Morning journal and courier., 1881-09-10
Price Four Cents

\ Supreme Being, or Atna, Pai Marie \ IS less form of religion than a ! sort of Masonic ceremonial intended ' to neutralize the internal jealousies of the nation Since 1873 the rule of exclusion had ! not been so rigidly enforced against the pake- ! has, and a white man ran little danger in \ travelling through the liking country" in spite of the wild stories told by the colonists. Nevertheless it is not surprising that I con- | sidered my position somewhat insecure as soon as learned the nationality of my hosts Curiously enough, after leaving the ''whare puma" all interest in me appeared to have died out and no one took the slightest mo- ! tice of me. Room was no longer made for me at the fire and I wandered about like a pariah, waiting for my horse to finish his \ feed of barley which had been given him. With the greatest difficulty prevailed on ' the English speaking fellow to let me have a dozen potatoes for half crown. My offer of five pounds for guide to Ohinemutu was ' listlessly refused, but another half crown showed me the way out of Te Whetu (the name of the village) and procured directions how to find, ten miles of, the road to Ohine- mutu. As matter of course, after two hours riding was as efectually lost in the plain as before. To make matters worse, 8 terrific thunder storm came on and poured down the rain in such quantities that | knew it would be 1mposslt.5 ss'ssRoss SoafoasE the streams I had forded and return to Ts Whetu Tn fording one rapid stream my horse was lifted from his feet. Fearing to oyertax his strength left the saddle and swan to the opposite shore, narrowly escaping being pulled under the current by the weight of my aecoutrements. Wet tired and shiVerine, at last I reached the edge of the forest and
 tried to find an opening where I could camp.
 As I was riding past semicircular half-burnt
 clearing two naked forms ran swiftly out of
 the woods in the gathering twilight and barred
 my path. One of the savages, tall
 stalwart fellow, advanced, and, laying hold of
 Moro's bridle, sad sternly: "Why is the pa-
 keha here ?'' I related to him the whole
 circumstances of the case and begged him to
 take me to fire ''But Hau Hau Maori not
 like Englishman in king country" But I am
 not English I am an American " ''Ah!
 you Americana p and the stern features of
 the kingite* relaxed into a smile. Well
 give horse come 'long!" I flung the bridle
 to the other Maori and followed my conduc-
 tor into the forest, where he picked up and
 rearranged the blanket he had thrown off,
 Ten minutes brought us into an open amphi-
 theatre, where we confronted the palisades
 of 'spah'' Entrance was effected by means
 of ladders but no sooner had set foot on the ground than dozen lean dogs set up howl and rushed at me- Nothing but my high boots saved my legs Seizing one fel- low by the throat hurled him to distance; @ we'll directed kick laid out another, and
 
 well into the ribs of a third. At this june ture number of women arrived and drove off the CUTS. To my utter surprise no exception
 was taken to this cavalier treatment of the dogs.
 The women all began to press around and
 pat me, crying 'Kapai, kapai, ka hui pail" (Good, good, very good ) They took me
 into a ''whare'' and built up blazing fire,
 which set my wringing clothes to steaming
 most comfortably. It was still raining and
 not less than forty or fifty men, women and
 children were huddled together in the
 ''whare'' and creating perfect babel with
 their gibberish. I was evidently the object
 of all their remarks. They all squatted on their hams and smoked wood coals. Pipes seemed to be few, and when one had finished smoking he passed the implement to his neighbor Occasionally the women would address me, "E pakeha," (stranger ) and then laugh. The old women were hideous and the young ones not pretty, and all were boisterous, while the men were dignifed. Great interest was excited when I took out my box Of matches and lit one to see if they were injured by damp. The women all came begging, and gave one to each individual in the ''whare." The best looking woman in the village was girl with long, struggling hair that almost hid her laughing black eyes, rather squat nose, beautiful. teeth, and we'll rounded form. From one of her ears hung, by piece of black ribbon, sharks tooth, and the other was ornamented with miniature greensboro t'mere- mere" (tomahawk.) Wishing to carry something away a n1ena0rG6tI, l called the fellow who had brought me to the "pah" and who was the only one in the village who spoke English, and told him wanted to buy the sharks tooth. A shilling quickly clinched the bargain and the tooth was transferred to my hands. A moments inspection showed it to be brummagen. The damsel was quick to see that the cheat was detected and talk tba from fha other Sh6 pressed it into my hand. I coolly accepted the peace offering and hung it on my watch chain.
 The preparations for supper were simple. Two iron kettles were slung over the fire. Indian corn was poured into one and the other was filled with a mass of green leaves, which, learned, were stripped from the common thistle. No dishes or platters of any kind were provided; but, the kettles be- ing placed in the middle, the Maoris squat ted around in a semicircle and each dipped his hand into the pot that suited his fancy, and, pulling out handful, gobbled 1t up as fast as possible. Seeing that was somewhat backward to follow their example, they made signs to me to begin. picked up courage and thrust my hand into the greens, but with drew it quickly enough. My expression of pain caused much laughter. An old crone at my side whipped my handkerchief out of lts pocket and spread it on the ground before me. She then kindly deposited upon 1t with her own hand 8 generous mess, which was too polite not to eat as soon as it had cooled
 Supper over, I was at once conducted to the sswhare puna," where I found my blanket placed in one corner ready for use. now listened with much interest to repetition of the performance 1 had witnessed in the morn ing at Te Whetu At it's close, linen, women and children all lay down on the floor and made themselves comfortable for the night. In spite of myriads of heas, and the horrible close atmosphere, and the disagreeable tight ness with which was wedged between two unwashed savages, slept into the morning hours after my hosts had been up and doing, and was very thankful for the consideration they showed in not awaking me. Breakfast that morning consisted of the same bill of fare that we had for supper, with the addl- tion of fern roots roasted in a hole. The roots were not at all bad, having nutty flavor. After breakfast, Hokepa, the fellow who spoke English brought me man, whom had previously noticed as being somewhat distant with the rest of the Maoris in the s'pah." His name was Katena, and he of fered to guide me to Ohinemutu for ten shil- lings a day. A bargain was quickly struck. Through Hohepa was told that there were two routes; one by the mountains, which was the longer and the worst road, and the other the trail which I had lost the day be- fore The choice of routes with me, and wishing to see the most of the country, chose the mountains. found that Katena was an Arewa, which explained his being dressed in European clothes, and that he had merely come to Kokako on business. What the nature of the ''business'' was did not transpire. To my question whether Kokako was the name of the ''pah,' Hohepa said, ''Yes; and you first pakeha ever come"
 Katena brought Moro to the entrance of the tpah, i" and the horse looked as clean and as sleek as though he had been fed and groomed by the best hostler in the colony. Katena insisted on packing my haversack himself and let him have his own way. l went through a most cordial handshaking with every adult in the village, beginning with Hohepa, and off we started, Katena leading on foot. Hardly were we out of sight of the ''pah,' when I heard great shouting and Hohepa andseveral others came running up and called me back. Some- what distrustful, I dismounted and followed them on foot. They led me to very sub stantial looking ''whare" just outside the
 sspah, /" and which had not seen before. En- tering, found myself in room of some pretensions small glass window admit ted light; an old musket hung on the wall and small table, on which lay writing mate rials, stood in the middle of the floor. Att he table sat remarkably fine looking young
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