Nga Huarahi O Te Ao Maori 



Pathways in the Maori World 



by Anne Salmond 



Photos by Athol McCredie 



I 



t n the tribal landscapes of early historic times, pathways 

 were cut along beaches and ridges, through bush, and beside 

 rivers, passing through the territory of one descent group and 

 into the lands of the next. A traveler in his own countryside 

 could name its features minutely — rocks, caves, beaches, fish- 

 ing grounds, points, streams, eeling pools, patches of bush, 

 cultivations, swamps, rat runs, trees, ridges, hills, and moun- 

 tains, even clumps of grass — every smallest feature had its 

 name, which evoked the quality of that unique place and the 

 ancestors who had named it or passed that way. The place 

 names marked the land and domesticated it, fitting it for man's 

 occupation; and the paths gave him direction in his jouneys. 

 This was whenua (land), source of life for its people. 



The land was known intimately, because people moved 

 often in those days. War parties, groups on seasonal migration, 

 on trading trips, or on the way to some celebration traveled 

 along the paths and waterways, setting up camp and moving 

 through the bush in search of food. And if a group was driven 

 off their land or forced to migrate to a new district, they 

 lamented, singing their grief for the abandoned bones of their 

 forefathers, as in Te Rauparaha's lament for his land: 



Ndku ia na koe i waiho i taku I leave, you my beloved land 



whenua iti 



Te rokohanga te taranga i a in this unexpected parting 



tdua 



Ka mini maomao au ki te iwi And greet my ancestors from a 



ra ia. distance 



Moe noa mai te moenga roa. lying on their beds of death. ' 



These fighting, singing, talking travelers were nga tangata (peo- 

 ple) standing on the earth between underworld (po) and the 

 layered heavens and managing the balance of the universe 

 with their battles and their spells. 



Men and land dwelled together in life and death, and their 

 names — of places and men — crossed and crossed again in 



Anne Salmond is senior lecturer in Social Anthropology at the 

 University of Aukland. She is also author of Hui: A Study 

 of Maori Ceremonial Gatherings (1975); Amiria: The Life Story 

 of a Maori Woman (1976); and Eruera: The Teachings of a 

 Maori Elder (1980). 



genealogies and tribal stories. The dead were buried in their 

 settlements, sometimes in the very houses in which they had 

 lived, 2 and the papa (layers) of the cosmos were echoed in wha- 

 kapapa (layers of descent lines) which began with po (nothing- 

 ness or nights) and came down to this world of light, gods, and 

 men: 



Ka hua te wananga 

 Ka noho i a rikoriko 

 Ka puta ki waho ko te po 



Ko te po nui, te po roa 



Te poi tuturi, te po i pepeke 



Te po uriuri. te po tangotango 



Te po wawd 



Te po te kitea 



Te po i oti atu ki te mate. 



Na te kore i ai 



Te kore te wiwia 



Te kore te rawea 



Ko hotupu 



Ko hauora 



Ka noho i te dtea 



ka puta ki waho te rangi e tii nei 



Ko te rangi e teretere ana 



i runga o te whenua 



Ka noho te rangi nui e tii nei 



Ka noho i a ata tuhi 



Ka puta ki waho temarama 



Te rangi i tu nei, ka noho i a 



te werawera 

 Ka puta ki waho ko te ra 

 Kokiritia ana ki runga 

 Hei piikanohi mo te rangi 

 Ka tau te rangi 

 Te ata tuhi, te ata rapa 

 Te ata ka mahina, ka mahina te 



ata i hikurangi 



Ka noho i Hawaiki 



Knowledge became fruitful. 



It dwelt with the feeble glimmering; 



And so night was born: 



The great night, the long night, 

 The lowest night, the loftiest night. 

 The thick night, to be felt, 

 The night to be touched, 

 The night not to be seen, 

 The night of death. 



From the nothing the begetting. 



From the nothing the increase 



From the nothing the abundance. 



The power of increasing. 



The living breath; 



It dwelt with the empty space 



and the sky above was born 



The atmosphere which floats 



above the earth; 



The great firmament above us, 



dwelt with the early dawn, 



And the moon sprung forth; 



The sky above us dwelt with the heat, 



And the sun was born; 

 They were thrown up above. 

 As the chief eyes of Heaven: 

 Then the Heavens become light. 

 The early dawn, the early days. 

 The mid-day, the blaze of the day 

 from the sky. 



The sky above dwelt with Hawaiki, 



"Pathways in the Maori World" and the maps on pages 9 and 11 are from 

 Te Maori: Maori Art from New Zealand Collections, published in 1984 

 by Harry N. Abrams, Inc. in association with The American Federation of 

 Arts, text copyright © 1984 by Sidney Moko Mead, Agnes Sullivan, David R. 

 Simmons, Anne Salmond, Bernie Kernot, and Piri Sciascia. 



