1840 - Polack, J. S. Manners and Customs of the New Zealanders [Vol. I.] [Capper reprint, 1976] - Chapter X

       
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  1840 - Polack, J. S. Manners and Customs of the New Zealanders [Vol. I.] [Capper reprint, 1976] - Chapter X
 
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[Chapter X]

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CHAPTER X.

DEPOSIT OF THE PRIESTHOOD.--RECORDS OF THE DEPARTED.--THE DECEIVERS AND DECEIVED.--THE TAWA MOA, OR SACRED FIGHT.-- ATTENTION PAID TO THE LAST EXPRESSION.--SUPPOSED PROPHECIES.--MODERN DISCOVERY OF ANTIQUITIES.--NATURE AND CAUSES.--CUSTOMARY PROHIBITIONS.--POSTHUMOUS HONOURS.--ITS RECORDS AND VARIETIES.--CEMETERIES IN NEW ZEALAND.--IMPIETY IN THEIR VIOLATION.--PUNISHMENTS IMPOSED ON THE DELINQUENT, AND THE SILENT INDULGING CURIOSITY.--ITS SUBSEQUENT EFFECT.--SUPERSTITION IN FAVOUR OF ROBBERY.--LOSS OF LIFE IN BREAKING A PROHIBITION.--ANECDOTES.--WEAKNESS VERSUS CUNNING.--IMPURITY OF GAZING.--DYING CHILDLESS ACCOUNTED A MISFORTUNE.--RECORDS OF THE FACT.--BOASTS OF A VICTOR.--DEATH OF AN INFLUENTIAL CHIEF.--HIS CHILDREN REPROACHED AS WANTING IN DUTY.--CAUSE OF UNAPPEASABLE FEUDS.--SUPERSTITION OVERCOMES REVENGE.--A VARIETY IN SACRED WARFARE.--INDISPENSABLE REQUISITE FOR A DEAD MAN.--MAKING GHOSTS TO SERVE THE DEAD.--A TOMB NEAR KAIPARA.

THE bones of the chiefs, in whose honour the feast has been given, are reconveyed to the cemetery, great care being taken by the priests that no person espies them in that sacred place. 1 It is ac-

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counted a sin in any person viewing a corpse in the coffin, however accidental; and the priests are so attentive to their functions in this matter, that it requires the eye and intellect of no common observer to discover whether these men are the dupes of superstition or deceivers only. A strict tapu is

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thrown on any person who touches the body of a dead chief, and in the south-west part of the North Island, the surviving relations discharge several rounds of ball-cartridge towards the villages of their enemies, for the soul to lie at rest, and which alone can dissolve the tapu . This ceremony is termed tawa moa , a sacred fight. A great variety of articles are also interred with the deceased, 2 comprising almost every thing the defunct peculiarly delighted in.

On the approach of death the nearest survivors

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hang over the dying person, anxious to catch the last breath of the deceased, but rather from force of affection than superstition. 3 The last words of a chief or priest are attended to with peculiar earnestness, from the supposition that a spirit of prophecy (or rather the absence of lying) will issue from the lips of the man about to enter eternity. 4

The personal apparel of the dead is never made use of by the survivors; and to such an extent is this method of veneration, that frequently the honse of a deceased person is prohibited from ever being again inhabited, and when in mind the wood is not

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allowed to be desecrated for fire-wood, or even taken away. 5 The dead are probably more honoured in New Zealand than in any other part of the globe, as however ill a chief may have behaved in his lifetime, he is yet buried in the cemetery of his fathers.

The cemeteries of the New Zealanders are regarded with peculiar fear and veneration. The least violation of any portion of the precincts of

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the dead, is accounted the greatest crime that a human being can commit, and is visited with the direst revenge of a surviving tribe, 6 to be atoned for only by blood or loss of property. If an animal happens by chance to feed on one of these places, where the herbage flourishes best, it is immediately killed. A native has never deliberately violated the burial-place of his fathers, it being implicitly supposed that such an act would bring disease and death on the criminal. 7 If any person were to see such an act, and kept the same secret, he would suffer, if it became known, as a participator in the affair; few if any would hazard the punishment that is supposed to await such conduct. Europeans, who have visited New Zealand, have been induced to indulge their curiosity by opening the tombs of a native cemetery; the object that meets the eye are skeletons of the chiefs, male or

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female, each being equally honoured after death, fastened with flax cords in an upright posture, a quantity of articles, such as muskets, tomahawks, &c., placed on either side. We remember some instances of Europeans being discovered in opening a tomb. They had been unable to effect their object unseen, and had scarcely time to gratify their curiosity, when a hue and cry was raised by a girl who had remained alone in the village. On the news reaching the chiefs, who were planting at some distance, consternation seized the weaker intellects, while avaricious cunning dictated to the more powerful, that an admirable opportunity was now afforded them to demand a heavy payment; in each instance this might have been effected, had not other chiefs inimical to them defeated their intentions, by taking part with the Europeans; however, both parties were obliged to pay, what was accounted among the people a large sum, in muskets, powder, and blankets.

The sepulchres were taken away, and the bones taken to the river and carefully scraped with muscle shells, and washed in water, from the impurities that the gaze of unhallowed persons had caused. They were again gathered, carefully placed in new mats, and, finally, replaced in another receptacle at some distance.

For a native chief to die childless 8 is accounted

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a direful misfortune, to avoid which, adoption is often resorted to. The utmost boast of a victor is, in having destroyed the children of bis enemy. On the death of the celebrated E'Ongi, his children, fearful from the many enemies their father had created, that the body would be stolen from them, as they could then muster in numbers, were about to place it in the ancestral cemetery the day after he died, thus depriving it of the honour of lying in state. It was opposed by some powerful chieftains, one of whom reproached them for their pusillanimity. "How is it," he said, "I have only just become acquainted with those who are unworthy of an illustrious sire, and wish to bury him alive!" Among the singular laws of the country, a chief

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who steals the body (tupapaku ) of a rich man is entitled to a large portion of his property. In times of war, the greatest insult, causing unappeasable hatred and determination for revenge, is by either party ravaging the cemetery of the antagonist. But on a party conquering, after indulging themselves in all the lust of cannibalism, superstition triumphs over their animosity and revolting barbarism, and they erect monumental effigies

Na Raoui, or Sepulchral Effigies [Nos. 1,2 and 3].

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Na Raoui, or Monumental Effigies. [Nos. 4,5 and 6]

(raoui ) to denote the place where an enemy, remembered as having been a former friend, or, perhaps, a relative, had been slain and devoured. When any valiant chiefs have fallen in battle, they are interred in the cemetery, with all the honours these people can bestow. A number of muskets, leaden balls, cartridge paper, and charges of gunpowder, are buried with each person. This is also termed arming for a sacred fight, (tawa moa ,) it being accounted among native superstitions an indispensable requisite for a chief to be provided with arms and ammunition to fight his way to the world of spirits. At such, burials most heart-rending barbarities prevailed, slaves being deliberately murdered to serve the spirit (wairua ) of the warrior in the next world. In honour of such men the festival of the Haihunga was established, the anniver-

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sary being religiously attended to. 9 Some of the tombs are erected, considering the scanty resources of the people, on a large scale.

The preceding Raouis or native effigies in honour of the dead were sketched at various places.

1. From a cemetery at Taohara, on the west side of the river Kaipara, where a battle was fought in 1826, between the inhabitants and the allied tribes of the north, under E'Ongi and Muriwai, in which the former people were entirely scattered and nearly exterminated, and the country has ever since lay desolated.

2. From a Wai tapu on the banks of Waima, a river estuating in Hokianga.

3. On the banks of Mahurangi, river Thames.

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4, 5 & 6. From a burial place at Tokomaru misnamed by Cook, Tegado.

The following was erected to the memory of Tuwhenua, an invincible Amazon, who formerly flourished on the banks of the Wairoa (long waters) at Kaipara, and dedicated to her prowess by her tribe, previously to their extinction.

Tomb erected to the memory of Tuwhenua, a female Chief of Kaipara.

1  Nations are more remarkable for the unqualified respect with which they honour the departed, in the ratio as they are sunk in barbarism. Among the instructions of the age-stricken Jacob to Joseph, he said, after ensuring his obedience by an oath, "Deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt. But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying-place." He again said "Hearken unto me," and he did so. (Gen. c.47, v.30, 31.) He again repeats the injunction of "bury me with my fathers," adding, "There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife, and there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah." (Ibid c.49, v.31.) The subsequent burial and mourning at the field of Atad is impressively described in chap. 40. ibid. Joseph also enjoins his descendants to the same office. "God," said he, "will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence." (Gen. c.50, v.25.) We find this performed in the days of Joshua, (c.24, v.32.) The dead body being placed in coffins, was only performed to persons of distinction among the Egyptians. They were enclosed in chests, and placed in niches; many of these coffins were of stone. The custom of carrying the corse to the burying places of the relations, is as customary in every part of the globe at the present day. Among the Romans, Greeks, it was often done. In Madagascar, the writer, while on a visit to that country, saw the return of an army that had been despatched from Tannafouche to the South. They had brought with them, in addition to their booty, the bones of their comrades enclosed in baskets, that had fallen in the battle.
2  The excavations daily progressing in various parts of civilized Europe, expose to view numberless articles deposited in the tombs of the renowned dead. Implements, warlike munition, &c. display the taste mankind has ever had to have deposited in the silent tomb, the favourite memorials of past life. The warrior is known by his armour, the priest by his mouldering crosier and signet-ring, even the labourer by the implement of agriculture. Among the Egyptians, the works of Champollion, Rosellini, Maillet, Denon, and a host of authors, demonstrate this taste to have been a ruling passion with that people. In South America, innumerable are the earthen-ware jars, with the figure of the Sun displayed on them in the depositories of nations, dead, the sole memento of people whose name is lost in the womb of time. These remains are numerous in Peru. The tumuli of the Romans in Britain, the cromlechs in Scotland, the cearns in Ireland and Wales, the barrows in North America, all possess deposits, originally placed with the feeling that actuates the New Zealander when interring his dead.
3  It was customary for the Greeks and Romans to burn the bodies of their illustrious dead, the ashes being gathered in costly urns. On the funeral pyre, valuable spices were thrown, that the aroma from them should overcome the foetid effluvia of the mortal remains. The Egyptians in some instances did the same.
4  This opinion is also derived from ancient tradition. Among the Hebrews, much reliance was placed on the last words of a dying parent. Jacob, on his death-bed, says to his sons, "Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in your last days." (Gen. c.49, v.1.) This prophetic feeling has been usually assigned by classic authors to their principal heroes, who are made to foretell the death of each other to the end of the chapter.
Among the Hebrews and Romans it was customary to destroy the bed and such furniture as was principally made use of by the deceased. Among the Persians at the present day, this custom, is not unusual.
5  The method of honouring mortal remains widely differs in various countries. In Europe, respect is shown by the mourners being habited in black; in China, white is prescribed as most becoming. Among the Turks a series of ablutions. The Hebrews formerly cast ashes on their heads, and yet rend their garments. The Greeks beat brass kettles to drive away any unhallowed spirits having command over the body: and the better to preserve the soul of the defunct, his last breath was carefully inhaled by a survivor. Among the Northern warriors, the favourite sword was placed under the head. In modern Europe the military or naval trophies of the deceased are carried on the shell that contains the dead body. In Asia, the survivors refuse nourishment for several days, and the mourner who can desist longest, is accounted the most affected. The cutting and wailing we have described as accompanying the death of a chief in New Zealand, is in common with all the inhabitants of the South Sea Islands. The Turks, similar to the French, and other nations on the Continent, plant flowers on the grave, and convert the cemeteries into gardens. Such cemeteries are often visited by surviving relatives.
6  It has been stated that the lamented Cook met with his death at Hawaii, in consequence of his people taking away a portion of fencing that had belonged to a cemetery, which had been actually sold to him as firewood without the knowledge of the chiefs.
7  Among the Javan thieves this feeling is regarded less conscientiously. In Java a superstition exists, attaching to the earth of a new-made grave the most soporific power. This belief is so universal, that when a robber is desirous of plundering a house, he cautiously procures a portion of the new-made grave, and throws it into the house he has decided on robbing; the plundered implicitly believe in the fiction.
8  We have already related the veneration paid to the memory of an ancestor. This feeling among the ancients is forcibly related in 2 Samuel c.18, v.18, where Absalom rears a pillar which he names after himself, saying, "I have no son to keep my name in remembrance." The Jews continually invoke the names of the three patriarchs, as the Moslems do that of Ismail, David or Solomon, yet from principles of veneration only. The former account the curse "to die childless," or "the soul to be cut off among Israel," as the heaviest anathema that can befall them. Notwithstanding the charming Houris' promised by Mohammed, his followers lay great stress on ultimately resting in Abraham's bosom. The Hindoos believe that the greatest happiness in after-life, depends on prayers being said to their memory by their children. An anathema of a modern Hebrew may be translated, "May he never be mentioned by his children."
9  Anniversaries have been instituted among almost every nation to the manes of the illustrious. The Turks are particularly attentive to this subject. The Hebrews invariably say prayers and give alms in memory of the departed; also a lamp, fed with olive-oil, is kept burning, which it would be accounted an insult to the deceased to employ for any other purpose. The Persians also mourn the death of Prince Houssain, grandson to Mohammed; his tomb near Babylon is yet visited by them. The Romans employed mourners (praeficiae) to attend and give effect to a chamber. The Moors, in Algiers, have a similar habit, and the Arabs have borrowed the custom. Many of the ancient nations of Palestine made use of caves and excavated rocks as receptacles for their dead. The Greeks did the same.
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