Specimens of Ahori(jhial Poetry. 129 



The grasp of a chief's red hand cannot be loosened, but the grasp of a slave, what 



strength has it? 

 Few are the friends that aid at planting, but when the crops are gathered they 



come in shoals. 

 An old broken canoe may be mended, but youth and beauty cannot be re- 

 stored : — 

 A fat man has been fattened by food, not by active thought ; you will find him 



full, but not wise. 

 Women and war are the two dangers of men. 

 A woman probably hears the foe sing as they sacrifice to their gods the bodies of 



her slaughtered relatives (i. e. it is of little use to have a daughter, she will 



perhaps raise up heirs for your foes). 

 "Women and land are the causes which destroy men. 

 The Moa-bird [Dinornis c/i(/antca) trampled down the Rata tree {Metrosidero 



Robusta) when it was young; how then can you expect it to grow straight 



now ? (i. e. it is difllicult to overcome early influences.) 

 It is from food that a man's blood is made, and it is land which grows his food 



and sustains him. (Never part with your own land, and do not yield a fertile 



district.) 

 Persist in all as resolutely as you persist in eating. 

 Be firm as the surf-beaten rock in the ocean ! 

 Another man's food you must eat Uttle bits of; food won by "your own labour you 



may eat plenty of, and satisfy your hunger well. 

 An axe, though very little, can do as much as a man in clearing away a forest. 

 A fish begins nibbling gently upwards before he bites, and you begin a steep 



ascent from the bottom (from trifling disputes fierce wars arise). 



Not less conspicuous is the vigour displayed in the poetical 

 conceptions of the Maori. There is in them a depth of sen- 

 timentj a vividness of imagery, which would almost make us 

 doubtful of their true origin, if the original were not at hand 

 to compare with. 



Thus, for example, how beautifully do the following lines, 

 borrowed from a dirge for the chief Te-Huhu, describe the 

 wild anguish of a warlike people, "mourning the loss of a be 

 loved leader : — 



VOL. III. K 



