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The Ancient History of the Maori, His Mythology and Traditions: Horo-Uta or Taki-Tumu Migration. [Vol. III]

Chapter XI. — The Acts Of Te-Wera. (Nga-i-Tahu.)

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Chapter XI.
The Acts Of Te-Wera. (Nga-i-Tahu.)

I thought, O Kana! if
I kept the secret still
Untold, unknown, and hid,
‘Twas dread and fear
Of the still awful
Doom of song in war
That ruled thy every act.
But thou, O Wera!
Hast the red and sacred
Plume that binds, commands,
And keeps in power, and
Saved from death thy warrior host,
And gained the battle “Dirty Barracouta.”

Te-wera (the burnt) resided at Wai-koua(kua)-iti (the water that has become less); but, having a desire for a change, he went to live at O-takou (sacred red cloth) at a place called Puke-kura (red hill). But on the death of Tu-ki-taha-rangi (stand near the margin of heaven), Te-wera was blamed, and charged with the death of that chief by witchcraft, which made Te-wera leave Puke-kura and go and reside at Puraka(Puranga)-nui (great heap). The people of Puke-kura collected a war-party, and in the night went and surrounded the settlement of Te-wera at Puraka-nui. Te-wera and some of his people, including his younger brother, Patuki (knock at the door), came out of the pa and were surprised by the ambushed enemy, who captured and killed Patuki. Te-wera ran into the river and page 224 swam across and stood on the opposite bank. The enemy saw him, and called to him and said, “You flee, but you do not gain any object. Your younger brother, Pa-tuki, is killed. You may flee, but you will not benefit by such act.” Te-wera replied, “Let him die. If Te-wera had been killed, and Patuki were alive, nothing in future would be gained; but Te-wera lives and Patuki is killed. In days to come the people will wail with bitter grief, and by grief they will be swept to death. Go and feed your children and live with your wives.” He left them and went to Wai-koua-iti, and collected a war-party, who embarked in one canoe, and in the night voyaged to O-takou and landed at Pukepuke (little hill), opposite to Puke-kura, where a dog was seen. The war-party chased the dog and caught it, and killed it as a propitiatory gift and sacred offering to the manes of Patuki. Te-wera chanted the incantations and performed the ceremonies usual on such occasions over the body of the dog, and took the heart out and roasted it, holding it up on a stick to let the fat drip into the fire. When cooked, the heart was placed on the earth and taken by the priest, and, whilst held high up on his outstretched right hand, the words offering it to the gods were chanted by him, and then it was given to the most aged man of the party to eat. The body of the dog was carried on board of the canoe. As the war-party embarked and crossed over to the other side of the river, to Puke-kura, they were seen by the people of that pa who called and said, “Here is a war-party led by Te-wera;” and all came out of the pa down to the river-bank to look at Te-wera and his party. Some of them called to Te-wera and asked, “What can an old man do in wandering about where you are? What can you in future kill?” Te-wera replied, “In days to come the warriors will weep with sorrow in the world of spirits, and then an unavailing wail of grief is all they will possess. It was a female bird which passed over the noose of my trap. (I do not dread your bravery: you are all women.) Tomorrow you warriors will weep in keen sorrow to no avail.”

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Te-wera and his war-party returned to Wai-koua-iti, and there hung the body of the dog, and on the morrow he went and cut one hind-leg from the dog and cooked it, and again, as an offering to the gods, and to appease the manes of Patuki, he held the leg up on high, after which it was eaten by the officiating priest, but the other part of the dog was carefully hung up again. That evening Te-wera called all his people together, and informed them that when night came they must be ready to go on a war-ex-pedition. They launched the canoes, and voyaged towards O-takou, and arrived there in the dark, and dragged the canoes and hid them in the forest, and slept. On the following day a woman from the Puke-kura Pa was seen travelling along the sea-beach towards Papa-nui (large flat). She was going to visit some of the people of Puke-kura who were there killing seals, unaware of the ambush. She went on till she fell into the hands of the enemy, who killed her, and performed the usual ceremonies over the corpse in offering it to the gods. The canoes were launched, and the body of the woman put on board of one of them, and the fleet paddled out in open day to Puke-kura, below which, and in sight of the people of that pa, the canoes stopped. The people of the pa all came down to the beach and repeated to Te-wera the taunt which they had used on a former occasion, saying, “What can an old man do, in wandering about where you are? What can you kill in future?” Te-wera answered, “In days to come the warriors will weep with their sorrow in the world of spirits, and then an unavailing wail of grief is all they will possess. It was a female bird which passed over the noose of my trap. (I do not dread your bravery: you are all women.) Tomorrow your warriors will weep in keen sorrow to no avail;” and he also added, “Tomorrow I will lay me down near to your umu (oven), and you will be cooked. I am the stage on which you shall hang your barracouta-fish.” Te-wera now ordered the canoe in which the corpse of the murdered woman was to be tilted on one side, to allow those of the pa to see the dead body of their female page 226 relative, when a loud wail of sorrow rose from the crowd on shore; and as this grief was heard Te-wera and his warriors paddled on with the corpse, and landed at Wai-koua-iti, and there stayed for some time. But when the death of the woman killed had been partly forgotten Te-wera ordered another war-party to collect, and in the night they started and arrived at O-takou Heads, and by break of day they had gained the head of the harbour, where they were seen by the chief Kikiwa (close the eyes firmly) and his followers, who thought they were some of their own people following them by sea in a canoe from Puke-kura. Te-wera landed and attacked Kikiwa, and killed ten of his party. The dead bodies were put into the canoe, and Te-wera went back down the harbour. When near the pa Puke-kura, as Te-wera was elated by the death of his ten prisoners, in this instance he was the first to speak. On former occasions those of the pa first spoke to him. He called to those of the pa and said “You are there by yourselves: here are others of you whom I have caught—even ten of them.” And he paddled on to Wai-koua-iti, where he stayed for some time. And again he ordered a war-party to assemble; but this time he commanded that a great force should meet. At night they started, and arrived at O-takou, and landed at Pori-a-haumia (vassals of the fern-root), where spies were sent out, who went as far across the isthmus as to see the east coast, where they saw the fires of another war-party of the Nga-ti-mamoe, who were coming along the same route over which Te-wera was going. Te-wera and party went on, and each party for the night stayed at Te-apiti (the gorge). The Nga-ti-mamoe party were obliged to put up temporary sheds to shelter them from the rain, as it was raining, with a dense fog. As they had not any timber, they used their war-spears to make the sheds, on which they laid grass as a roof. They had lit fires under the sheds and had gone to sleep, and only one man kept watch.

Te-wera and his party went on in the night with the usual ceremonies performed on occasions when an attack was made page 227 in the dark. As they were travelling on a sea-beach, they kept out on the beach near low-water mark, so that the footprints might not be seen. When they had arrived near to the encampment of the enemy the solitary watchman heard a noise as of the tramp of human feet in the mud and shingle on the beach, and, looking out in the dark, he saw Te-wera approaching him with boughs and twigs in his hands, held before him. As he got close to the sentinel, the latter exclaimed, “It is said Te-wera is not a big man; but he is of great body,” and went and aroused his party; but by this time the encampment had been surrounded by the enemy, and those in the encampment were in the act of taking their spears from the sheds of which they were part when they were attacked. Te-mata (obsidian), Te-ripi (slasher), and Te-aruhe (the fern-root) escaped and fled; but they returned and fought the enemy on their camping-ground. The people in the encampment of the Nga-ti-mamoe were all killed by Te-wera and dragged towards the sea. This battle was called “The Dirty Barracouta.” When the battle was over the slain were collected into a heap, and a staff was stuck up for Hika-nui (great friction), Hika-hore (circumcised), To-waka (drag the canoe), Moko-nui-aha (great tattooing for what), and Mokemoke (the lonely). Te-wera commanded that the staves should be taken from where they had been stuck up, and be stuck up in front of him. When this was done Te-wera spoke and said, “Let the nephew be a nephew; let the father be a father; let the aged be the aged; but they have turned against and killed us. (They were our relatives; but they killed my brother.) Now I will eat from the top of their head even to their feet.” And this was in retaliation for the death of his younger brother Patuki.

The bodies of the slain were put into the canoes and Te-wera returned to his own home at Wai-koua-iti, and after some time he remembered that Toronga had said somewhat against him. Then Te-wera and Tau-maro (band of the apron) called a body of warriors to assemble and make the canoes ready for sea. When it was calm weather, and when a north-east sea- page 228 breeze blew, they, with the warriors, put to sea. So soon as they had left Wai-koua-iti, some of the people of that place proposed to follow and attack them; but others said, “No, let them go, so that they may be killed, and be the last remnant of their people.” When Te-wera and Tau-maro had got as far as Papa-nui, Tau-maro left Te-wera and went back; but Te-wera went on to Tai-eri (pulp), where, at the mouth of that river, he chose the island Motu-rata (rata—Metrosideros robusta—island) as his home. Having stayed there for some time, he and his warriors left it and went on to O-tara (place of the tern); but it was not the O-tara which is on the mainland opposite to the Rua-puke (pit the water in which rises and falls) Island, but the O-tara here intended is near to More-uaki (taproot pushed aside). Te-wera and his warriors lived at O-tara some time; and one day, as the morning dawned, the people took some grass called wharu and cooked it. So soon as it was cooked, whales and whakaha (Phoca jubata, or morse, or sea-lion) came on shore. Te-wera went to Wai-kori (water off the rough mat), where these animals were lying. As he approached the place some of the whakaha came to meet him, at which he threw his spear; but a dread came over him, and he feared the whakaha, and he withdrew from them and ran away. Thus all the whakaha escaped to the sea, and he did not kill one. Meditating a short while he said, “I did not dread the point of the spear; but for once I have felt a dread, and that of a whakaha.”

Te-wera occupied his pa at O-tara for some time, when a war-party came against him, and for a time they stayed at O-rangi-tuhia (the heavens marked). Some of the women of Te-wera's pa went to O-rangi-tuhia to collect paua (Haliotis), and waited till the tide had ebbed sufficiently to allow them to get at the rocks out in the sea to which the paua adhered. The women were on the rocks knocking the paua off when some of them were attacked by their enemies and killed. Some of the women escaped and got back to the pa at O-tara, calling as page 229 they went, “The paua collectors have been attacked, and some killed;” when a rush of warriors came out of the pa, and Te-wera went in pursuit of the enemy, who were overtaken, and most of them killed. Some escaped into the forest. Te-wera came back to his pa, and ever after that locality was called Kai-tangata (where men were eaten).

After this Te-wera left O-tara, and went to live at Hekia (mistaken), a new pa which he and his people had erected. They lived there on whale's blubber, the stench of which caused a disease among them, of which Te-wera died. As he was near death he spoke to the people and said, “Stay here. But let me only be consumed by rottenness: you let the spears of your enemies send you after me, that you may die on the death-bed of sweet smell—that you may not be consumed by rottenness. It is good to be eaten by man.” The people remained at the same place for some time, and then left it and in a body migrated to O-rau-tahi (the one hundred), which is near to the Oko-pihi (watertight bowl) Pa, which was occupied by the Nga-ti-mamoe people, with whom they became amalgamated. Te-taho (pumice) was the chief of that section of Nga-ti-mamoe. He killed most of Te-wera's people who had placed themselves under his protection. Those who escaped the treachery of Te-taho went towards Te-kiri-o-tunoho (the skin of Tu-noho—sitting of Tu, the god of war), and sent spies to look at the place; but all the inhabitants had left the pa, and had gone to carry some garments as a present to an adjoining tribe. On the return of the spies they saw the footprints of those who had gone to take the garments to their friends. An ambush was placed near to the spot, and the main body placed themselves some distance nearer to the pa. The garment-carriers returned, and were allowed by the ambush to pass them unseen and unmolested till they had got near to the main body, when the ambush rushed on them. At the same time the main body rose, and, having the garment-carriers between them and the ambush, they killed every one.

So ends all that I have been taught.

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For many generations the Maoris on the Peninsula remained in peaceful occupation of their new homes, undisturbed by foreign attacks or internal strife. Occasionally the bolder spirits amongst them would go away to take part in the wars against Nga-ti-mamoe which were carried on for many years in districts further to the south, or else to take part in some quarrel between different sections of the Nga-i-tahu Tribe located elsewhere. Among those who went off in search of military honours was a certain heretical teacher named Kiri-mahi-na-hina (skin acted on by the moon) who left Akaroa (or Haka-roa—long haka) for the seat of war near Moe-raki (day of sleep), and fell at the battle of Tara-ka-hina-a-tea (activity when the moon is clear). This tohunga (priest) had told Tura-kau-tahi (the bald all alone) the younger that Tiki (fetch) made man, whilst the fathers had always maintained that it was Io (power). Te-wera adopted a novel method to prevent the survival of this man's false teaching, or his spirit escaping and getting into some other tohunga. When the battle was over he made an oven capable of containing the entire body, and then he carefully plugged the mouth, ears, nose, and every other aperture, and, having cooked the heretical teacher, he managed, with the assistance of some of his warriors, to eat up every portion of him, and so successfully extinguished the incipient heresy.

The condition of those who remained quietly at home was enjoyable enough, for it is a great mistake to suppose that the old Maori life in peaceful times was one of privation and suffering: on the contrary, it was a very pleasant state of existence; there was a variety and abundance of food, and agreeable and healthy occupation for mind and body. Each season of the year and each part of the day had its specially-allotted work both for men and women. The women, besides such household duties as cooking and cleaning their houses, made the clothing and bedding required for their families. They gathered the flax and tii-palm fibres used, and prepared and worked them up into a great variety of garments, many of page 231 which took several months to complete, and, when finished, were very beautiful specimens of workmanship. The men gathered the food, and stored it in whata or storehouses, built on tall posts to protect the contents from damp and rats, one of which was owned by every dwelling. Besides such natural products of the soil as fern-root, tii-palm stems, and con-volvulus-roots, they cultivated the kumara, hue, taro, and karaka. Fish of various kinds were caught in the proper season, and cured by drying in the sun. Wild pigeons, kaka, paradise-ducks, and titi (mutton-birds) were cooked and preserved in their own fat in vessels made of large kelp-leaves, and bound round with totara-bark to strengthen them. Netting, carving, grinding by friction, and fitting stone implements and weapons occupied the time of the old men, and also much of the young men's time. They beguiled the winter evenings by reciting tales, myths, historical traditions, and tribal genealogies, chanting and singing poetry, telling fairy tales, and performing hakas or harihari (war-dances). It was only when any one became ill, and when harassed by their enemies, that the ancient Maori can with any truth be reported as having been miserable or unhappy. He delighted in war, so that the danger and fatigue on such occasions were more a delight than sorrow or weariness.