But Po-mare went onwards until he came to the abode of Tua. And in the village ho saw a gong suspended and taking a stick he struck it and caused it to give forth a great sound. The people came forth and seized him and some went and told their chief of the act of the during stranger. For the gong was a sacred gong and was only sounded when a child was born to Tua. So the chief was exceeding wroth and commanded his people to stay Po-mare. But the youth s said, 'No! You must not kill me. If I am to die, then Tua himself must kill me." This remark was conveyed to Tua, but that chief said, "No! You yourselves must kill him." But some of the children of Tua had seen how much Po-mare resembled their father. So they brought him into the preaence of Tua who asked him who he was. Now Po-mare answered this question by relating the story of the encounter between his father and Tuamatua, the ogress. But when he arrived at the part describing the last upraising of the tree, then Tua checked him, saying, "Cease your tale, for now I know you are truly my son." Tue checked Po-mare page 42 thus because he was ashamed for it to be known that he had lived with a "ngarara."

And Tuamatua was pursued by TeKuri-i-horo-i-a-Anini and destroyed, and her body was cast up on the shore of Paia.

Irakewa was an influential man of Tahiti in those days. And as he-slept his spirit left him and came from that far-off isle to Aotearoa to Whakatane and to the Head of the Fish of Maui. It then returned to Hawaiki. Irakewa said to the people:—"There is a land far away which is a good place for you to go to. There is a waterfall there and a cave on the hillside for Muriwai."

So a canoe was made of the timber called "tamanu," and it was named Tuamatua. And this canoe crossed the Great Ocean of Kiwa to New Zealand and many people came in her, This was the canoe we call Mataatua, but it was known in Tahiti as Tuamatua. Kati! We will now cease."

The foregoing notes have been written-in a somewhat disjointed manner and will not, I fear me, possess much interest-for the general reader, but such as they are will help to further the work of collecting the fragments of Mataatua. I have not sufficient knowledge of the history and traditions of the tribes of this district to put together any connected account, but think it well to place on record these few notes for the benefit of others laboring in the field.

When noting the wonderful advancement of Human Culture within the past century, the rapid spreading of the Teutonic races in all quarters of the earth, the wholesale annihilation of Inferior Man—then is borne in on us the knowledge that the time is not far distant when this most ancient Earth shall see the last of her first born children give place to Teuton or to Slav, and Primitive Man shall be no more.

When that time shall come, [unclear: vl] the legends, and history, and songs [unclear: u] vocabularies of uncultured man [unclear: d] no longer be obtainable save [unclear: in] raries, then also will it surely [unclear: con] pass that these matters will be [unclear: vi] ed in their right light as to the [unclear: le] that they contain. And men [unclear: s] say—Why is it that our [unclear: accounts] Primative Man are so meagre—[unclear: W] did our fathers not labour more [unclear: fu]

And wherefore we do well to [unclear: p] on record all obtainable [unclear: matter!] garding the origin and di-[unclear: tribal] of races, their languages, [unclear: tradi]

and history.

Strictly local as many of these [unclear: J] traditions are, yet shall they [unclear: find] place in the History of the Maori, [unclear: and] serve to illustrate the customs of [unclear: the] singular race which for so many [unclear: e] turies has been wandering—

"On from island unto island

At the gateways of the day,"

As for those men of knowledge [unclear: w] have given me the traditionary [unclear: ms] contained in these articles-this [unclear: is] word to them from one who, [unclear: alth] ignorant of their ancient history [unclear: u] the truly wonderful teachings of [unclear: th] mythological system—[unclear: although] member of an intrusive and [unclear: ag] sive race, has yet been ever [unclear: tr] with kindness by these [unclear: kaum] even with a dignified courtesy [unclear: by] de-cendants of Toi and [unclear: Tiwaka] of Tangiharuru and Wharepakan. [unclear: p] long hours and many evenings [unclear: has] they instructed me in the ancient [unclear: b] of their race and the old-time [unclear: eh] of Maori-land. Over and again [unclear: h] they repeated long genealogies [unclear: f] the period when the gods lived [unclear: on] earth to the coming of the [unclear: pa] With endless corrections and [unclear: explan] tions have they drilled into the [unclear: d] tive memory of their hearer-a [unclear: n] ory rendered non-retentive by [unclear: ca] of racial dependence on written [unclear: h] guage—the legends of the [unclear: Cr] page 43 the Origin of Han, the Cause of the Ements, the avhence of the Maori ? the wars and loves of old.

Right well do I appreciate the care Wpatience bestowed upon my edu-Bon in these matters by those in Komi recognise the truly intellectual fend, which ever takes a keen pleasure in tracing the history of the past, ind dwells with quickening interest toon the achievements of those stal-Krt ancestors, who, in their frail Ken boats, explored half a world Bcenturies before our progenitors fepass from the sight of land.

The Genesis and Mythology of the Polynesian world form a truly strange and interesting example of the mental power of a Neolithic people and also of the longevity of their race. Little inferior is it in mental grasp and nobility of expression to that wonderful story that has come down to us through the changing ages from the far away Valley where dwelt the pre-Semitic Accadians, where Darius, and Alexander, and Cambyses, with other old-time heroes marched and fought; and hoary nations of antiquity lived out their long-drawn lives, in a land that was even then ancient beyond imputation.

To those who have studied the ancient lore of the Semitic, Turanian and Hellenie races, no word need here he said as to the strange resemblance that exists between the Polynesian folk-lore and Cosmogony, and those of the people who gave us the singular legends disclosed by the older [unclear: cuneiform] inscriptions of Chaldea. Far away in the dim past, away beyond the birth-time of the Vedas and the great Aryan separation—the ancestor of the Maori lived in the Cradle of the World—and knew not his destiny. Far and wide over the [unclear: surfice] of the earth has he wandered and [unclear: many] lands have known him from Africa's eastern isle across the great [unclear: Ocean] of Kiwa to the shores of America—ever urged on by love of adventure and maritime daring, by want and war, to fulfil his allotted task in making history.

Let not the reader of these few rough notes and translations imagine that the fragments of Mataatua are yet collected. It is not so. The foregoing items, which have been hurriedly put together, are but as a single fragment of that sacred vessel—butas a few chips of the taumanu or tata. And the rauawa, and the lhu and the riu and the towering whakarei are yet unrepresented. For abler pens than mine remains the task of gathering in the scattered relics of the daring Polynesian Argonauts who adventured these rough seas and explored the Great White World while yet the Americas were unknown to our fathers.

But the collecting of these most interesting and instructive legends must be done quickly, for the few kaumatua who yet possess the kura-huna are fast passing from us—verily their feeble hands already grasp the sacred pohutukawa by which the spirit of the Maori descends to the World of Darkness. It must be done to-day, for, behold ! The dawn of the coming day of their annihilation is already breaking across the eastern skies, and the old, old trail to TeReinga will soon be traversed by the Last of the Tohungas. And even before the grass grows over that sacred Trail, must those who possess the love of knowledge, the desire to rescue the sacred lore of this fast vanishing Neolithic race from oblivion—labour full well in the field. Yet a little while and it will he too late. Another generation will look in [unclear: vin] for these men of knowledge. It is we of to-day who must work. And then, when our old friends have gone on their lonely way, adown that narrowing Trail, and the "tamtam of Tura" has descended upon us—we may look back upon this labour and say—It was well done.

page 44

If those who can read the lesson which is writ for all, should fall into line and assist in this work—then it may come to pass that the long-lost remnants of Matnatua shall be recovered, that the rauawa shall be lashed on and the sacred figure-head attached, that the mast be erected and the sail spread, and with strangely formed paddles and carved balers, the men of old shall place themselves upon the taumanu, and then amid the death-like silence of the people and the weird karakia of the tohungas—Mata-atua shall again float upon the waters as of yore—and go forth upon the Great Ccean of Kiwa on yet another voyage of exploration in search of the Hidden Land of Tane.

And even as that Hidden Land is not seen of human eyes, so shall the new voyage of Mataatua be unknown to us. No chart shall mark her course, no voyager across the Dark Sea shall hail her or look upon that strange bark. In the days of old she [unclear: said] bravely forth from Hawaiki to [unclear: eae] War and to find a new land [unclear: whe] her people might dwell in peace. [unclear: L] on her new Voyage shall she sail [unclear: h] the World of Light to a Land [unclear: that] not known to our geographers [unclear: a] which is not bounded by parallels [unclear: o] latitude. She will sail over the [unclear: d] waters of Te Eeinga to escap [unclear: fr] the great Law of Human [unclear: Pro] For her people know full well [unclear: that] Great White World is passing [unclear: fra] them and will paddle silently [unclear: a] wearily onward in search of the "[unclear: I] ing Waters of Tane."

And wherefore may all men [unclear: K] that herein lieth a Great [unclear: Lesson] we will but accept it.

And the only word that ig [unclear: left] me to add to the foregoing is—

Tena!

"Kohikohia nga marama o [unclear: May] atua."