1814-1853 - The Missionary Register [Sections relating to New Zealand.] - 1838 - Australasia--New Zealand, p 341-342

Nov. 27, 1835--Poor Paringaringa has died. When his relations found that he was dying, they wished to remove him out of the Settlement; but he objected, and urged his wife not to follow the native customs for him when he should be taken away. As soon as he was dead, they made the house sacred, and had it nailed up. A party of Natives proposed to strip our houses, as payment for the death of Paringarina; but Waharoa opposed the measure.

Nov. 28--I opened our native house, in which Paringarina died, and then sent for Waharoa; but he says that the tapu cannot be taken off the house, although it is in the midst of our Settlement, unless we pay for having it made noa (common). Paringaringa was buried to-day. His relatives had kept the body until my return; and I therefore felt it right to be present at the ceremony, especially as it afforded an opportunity of speaking to his friends on the Resurrection. Yesterday, I requested his tribe to allow him to be buried in a coffin. This, however, they refused to do then, as being contrary to native customs; but I was pleased today, on finding that they had so far overcome their prejudices on the one hand, and attended to my wishes on the other, that the body was placed in a large box, which they buried in a grave, on my shewing them how to dig it. When directing them to press the earth down on the box, the widow said, "Let the earth rest lightly on him, that he may be able to rise again." I found that Paringaringa's friends entertained the idea that he died a believer, and had gone to heaven; but so blind are they to every thing of a spiritual nature, that they had placed in the box two small loaves--which Mrs. Brown took yesterday for the widow and mother of the deceased--in order that he might have something to eat, on his way to heaven.

Dec. 1--Last day of kumera planting. A large party assembled; but no opportunity was afforded of speaking to them of that only Name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. A human head, dressed with feathers, was placed on a fallen tree in their midst; and sometimes, in their horrid war-dances, one of them would brandish about the head in his hand, and by this action apparently increase the savage exultation displayed in their fiend-like countenances.

Dec. 6: Lord's Day--The Services in the Settlement have been well attended; as have also the schools, by 49 boys, 90 girls, and 63 infants. In visiting the Ropi in the afternoon, Ngakuku accompanied me: and when I had finished the Service, he got up and addressed his countrymen in a very pleasing manner; yet with much boldness, when he alluded to their national crimes. An old man present inquired, whether, on reaching heaven, we should not grow old and die, and then ascend to some place higher than heaven. He seemed quite unable to comprehend that there could be a place in which the inhabitants shall no more say, I am sick. In returning from the

Ropi, I called on Paringaringa's Tribe. His widow was perched upon the stump of a tree, making a dismal howl. I approached her, and said, "If Paringaringa died a believer, he has ceased crying." This arrested her attention, and she entered into conversation. Among other things, she inquired whether the spirit of her husband did not return every night, and sleep in her hut. This appears to be a native opinion; for the widow and mother of Paringaringa always leave a vacant place by the side of their beds, for him to repose on. The widow complained of a pain in her chest. I told her it was caused by her continual moaning and crying. She replied, in an angry tone, "Do you think it is sweet to me to sit here crying? No, it is not; but I am obliged to do so; for if I leave off, the men accuse me of being lazy, and say that I have no love for Paringaringa." How hard is the bondage of Satan!--his service, sin; his wages, death.

Feb. 17, 1836--Ngakuku was busily engaged yesterday and to-day in splitting a tree for the posts of our Chapel; but the tree, although standing in the midst of his plantation, is claimed by some other Natives; who, in order to make Ngakuku desist from his work, and resign the tree, called it the head of one of our leading Chiefs, thus rendering it sacred. They then inquired, as Ngakuku seemed disposed to continue his employment, whether he would split up the head of Tiwa, the Chief after whose name the tree had been called. "No," he replied; "I will not split Tiwa's head; but I will split up my own tree;" and he continued his work till the evening. When he came to me at night, and related the circumstance, I felt convinced, that, just as his claim to the tree might be, he would be involved in difficulty, and perhaps in danger, if he persisted in splitting it; and I therefore urged him not to strive with the Natives on the subject, but to resign it quietly. He consented to do so; observing, that he could not see that it was right, but he supposed that my understanding was the straight one.