tieviete of Revittrg, i'Ji ,; b". 



in the Heart of Maoriland. 



349 



Matahepa Te Whennanul 

 A Chieflainess of Malai(ii;i. 



tains — a sea of mountains, great glorious green 

 waves clipping and ris'ng and dipping again, away 

 to the far-off soft l)!uc peaks of the horizon. 



Richest of all the flower'ng trees of Maoriland, 

 the rata in midsummer fires these forests with its 

 beautiful rich crimson b'.ossoms. The Tuhoe peo- 

 ple practicallv call the rata flowers the " Fare of 

 Tawhaki " — Te Kanohi-o-Tmvhahi. This classic 

 piece of imagery refers to the hero Tawhaki of 

 mythological fame, whose blood stained crimson the 

 flowers of the Tohutnhawa and rata. Amongst the 

 neighbouring Ngatiawa people of the Whakatane 

 Valley the rata bears the honorific name of " Te 

 Maro-a-Tane " — the '' Loin-mat of the Forest-God." 

 The Maori enshrined deities and dryads and fairy 

 beings in these gloomy woodlands, to him so full of 

 mysticism. The shadowy deeps of the bush, the tall 

 silent columns, like spirit-chieftains, with their heads 

 in the sky, the sudden sharp cries of the birds and 

 the damp cool fragrance which steeps everything, 

 leave a strong impress on primitive man. The 

 forester of Tuhoe is in an enchanted land. Like 

 the ancient Greeks, the Maoris have stories of 

 strange metamorphoses, of persons transformed into 

 trees and rocks. Some of these tales resemble that 

 of Daphne, who, fleeing from Apollo, was suddenly 

 changed into a laurel tree, and of the Heliades, who 

 became poplars and their tears amber. In the 

 Ruatahuna and adjacent districts of Tuhoe Land 



there are sundn- locally famed liindu and /awa-trees 

 which the natives speak of as the material forms of 

 certain ancestors, arid which are reputed to possess 

 certain magical properties ; and they are reverenced 

 to this day as fetish-trees. This is not paraded 

 before Europeans, but the old, old cult of tree- 

 worship is still strong in the hearts of the bushmen 

 of Tuhoe. To the old-fashioned Maori there is a 

 veritable '' spirit in these woods " — 



. . . Mighty trees 

 In manj- a lazy syllable repeating 

 Their old poetic legends t-o the winds. 



All day we rode through the beautiful forest and 

 down through the dark defiles, where it was always 

 twilight, and where the white-breasted pigeon flew 

 on gentle wings from tree to tree, and "" Kukiid " 

 softly to its mate, and the tui, or parson-bird (the 

 Koko it is called in this district), rang its bell-notes 

 and whistled its flute-song close beside us— the 

 Angelus of the bush. And then, just as we were 

 wearying of the interminable forest, and longing for 

 the s.avoury hangi, the sound of axes echoed 

 through the bush, a cheery " Nat4-mai ! Nau-mai!^' 

 greeted us, smoke rose from a clearing, where a 

 company of shawl-kilted, shaggy-headed men were 



Photo, hy .i. Hamilton ] 



Diggi ig With the Wooden " Ko"— the Old«n Method of 

 Cultivation in tiie Urewera Country. 



