Old New Zealand Part 8

_Mana_ sometimes means a more than natural virtue or power attaching to some person or thing, different from and independent of the ordinary natural conditions of either, and capable of either increase or diminution, both from known and unknown causes. The _mana_ of a priest or _tohunga_ is proved by the truth of his predictions, as well as the success of his incantations; _which same incantations, performed by another person of inferior mana, would have no effect_. Consequently, this description of _mana_ is a virtue, or more than natural or ordinary condition attaching to the priest himself; and which he may become possessed of and also lose without any volition of his own. When

Apollo from his shrine, No longer could divine, The hollow steep of Delphos sadly leaving,--

_then_ the oracle had lost its _mana_.

Then there is the doctors' _mana_. The Maori doctors in the old times did not deal much in "simples," but they administered large doses of _mana_. Now when most of a doctor's patients recovered, his _mana_ was supposed to be in full feather; but if, as will happen sometimes to the best pract.i.tioners, a number of patients should slip through his fingers _seriatim_, then his _mana_ was suspected to be getting weak, and he would not be liable to be "knocked up" so frequently as formerly.

_Mana_ in another sense is the accompaniment of power, but not the power itself: nor is it even in this sense exactly "authority,"

according to the strict meaning of that word, though it comes very near it. This is the chiefs _mana_. Let him lose the power, and the _mana_ is gone. But mind you do not translate _mana_ as power; that won't do: they are two different things entirely. Of this nature also is the _mana_ of a tribe; but this is not considered to be the supernatural kind of _mana_.

Then comes the _mana_ of a warrior. Uninterrupted success in war proves it. It has a _slight_ touch of the supernatural, but not much. Good fortune comes near the meaning, but is just a little too weak. The warrior's _mana_ is just a little something more than bare good fortune; a severe defeat would shake it terribly; two or three in succession would show that it was gone: but before leaving him, some supernaturally ominous occurrence might be expected to take place, such as are said to have happened before the deaths of Julius Caesar, Marcus Antonius, or Brutus. Let not any one smile at my comparing, even in the most distant way, the old Maori warriors with these ill.u.s.trious Romans; for if they do, I shall answer that some of the old Maori _Toa_ were thought as much of in _their_ world, as any Greek or Roman of old was in his: and, moreover, it is my private opinion, that if the best of them could only have met my friend "Lizard Skin," in his best days, and would have taken off his armour and fought fair, that the aforesaid "Lizard Skin" would have tickled him to his heart's content with the point of his spear.

A fortress often a.s.sailed but never taken has a _mana_, and one of a high description too. The name of the fortress becomes a _pepeha_, a war boast or motto, and a war cry of encouragement or defiance; like the _slogan_ of the ancient Highlanders in Scotland.

A spear, a club, or a _mere_, may have a _mana_; which in most cases means that it is a lucky weapon which good fortune attends, if the bearer minds what he is about: but some weapons of the old times had a stronger _mana_ than this, like the _mana_ of the enchanted weapons we read of in old romances or fairy tales. Let any one who likes give an English word for this kind of _mana_. I have done with it.

I had once a tame pig, which, before heavy rain, would always cut extraordinary capers and squeak like mad. Every pakeha said he was "weather-wise;" but all the Maori said it was a "_poaka whai mana_," a pig possessed of _mana_; _for it had more than natural powers_, and could foretell rain.

If ever this talk about the good old times be printed and published, and every one should buy it, and read it, and quote it, and believe every word in it--as they ought, seeing that every word is true--then it will be a _puka puka whai mana_, a book of _mana_; and I shall have a high opinion of the good sense and good taste of the New Zealand public.

When the law of England is the law of New Zealand, and the Queen's writ will run, then both the Queen and the law will have great _mana_: but I don't think either will ever happen, and so neither will have any _mana_ of consequence.

If the reader has not some faint notion of _mana_ by this time, I can't help it: I can't do any better for him. I must confess I have not pleased myself. Any European language can be translated easily enough into any other; but to translate Maori into English is much harder to do than is supposed by those who do it every day with ease; but who do not know their own language, or any other but Maori, perfectly.

I am always blowing up "Young New Zealand," and calling them "reading, riting, rethmatiking" vagabonds, who will never equal their fathers; but I mean it all for their good--(poor things!)--like a father scolding his children. But one _does_ get vexed sometimes. Their grandfathers, if they had "no backs," had at least good legs; but the grandsons can't walk a day's journey to save their lives: _they_ must _ride_. The other day I saw a young Maori chap on a good horse; he wore a black hat and polished Wellingtons, his hat was c.o.c.ked knowingly to one side, and he was jogging along with one hand jingling the money in his pocket; and may I never see another war dance, if the hardened villain was not whistling "Pop goes the weasel!" What will all this end in?

My only hope is in a handy way (to give them their due) which they have with a _tupara_; and this is why I don't think the law will have much _mana_ here in my time: I mean the _pakeha_ law; for, to say the worst of them, they are not yet so far demoralized as to stand any nonsense of that kind; which is a comfort to think of. I am a loyal subject to Queen Victoria, but I am also a member of a Maori tribe; and I hope I may never see this country so enslaved and tamed that a single rascally policeman, with nothing but a bit of paper in his hand, can come and take a _rangatira_ away from the middle of his _hapu_, and have him hanged for something of no consequence at all, except that it is against the law. What would old "Lizard Skin" say to it? His grandson certainly is now a magistrate, and if anything is stolen from a pakeha, he will get it back, _if he can_, and won't stick to it, because he gets a salary in lieu thereof; but he has told me certain matters in confidence, and which I therefore cannot disclose. I can only hint there was something said about "the Law," and "driving the pakeha into the sea."

I must not trust myself to write on these matters. I get so confused, that I feel just as if I was two different persons at the same time.

Sometimes I find myself thinking on the Maori side, and then just afterwards wondering if "we" can lick the Maori, and set the law upon its legs; which is the only way to do it. I therefore hope the reader will make allowance for any little apparent inconsistency in my ideas, as I really cannot help it.

I belong to both parties, and I don't care a straw which wins; but I am sure we shall have fighting. Men _must_ fight; or else what are they made for? Twenty years ago, when I heard military men talking of "marching through New Zealand with fifty men," I was called a fool because I said they could not do it with five hundred. Now I am also thought foolish by civilians, because I say we can conquer New Zealand with our present available means, if we set the right way about it (which we won't). So hurrah again for the Maori! We shall drive the pakeha into the sea, and send the Law after them! If we can do it, we are right; and if the pakeha beat us, _they_ will be right too. G.o.d save the Queen!

So now, my Maori tribe, and also my pakeha countrymen, I shall conclude this book with good advice; and be sure you take notice: it is given to both parties. It is a sentence from the last speech of old "Lizard Skin." It is to you both. "Be brave, that you may live."

VERb.u.m SAPIENTI.

GLOSSARY.

_A pakeha tutua_--A mean, _poor_ European.--p. 18.

_Bare Mot.i.ti_--The Island of Mot.i.ti is often called "_Mot.i.ti wahie kore_," as descriptive of the want of timber, or bareness of the island. A more fiercely contested battle, perhaps, was never fought than that on Mot.i.ti, in which the Ngati Kuri were destroyed.--p. 153.

_E aha te pai?_--What is the good (or use) of him? Said in contempt.--p. 18.

_Haere mai! &c._--Sufficiently explained as the native call of welcome.

It is literally an invitation to advance.--p. 14.

_Hahunga_--A _hahunga_ was a funeral ceremony, at which the natives usually a.s.sembled in great numbers, and during which "baked meats" were disposed of with far less economy than Hamlet gives us to suppose was observed "in Denmark."--p. 13.

_Jacky-poto_--Short Jack; or stumpy Jack.--p. 152.

_Kainga_--A native town, or village: their princ.i.p.al headquarters.--p.

13.

_Kia kotahi ki te ao! Kia kotahi ki te po!_--A close translation would not give the meaning to the English reader. By these words the dying person is conjured to cling to life, but as they are never spoken until the person to whom they are addressed is actually expiring, they seemed to me to contain a horrid mockery, though to the native they no doubt appear the promptings of an affectionate and anxious solicitude. They are also supposed to contain a certain mystical meaning.--p. 200.

_Ki au te mataika_--I have the _mataika_. The first man killed in a battle was called the _mataika_. To kill the _mataika_. To kill the _mataika_, or first man, was counted a very high honour, and the most extraordinary exertions were made to obtain it. The writer once saw a young warrior, when rus.h.i.+ng with his tribe against the enemy, rendered almost frantic by perceiving that another section of the tribe would, in spite of all his efforts, be engaged first, and gain the honour of killing the _mataika_. In this emergency he, as he rushed on, cut down with a furious blow of his tomahawk, a sapling which stood in his way, and gave the cry which claims the _mataika_. After the battle the circ.u.mstances of this question in Maori chivalry having been fully considered by the elder warriors, it was decided that the sapling tree should, in this case, be held to be the true _mataika_, and that the young man who cut it down should always claim, without question, to have killed, or, as the natives say, "caught," the _mataika_ of that battle.--p. 174.

_Mana_--As the meaning of this word is explained in the course of the narrative, it is only necessary to say that in the sense in which it is used here, it means dominion or authority.--p. 3.

_Mere ponamu_--A native weapon made of a rare green stone, and much valued by the natives.--p. 24.

_Na! Na! mate rawa!_--This is the battle cry by which a warrior proclaims, exultingly and tauntingly, the death of one of the enemy.--p. 58.

_No hea_--Literally, from whence? Often used as a negative answer to an inquiry, in which case the words mean that the thing inquired for is not, or in fact is nowhere.--p. 2.

_Pakeha_--An Englishman; a foreigner.--p. 3.

_Rangatira_--A chief, a gentleman, a warrior. _Rangatira pakeha_--A foreigner who is a gentleman (not a _tutua_, or n.o.body, as described above), a _rich_ foreigner.--p. 20.

_Tangi_--A dirge, or song of lamentation for the dead. It was the custom for the mourners, when singing the _tangi_, to cut themselves severely on the face, breast, and arms, with sharp flints and sh.e.l.ls, in token of their grief. This custom is still practised, though in a mitigated form. In past times, the mourners cut themselves dreadfully, and covered themselves with blood from head to feet. See a description of a _tangi_ further on.--p. 3.

_Taniwha_--A sea monster: more fully described further on.--p. 30.

_Taonga_--Goods; property.--p. 20.

_Taua_--A war party; or war expedition.--p. 42.

_Tena koutou_; _or Tenara ko koutou_--The Maori form of salutation, equivalent to our "How do you do?"--p. 54.

_Tino tangata_--A "good man," in the language of the prize-ring; a warrior; or literally, a very, or perfect man.--p. 30.

_Toa_--A warrior of pre-eminent courage; a hero.--p. 179.

_Torere_--An unfathomable cave, or pit, in the rocky mountains, where the bones of the dead, after remaining a certain time in the first burying place, are removed to and thrown in, and so finally disposed of.--p. 72.

_Tu ngarahu_--This is a muster, or review, made to ascertain the numbers and condition of a native force; generally made before the starting of an expedition. It is, also, often held as a military spectacle, or exhibition, of the force of a tribe when they happen to be visited by strangers of importance: the war dance is gone through on these occasions, and speeches declaratory of war, or welcome, as the case may be, made to the visitors. The "review of the Taniwha,"

witnessed by the Ngati Kuri, was possibly a herd of sea-lions, or sea-elephants; animals scarcely ever seen on the coast of that part of New Zealand, and, therefore, from their strange and hideous appearance, at once set down as an army of Taniwha. One man only was, at the defeat of the Ngati Kuri, on Mot.i.ti, rescued to tell the tale.--p. 153.

_Tupara_--A double gun; an article, in the old times, valued by the natives above all other earthly riches.--p. 12.

_Tutua_--A low, worthless, and, above all, a _poor_, fellow--a "n.o.body."--p. 18.