Maori Religion and Mythology Part 13

Thus when a peace was concluded between two tribes land was sometimes given up as a sort of peace offering, but in a remarkably equitable spirit, it was always the tribe that had suffered least who, in such cases, gave some land to compensate the greater losses in war of the other party.

Such a mode of making peace seems to have been adopted in case of civil war between divisions of the same tribe, especially when waged with no prospect of either party completely mastering the other, and with the consideration of preventing both suffering such serious loss as would render them unable to cope with a common foe.

Also, in cases of adultery a piece of land would be demanded by the injured person; and his demand would be respected, for such was the proper compensation for the injury-land for the woman. But then a stratagem was sometimes employed, for when the injured man went to take profession, he might find his right opposed by some of the owners of the land who had purposely absented themselves from the conference whereat it was given up. And this unfair practice has sometimes been seized on as a precedent in their dealings with the _Pakeha_; for they have too often shown a readiness to sell lands to which they had only a joint right with many others, knowing well that those others would repudiate their act.

_Descent of Land._

1. Male children succeed to their father's land, female children to their mother's land.

So says the proverb-"_Nga tamariki tane ka whai ki te ure tu, nga tamariki wahine ka whai ki te u-kai-po._" "Male children follow after the male, female children follow after the breast fed on at night."

2. If a female marries a man of another tribe-_he tangata ke_-she forfeits all right to land in her mother's tribe.

So says the proverb-"_Haere atu te wahine, haere marokore._" "The woman goes, and goes without her smock."

3. The children of a female married to a man of a stranger tribe have no right of succession to land in their mother's tribe.

So says the proverb-"_He iramutu tu ke mai i tarawahi awa_65"-"A nephew or niece standing apart on the other side of the river."

65 This proverb was also applied in case of a war as a sufficient reason for not sparing such relation.

But there is a provision which can be applied to modify this last rule.

If the brothers of the woman ask for one or more of the children-their _iramutu_-to be given up to their care, and they are thus, as it were, adopted by their uncles, they become reinstated in the tribal rights which their mother had forfeited.

A NEW ZEALANDER'S WILL.

Under this t.i.tle in a former publication66 I gave a literal translation of a written communication which I received from the celebrated Wi Tamihana Tarapipipi of Matamata, as follows:-

66 Traditions and Superst.i.tions of the New Zealanders. Edit. 2, p.

271.

"A certain man had a male child born to him, then another male child, and then another male child. He also had daughters. At last the father of this family being at the point of death, the sons and daughters and all the relations a.s.sembled to hear his last words, and to see him die.

And the sons said to their father: 'Let thy mouth speak, O father, that we may hear your will; for you have not long to live.' Then the old man turned towards his younger brothers, and spoke thus:-

'Hereafter, O my brothers, be kind to my children. My cultivations are for my sons. Such and such a piece of land is for such and such a nephew. My eel-weirs, my potato gardens, my potatoes, my pigs, my male slaves, and my female slaves are for my sons only. My wives are for my younger brother.'

Such is the disposition of a man's property; it relates only to his male children."

From this it appears that the head of a family had a recognized right to dispose of his property among his male offspring and kinsmen, and that his will expressed shortly before his death in the presence of his family a.s.sembled for that purpose possessed all the solemnity of a legal doc.u.ment.

RAHI.

is the term applied to a tribe reduced to a dependant condition by a conquering tribe. The same authority says, "Hear the custom in regard to lands which are held by right of conquest, that is lands fallen to the brave (_kua riro i te toa_). Suppose some large tribe is defeated.

Suppose that tribe is defeated a second and a third time, till at last the tribe becomes small, and is reduced to a mean condition. It is then made to do the work of dependants-to cultivate the land for food, to catch eels, and to carry wood. In short, its men are treated as slaves.

In such a case their land pa.s.ses into the possession of the tribe whose valour conquered them. They will not think of striving against their masters; because their power to fight has gone from them. They were not brave enough to hold possession of their land, and although they may grow numerous afterwards, they will not seek for a payment for their former losses; for they are fearful, and say among themselves, 'Don't let us strive with this tribe, lest we perish altogether, for it is a brave tribe.'?"

William Thompson belonged to a victorious tribe; his sentiments therefore have a natural bias in favour of the sole right to the lands of the conquered tribe being with their conquerors. If, however, a member of the conquered tribe were to be consulted on this point, we should learn that he had not abandoned all idea of a right in the lands he had been allowed to retain, and was then occupying. Instances could be referred to where the conquered remnant of a tribe had regained power enough to re-possess themselves of the lands formerly their own; and in all cases where the conquerors have sold the lands of their tributaries the latter have resisted the right of the sellers to dispose thereof irrespectively of their own interests therein.

NGATI-HANUI.

One day a chief named Hanui and his travelling companion Heketewananga fell in with the old chief Korako seated in the hollow trunk of a tree, which he had converted into a temporary abode. Then said Hanui's companion, "I will make water on the old man's head, to degrade him (lit., that his growth may be stunted)." Hanui was displeased; for the old man was his cousin, being the son of the younger brother of his father Maramatutahi, that was the cause of his displeasure at the words of his companion. But that fellow Heketewananga persisted. He would not listen to the anger of Hanui, but climbed the tree in order to make water on the head of the old man. And when he had done so, he jeered at the old man. "Ho! ho! now then your growth is stunted because of my water; for your head has been made water on."

With this Hanui and his companion went on their way. When they were gone Korako also went to seek his son. When he reached the bank of the river Waikato he saw some boys on the other side of the river at play near their _Pa_, and called to them, "Go and tell Wainganui to bring a canoe for me." "We will bring a canoe," said the boys. But the old man said "No. I don't wish you to bring the canoe. Go and call Wainganui. He himself must bring the canoe." So the boys went and told Wainganui, "Your father is calling you to go to him with a canoe." "Why did not you go?" said Wainganui. "We offered to take the canoe to him," said the boys, "but he was not willing. He said that you must take the canoe to him." So Wainganui went in a canoe, and when he reached the other side of the river he called to his father to come down to him. But his father said, "Do you come up here to my side." So Wainganui left the canoe and went to his father; for he knew that he had something important to say to him. Then seating himself by his father's side he said "What means this that you have done?" The father said, "My son, I have been wronged by your uncle Hanui and by Heketewananga." "What sort of wrong?"

inquired the son. "My wrong," said the old man-"my wrong. Heketewananga climbed on top of my house, and made water on my head-at the same time he jeered me, 'Ho! ho! now then your growth is stunted.'?" Then the son said to his father, "Ha! you were all but murdered by those men. Their act shall be avenged. Their heads shall soon be struck by my weapon."

Then turning in anger he went back to his canoe, and returned to the _Pa_.

Without delay he called together the whole tribe, and made known to them all that his father had told him. After the tribe had heard the wrong done to their old chief, they a.s.sembled at night to deliberate, and determined to go the next morning to kill those men. Then they retired to rest. At daybreak they arose and armed themselves, in number three hundred and forty, and set out for the _Pa_ at Hanui.

The men within that _Pa_ were more than six hundred. So when they saw the armed party coming to attack the _Pa_, the six hundred rushed out to fight, and a battle took place outside. The men of the _Pa_ were driven back, and the conquerors entered it with them. Then while the men of the _Pa_ were being struck down Wainganui shouted to Hanui, "Be quick, Hanui, climb on top of your house, you and your children and your wives." So Hanui and his children and his wives climbed on the roof of their house. But most of the men of his tribe were killed, some only being left to be a _Rahi_, in which condition they now remain.

TAPUIKA.

It may happen that a tribe is driven off its lands by a conquering tribe, who may hold possession of the conquered lands for many years, but be, in their turn, driven off by the a.s.sistance of tribes allied to the original possessors of the land. It then becomes a question what right the allied tribes acquire in the recovered lands. A case of this sort came under my notice thus: I was instructed to purchase for the Government a piece of land of moderate size at Maketu to be occupied as a Mission station. As I had built a house on this land on a t.i.tle of mere right of occupation, or as expressed in Maori, "_Noho noa iho_,"

and had resided there for some time, I thought, naturally, that the persons, at whose invitation my house had been placed there, were the persons to whom the land belonged. An arrangement was therefore made with them for the purchase of the land required, and a price agreed on.

One night shortly after I was awoke from sleep by a knocking at the door of my house. My visitors were a deputation from some of the tribe Tapuika who had a small _Pa_ below my house by the river side, at some distance from the large _Pa_ by the mouth of the river. Their business was to warn me not to complete the purchase of the land, the persons with whom I had contracted being, as they affirmed, only occupiers and not owners thereof; whereas their tribe Tapuika were the owners, and the _mana_ of the land belonged to their chief Te Koata. They came by night because they did not wish their interference to be known publicly, as it would cause disputes. And it did cause dispute when their nocturnal visit and its object was made public the next morning. However a good result came of it, for it was agreed that the question of t.i.tle should be referred to the decision of the chiefs of the whole Arawa tribes.

A general a.s.sembly of the tribes consequently met at Rotorua, when it was shown that the land I proposed to purchase came within the old boundaries of Tapuika. But several generations before the present the _Pa_ at Maketu had been taken by the hostile tribe Ngatiawa, and the Arawa tribes, including Tapuika, had been driven from the sea-coast to Rotorua and elsewhere. When the flax trade with Sydney was in vigour, many of the Arawa natives had been permitted to return to sc.r.a.pe flax for sale to a trader named Tapsell who was stationed at Maketu; and at length the combined Arawa tribes expelled Ngatiawa, and recovered the lands of their forefathers. They then established themselves in force at Maketu, and some of them marked out by boundaries, and took possession of land originally belonging to Tapuika, for their own use. Tapuika did not offer any objection to this, but now said that the land so taken was merely given up for their occupation, and that the _mana_ of their chief Te Koata over the land had never been given up.

The decision of the chiefs of the Arawa, to which Te Koata, who was present, a.s.sented, was that as Tapuika could not have recovered their lands if una.s.sisted by other Arawa tribes, the land of Tapuika which had been taken possession of by the fighting men of the combined tribes now belonged to those men, or expressed in their own words, "_kua riro i te toa_," had gone to the brave.

This decision was important, as it established a precedent of value in dealing with any lands similarly circ.u.mstanced elsewhere in New Zealand-a precedent being always a powerful argument with the _Maori_.

THE EARLY SETTLERS.

When foreigners, called by the natives _Pakeha_, first came to New Zealand, they were admitted readily by the _Maori_ to dwell among them.

They were allowed to acquire land by purchase, and to form alliances with their families; and the children of such connections were considered as belonging to the tribe of their mother. They were never treated as belonging to a stranger tribe-as _tangata ke_. _Taku pakeha, toku matua_, my own _pakeha_, my father, were the common terms used to denote their sentiment of relationship.

It is not to be wondered at that every tribe in these islands was at first anxious to have _Pakeha_ settlers dwelling with them, and was ready to admit them to the privileges of tribesmen, for through them they could obtain what they most valued of the world's goods. But when dissensions arose between the two races, notably about land, and issued in war, the feelings of those who took up arms became modified, and their old friends, the _Pakeha_, were no longer looked on as _matua_ or fathers, but rather as _tangata ke_, or strangers.