The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-12-02
MA0RlLAAD'S DYiaG NATIVES
a RACE THAT Is FAST DISAP-
FEARING.
interesting Facts Obtained From
Rev. Wherahiko Rawei, Now
In This City.


The MaOris are natives of New yea
iano and are the highest type OF WHAT
Is known In the racial divisions as the
yellow race. They are brave, generous
ana hospitable to the last degree. But
according to Wherahiko RaWel, 3. a.,
cultured representative of these re-
markable people, who is to lecture at
\. M. C. A. Hall next Tuesday and
Thursday evenings. the hand of Death
is upon them, and ere long they will
nave passed away forever. Speaking OF
his interesting countrymen, Rawei says:
we We're once strong ana Warllke
race, and we had great ch1efta1ns, but
our old warriors have passed away. We
nave decreased rapidly in numbers and
are now but the remnant of a people.
The introduction Of firearms first raised
the black banner of destruction in
Maoriland, and for twenty years cruel
and bloody wars between tribes which
had hitherto been friendly, worked
awful havoc among the male popula-
ton. To-day whisky, rum, tobacco
and the insane adoption of "a half
European, half-Maori mode of dress
ing and living are carrying on the fatal
work of extinction quite as effectually.
And moreover these same death agent S
are materially aided by the Tuhungas
(native priests.
THE terrible influence for evil which
these so-called priests and prophets
have upon their people is unintelligible
to any one unacquainted with Maori
n 1crIf ,aJn "
the feelings of a naturally superstitious
race, by terrifying their ignorant vic
tins with the lamentations of vague i'm
port and still more doubtful efficacy,
these native Cuacks bar the road to
goodwill and friendliness between Eu-
ropean and Maori, and raise an appall-
ing barrier to the advance of all civili-
cation.
No less destructive and disastrous
are many Of the old customs which the
people still retain as an inheritance
from their ancestors. Marriage feasts
and tangis (native burfals) are scenes
OF all that is corrupt and degrading.
After living closely packed together
IN a wharepuni Maori dwelling house,
Tor month, the men, women and chill
dren all sleeping together, the funeral
party disperses, leaving the unfortu-
nate hosts thoroughly fatigued and dis
gusted. They lament the kumaras
(sweet potatoes) that have been con-
sumed, the precious fax and Kiwi mats,
the valuable greenstones their mistak-
en- hospitality lavished upon their
guests; but till next year they are con-
tent to starve and go about semi-naked.
7arIo 1t
all the villages for miles around must
again send natives of both sexes to howl
over his dead body, to condole with his
bereaved relatives, to benefit by their
misplaced kindness and hospitality and
to very probably themselves receive
from the fortnight-dead corpse a sub
stantia1 legacy in the form of typhoid
fever, and in many of the King Coun-
try pas (villageS) the demise of a. chief
who, in consequence of his rank must
be kept unburied for two or three weeks
is simply the advance herald of a ter
ride onset OF disease and mortality,
which carries down scores of victims.
In short, the natives must be taught
now to live and avoid evils which are
destroying their bodies. Sermon preach
ing, unaccompanied by determined eff
forts to completely reform the sanitary
conditions under which the people live,
can only be productive of extremely
barren results.
Many of the Maori women are pre-
possessing; some of the maidens are
essentially beautiful
Warriors and chieftains are not. as
a rule, quite SO presentable their faces
hRino fr,or oral
tattoed. For to be plain-faced. that is
without tattoo marking, was in olden
days a severe reproach to a Maori. Yet
1t is a painful and prolonged operation
and the wounds or cuts made by the
shell chisel. which is driven into the
flesh with the blow of a greensboro
mallet, takes many weeks to heal. The
women We're not permitted by custom
80 large proportion of face ornamen-
tation.
The Maoris reside in that portion of
New Zealand known as the Kings
Country, dense forest which Euro
peans rarely enter. One native viii
age, lie Ruapeka, is the most weird
place imaginable. Tt is situated on a
long peninsula, jutting out into Lake
Rotorua, magnificent sheet of water
twenty-five miles in circumference.
Every part of this strip of land from
one end to the other is riddled with hot
springs, some of which shoot out of the
ground from small apertures, while
others assume the form of large steam
ing pools. They are of all degrees of
temperature, from tepid heat to boil
ing point; and while you may cook
your dinner in one, you may take de-
lightful bath in another, and get scald-
ed to death in a third
MANY years ago a village stood at
the further end of the peninsula, but
one wild night a rumbling noise was
heard, then sound of kissing steam,
the trembling earth opened and the viii
lage and its unfortunate inhabitants
sank bodily into the depths of the lake.
"All the whares, native houses
standing to-day are built of raupo, a
kind of reed, with large recesses in
front of the doorways, the woodwork
OF which is curiously and deliberately