Slike strani
PDF
ePub

NOTES AND QUERIES.

[400] Unuhanga arawhata.

The above expression describes a peculiar usage of Maoriland in past times. This was a symbolical act such as barbaric man is ever wont to indulge in. Suppose the case of a man who, for one of several possible reasons, is living among the members of another tribe, or sub-tribe, than his. He becomes the victim of some injury or insult that he deems a serious matter demanding blood vengeance. He will therefore leave that village and return to his own people. Ere leaving, however, that is immediately before doing so, he will remove the wooden footway, the arawhata or portable bridge spanning the outer moat, and lay it to one side. In the case of a terraced hill fort having no moat he will remove and set aside the arawhata (ladder) by means of which access is gained to the first tuku or terrace.

The meaning of the above act is that he has shaken the dust of that place from his feet, and can no longer be reckoned a friend of its inhabitants. The above expression employed to denote this singular act may be rendered as "bridge withdrawal" or "ladder withdrawal," as the case may be.

[401] Another Unknown Artifact from Swamp Land.

The accompanying illustration depicts a carved baulk of timber of peculiar form that was found in a swamp in the Waikato district, and is now in the Whanganui Museum. We are indebted to Mr. R. G. Firth, the curator of that institution, for an excellent photograph of the same. Inasmuch as the piece of timber is about six inches square it is evident that it pertained to some fairly massive fabric. Presumably it was a form of post, and probably vertical when in position, but the carved devices are of strange form. Can any of our members cast any light on this obscurity?

[402] Rakaihautu. (See Note No. 394, Vol. 34, of Journal.)

In a communication received from the late Mr. S. Percy Smith in 1920 he speaks of various lines of descent from Rakaihautu averaging 40 generations, and adds: "Strange to say we have a Ngapuhi genealogy from Rakaihautu, the important South Island ancestor, showing 35 generations, and the Aupouri about 40 from him. Then again remember Maku and Tiwakawaka, who came here about 40 generations ago, as given by Ngati-Awa of Whakatane." This Rakaihautu is a variant form of the name Rakaihaitu.

[graphic][merged small]

[403] Astronomical Beliefs in Assam.

In Folk-lore, Vol. 36 (June, 1925), p. 113, J. H. Hutton sets out some astronomical beliefs among the hill tribes of Assam. Among these folk, and especially in the Naga hills, are tribes allied in language and culture with the Polynesians, and Percy Smith regarded them as a section of the ancestral Polynesian stock left behind when the rest migrated from India into the Malay archipelago. From Hutton's review of the evidence it is clear that a good many astronomical beliefs are held in common by the two areas. He concludes that as regards the constellations, there seems to be little cohesion or identity of ideas among the various Assam tribes, and such ideas as exist seem to have comparatively little connection with the ideas of other people. With the sun and the moon, however, the case is different, the beliefs being allied in Assam, the Nicobars, Burma, Malaya, the Philippines, the Pacific, and apparently South America. He discusses the possible sources of these beliefs, and inclines to look to China as the distributing centre. H.D.S.

[404] A Strange Tale from the Year 1846.

Mr. Andrew Wilson, of Hamilton, sends us a curious and interesting note concerning an extraordinary act of lex talionis that is said to have occurred at Tangihua, near the Tangi-te-roria mission station, about the year 1846. Mr. Wilson acknowledges his indebtedness to Mr. James Dwyer, of Otaika, North Auckland, and a sister of the late Mr. John Dwyer (who, born about 1831, was a witness of the tragedy) for his data.

The victim of the tragedy was a chief named Keha, who is said to have been a devoted Christian and a generally eccentric person. He was looked upon as an entertaining person by his less devout tribesmen, and Keha did his best to lead them into the straight path. He succeeded in making one convert, but, on the following Sabbath, was deeply mortified to find that his convert did not appear at church. Keha was a firm believer in discipline, and, like many other zealots of past times, he was determined to chasten all backsliders. He, therefore, hied him to the residence of his erring friend in the dead of night, and promptly split his head open with a tomahawk. Such a drastic procedure is not unknown in the history of people who wished to advance their own particular ideas in religious matters.

When Keha's action in chastening the backslider became known trouble was toward in that village, and Keha was arrested by the people and securely bound, while his tribesmen sat in judgment on him. It was at length decided that he be buried alive, and a deep pit was dug in which he was placed so that only his head and neck appeared above ground. While Keha was in this unhappy position, some white boys, including the late John Dwyer, visited the place and saw Keha in his grave. He wagged his head at them, rolled his eyes, poked out his tongue, and finally spat at the boys, whereupon those boys were sent away by the natives.

Tantalus may have been unknown to those simple villagers, but they busied themselves in placing food so near to the entombed man

that he could smell the savour of it. Day followed day until Keha the chastener gave up the ghost and went to join his fathers. Then trouble arose over the disposal of the body, fierce wrangling and fighting between two parties. In the dead of night one party disembowelled the body and buried the viscera in the pit in which Keha had lived, suffered, and died. The other party took the remains of the body away to some place unknown, but it was long before the feud died out.

The above is assuredly a strange tale, and one can but wonder if such an occurrence could have taken place as late as the year 1846. If this tale be a true one, and if Keha was truly a chief, then it seems strange that his near relatives did not rally to the rescue, for the communistic spirit was still strong in 1846. Much would depend upon the degree of relationship between the murderer and the murdered one, and this we are not told. Also there is no word of any investigation having been conducted by European authorities.

In much later times than 1846, however, strange things have happened among us, as when, about 55 years ago, our genial old friend Himiona shot and killed a near relative of his for practising witchcraft. Also, much later than that, we have known of strange tragedies that occurred in native districts.

FOR SALE:

Volumes I. to VI., Journal of the Society, complete, with Indexes, etc., bound in three volumes, with Volumes VI. to XIV., similarly complete, but in parts unbound.

The lot for £16 net.

Apply to Secretary.

« PrejšnjaNaprej »