Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1883-09-19
THE TAPU AMONG MAORIS.
weeping and Laughing I'm Church-Cause
or Some Mass cres-Drugs versus Cam
ntbalIsm.

nibalIsm.
The Maoris are people who not
only weep in church at the pathetic
passages, but laugh uproariously at
anything in lessons or sermon that
tlckles their fancy Mr.. Hay has seen
church full of them waving their
arms, stamping their feet grinding
their teeth with rage, when the treach-
cry OF Judas was being related TO
such people Christianity came as anew
form OF tapu (taboo). They are ready
for any number of rites and ceremonies,
and 1T was only when they began to
read for themselves, and to contrast the
teachings of the Book with the conduct
of the land-grabbing pakehas round
them; when, moreover, their implicit
faith in the missionary had been weak
ened by the coming in of rival faiths,
each claiming to be the only true way,
that they got to be eclectic, giving up
the New Testament, in its practical
portions, and sticking by the Old, be-
lit allowed polygamy and revenge
and strictly forbade the alienation of
land.
This tapu had many uses. A river
was tapu at certain seasons, so as to
give close time for fish; a wood was
tapu when birds were nesting, fruit
ripening, or rats (delicacies in the old
Maori cuisine) multiplying. To tapu
garden answered-till Captain Cook
brought in pigs-far better than the
strongest fence. A girl, tapued,
would be as safe amid the wild license
OF unmarried Maori life as if she had
been in nunnery. Tapu was proba-
blynever Intentionally broken, so weird
was the horror which surrounded 1t
But in this case shining in ignorance
was no excuse; and the most furious
wars were those which arose from
breaking it. The sign of tapu was
easily set up-a bunch of flax or hair
a bone, a rag on carved stick, that
was enough. To lift it was much
harder, needing the Intervention of the
tohunga (priest), who, by muttering
1ncarnations, and, above all, by making
the tabooed man eat a sweet potato
(kumera) charmed it away.
Many massacre of whites was due
to an unwilling infringement of the
ta,1u ------.o--s 's"0"o
by a deliberate breach of tapu; and
such outrages on native feeling were
so dangerous that Governor Macquarie.
of Sydney, in 1913, tried to make every
skipper in the New Zealand trade sign
a bond for e1000not to ill-treat Maoris,
not to break tapu, not to trespass on
burial grounds, not to kidnap men or
women. His efforts were fruitless.
Maoris were fine, sturdy fellows, and
though there was, as yet, no Kanaka
labor market in Queensland, no Queens
land at all in fact, ship that was
short-handed was very glad to get some
of them on board by any kind of device.
The worst thing connected with the
carrying off of native women was that
the poor creatures were generally put
ashore in some other part of the islands
II. e., among enemies. There slavery,
or worse, was sure to be their fate.
Another cause for bloody reprisals was
the treatment of the men who were
taken on board. I'm a chief" said
one, who was being driven by a ropes
end, when incapable through seasick-
ness, to some menial work. "You
a chief" scohingly replied the master
of the Boyd, for that was the name of
the Inflated ship. "When you come
to my country you'll find I'm chief
was the reply. The Boyd happened to
sail into the harbor of Whargaron, the
very place to which the hogged chief
belonged. He showed his tribesmen
his scored back, and they vowed ven.
geance, for even blow to,a chief is
an insult that can only be wiped out
with blood. The captain and part Of
the crew, leaving some fifty souls in
the ship, went ashore to select tim
ber. The Maoris waylaid and mur
dered them, dressing themselves in
their victims clothes, went at dusk to
the ship, climbed on board, and killed
every one except woman, her child
rem, and boy who had been kind to
the chief during his distress. The
vessel was plundered, and the chiefs
father, delighted at securing some fire.
arms, snapped a musket over an open
barrel of powder and was blown to
pieces with dozen of his men.
Tapu was successfully broken by
the early missionaries in the Bay of
Islands. One of their settlements was
up the Kerikeri river, the tapu of
which for fish during the close months
was very vexatious to them, for it
blocked up their only road to TIE Puma
the head station. Stores must be had
and at last, in defiance of tapu, they
manned boat and rowed down, amid
the rage and terror Of the Maoris, who
expected to see them exterminated by
the offended atua (spirits). When
the mission boat came back it was
seized, and the crew bound ready to be
slain and eaten. Happily, to eat the
stores seemed the proper way of begin.