Title: Revenge: A Love Tale of the Mount Eden Tribe

Author: John White

Editor: Alexander Wyclif Reed

Publication details: Reed Publishing (NZ) Ltd, 1940, Wellington

Part of: Nineteenth-Century Novels Collection

License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 New Zealand Licence

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Chapter Eleven: The Story Told by Maro's Mother

As they sat by the fire, one of the old chiefs said, "I wonder if the young men have put up the little wharau under which those who papaki the kaka have to sit when the flocks have alighted? We ought to have known before now."

While he was speaking a young chief came in and said, "The signal fire is to be seen on the peak of the hill above Kau-kapakapa."

Reko asked, "Have you seen whether the ground where the kaka will alight is clear of everything that might frighten the flock away?"

"Yes. 'Since the middle of summer, when we burnt off the fern, we have removed every bush or stump that might frighten the kaka."

"And have the wharau been made?"

"Yes. We saw smoke on some of the Kaipara hills this morning, and immediately all the young men of our tribe went and obtained the leaves of the ponga ¹ and made a large number of wharau. In fact, we made so many that the top of the Ngutu-wera hill is covered with them, and there are many more on the page 213 sides. They are about six or eight spans of a man's extended arms apart."

"And how high is the fern? Is it high enough to hide the kaka when he is walking on the ground?"

'Yes. It is about twice as high as a kaka, even when he lifts his head up to look round."

"But have you trampled down the fern when you erected the wharau?"

"No. In walking about we used our feet as we do when eel fishing or flatfish hunting—in bringing down our feet we pointed the toes straight down, and so not a single fern stalk was broken."

"You have done well," Reko replied. "The whole tribe must be ready before dawn of day to assist in the work. Our old priest Koma will give the orders. Go you and tell him that we are now waiting to hear his commands."

Koma lived by himself in a shed in a little valley to the eastward of the Ngutu-wera. The young chief had to find his way there as best he could with the aid of a brand he took out of the fire. Popo had woken up as the young man had entered the house, and he heard all that was said by him and by Reko.

The young chief waved the firebrand before him as he went along the path. Having reached the shed where Koma lived, he found the old man asleep. He sat down for some time, and then gave a cough. The priest awoke and said, "Who is this?"

"It is I, Tipa. I have come to tell you that the signal fire has been seen, and Popo and the older chiefs are waiting for you at the house of Reko. I have a firebrand to light you on the road. Let us go there."

The old man followed Tipa, and as he entered the house he asked, "Has any cooked food been in this house ?" page 214 "No," Reko replied in surprise. "What makes you ask such a question? You know I am a priest, and would not allow it to be where I sleep lest the gods should kill me."

Koma shook his head. "Since Popo has been here I thought you might have forgotten the custom, as he is a chief of such supreme rank, and is not as strong as we are. With boyish thoughtlessness he might have eaten in this house."

"This signal fire has been seen," said Reko, changing the subject abruptly. "What are your orders?"

"Let the people cook our morning meal," Koma replied. "Let them cook it before the break of day, and let us have it all eaten before the sun is seen in the east. Let all but Popo stay here, and he and I will go and perform the ceremonies and chant the incantations on the top of Ngutu-wera. We will be there before the sun shines on us. I will sleep here to-night and watch the hui of Popo."

Tipa left the house to carry the counsel of Koma to the people, and Popo laid down to sleep. Koma, sitting by the fire, was the only one in the house who remained awake. Popo had not slept long before his legs twitched inwards and his arms were jerked towards his chest. Koma wakened Reko and said, "We shall have a good flock and shall kill many kaka. The hui of Popo are good. His legs were jerked up to his chest, and his arms also were clasped towards his chest. These are the signs of a great flock, and many will be taken. Now let us sleep."

Before dawn a low murmuring was heard outside the house, and Tipa looked in at the door and said, "Come out to the marae." They all rose at once, and by the light of a firebrand waved about by a young page 215 woman were led to where some paro of food were placed.

When they had all partaken of the morning meal, Koma said to Popo, "Follow me." He led the way up Ngutu-wera. When he reached the top, he sat down with his face towards the east, while Popo sat at a little distance from him on his right and looking in the same direction. Before long there was a flush of red in the sky. It became brighter and brighter, and then a vivid glow lit up the clouds. The two men rose, still facing the east. As the first gleam of the sun's face was seen, Koma began his incantation, accompanied by Popo, in a low chant:

Light, light the sacred fire to Tiki ²
It burns on the sacred day,
Give, O give, O Tiki, the fat of birds,
The fat of the pigeon,
The fat of the kaka,
The fat from the spring,
The spring of what placet
The fountain in the sky
The spring at Rangi-riri ³
That we may be able
To pour it out
As an offering to thee.

As they repeated the last word of the chant, they let their hands, which had been outstretched towards the east, drop gently to their sides.

They sat down again and turned westward to look for the expected flock of kaka. They saw them coming and heard the distant screaming of the birds, so they hurried into their wharau on the peak of the hill. No sooner had they entered than a number of men, each page 216 with a tame decoy kaka held on a long perch, came up the hill towards the other sheds, into one of which each man entered, sticking the perch of his bird in front of the wharau.

The flock was now near the Ngutu-wera hill, and each of the hunters threw a few scraps of cooked fern root to his bird. As the bird attempted to take it, it was touched with a long, thin stick and the fern root pushed away. This made the bird utter a loud scream, and as there were a good number of these decoys, the noise they made could be heard at a great distance. The approaching flock heard the screaming of the tame birds and were attracted to the hill, and in a short time they had all alighted on Ngutu-wera.

The flock was a large one. The kaka kept up a continuous screaming as they ran here and there in the fern, like rats in search of food.

The bird killers sat as still as death in their sheds, not even daring to wink their eyes. Nothing moved but the long wand each bird killer held on the ground with his left hand. It was used to convey food to the decoy birds, and the men did this by pulling the wand along the ground until the end was near to their feet. On it they placed a small piece of cooked fern root cake, and then pushed it out to the decoy.

Each bird killer sat in his ponga shed. The ends of the fronds were stuck in the ground in a circle, so that a man could just sit in it with his back and elbows touching the sides. The tops were tied together, but a small space was left open so that the bird killer could see his decoy bird, and from it could, with a dart of his right hand, catch any kaka which might pass close to it. The decoy bird was kept on a perch about twice the length of a man's arm. To the foot or leg was attached a string of sufficient length to allow the bird to get to page 217 the upper end of his perch, and to this string a bone of oval shape was attached. The foot of the bird was inserted through a hole in the bone, so that he was a prisoner to his perch. The end of the perch was stuck into the ground on one side of the opening in the shed so that the decoy could see the wild birds. When the bird killer put a piece of roi cake at the foot of the perch the decoy would at once descend and, in eating it, would make that peculiar noise made by kaka when they are eating anything of which they are particularly fond.

The wild birds heard this noise as they ran about in the fern. The bird killers' faces were hidden by the ponga fronds, and they sat with their right hands outstretched above their heads. When a wild bird came to partake of the decoy's delicacy and turned his back to the killer, the uplifted hand swooped down on the unsuspecting bird and pulled it into the wharau. Before it had time to make a sound its neck would be broken, and the kaka pushed back through the shed to the rear of the killer. Thus each man caught and killed the kaka that morning.

With most of the great flocks of kaka there is a bird which is quite red. This bird is the leader of the flock, and our chiefs are proud to possess such birds. They are wild and suspicious and shy, and are seldom caught, and therefore it is the aim of every bird killer to capture such birds. They are always keeping a careful watch for the kaka kura, and if it advances to any one of the sheds, the occupant does not capture any one of the common birds but allows them to come and hustle each other, while he again and again puts out the roi with his rod.

In this instance it was near mid-day, and many hundreds of birds had been killed when the kaka kura page 218 was seen by Tipa coming towards his shed.

He fed his decoy bird at once, and a crowd of birds congregated in front of his shed, each hustling the other to obtain the roi cake, till at last the red bird was so near the opening that he was within arm's length of Tipa. He waited till the back of the bird was towards him and then brought his hand down and closed his fingers firmly round its neck.

The previous night Tipa had had a dream. He dreamed that he was out fishing and had caught a red snapper. When he woke that morning he did not mention his dream to anyone, but he took two mats with him, one to wear round him, and the other to sit on. He had no doubt but that the red snapper of his dream was to be a red kaka, the leader of the flock, which he would be the one to catch. It was for this reason that he brought the second mat, that he might keep the red kaka in it.

When Tipa had caught the red kaka, he put it beneath his mat, and kept it there a prisoner till the flock should rise on the wing and fly south. In its fear, the captured bird screamed louder than it had ever done in its life, and Tipa placed it in the mat as close as he could to the opening in the shed. This attracted the other birds, and hearing the cries of one of their companions, they came to see what was the cause. This gave Tipa the opportunity to capture the birds as fast as he could kill them and put them behind him.

By the time the sun had reached the meridian the flock began to lessen in number and appeared to be disquieted and on the move. At last a universal scream was heard, and the remnant of the birds took flight and went southward. Now and then they hovered in the air in answer to the scream of the red bird which page 219 Tipa had caught, but eventually went on their migration and were lost in the distance.

Popo and the old priest had now come from the sheds they had occupied. The priest went at once and took the bird which was first killed, and looking towards the east, held it up in his right hand, with Popo standing at his left side. Together they chanted:

Start my medium on my pillow
Start my medium on my bed
Throw my medium aside
Hard medium.
Thy eye that looks behind
And your eye, which is out,
And can see plenty.
Give my property to me
My property that was planted
That was planted in land
That was planted near the sea
And set in the east,
And let females tremble with laughter
And let men tremble with laughter
And can see plenty.
Give my property to me
The god of war who art satisfied
And thou hidden god.

Having chanted this to the gods, he gave the bird to Popo, and at once they went back to the settlement. Popo stayed some distance from the people till the priest had been to his shed and had returned to where he gave the bird to Popo. Then he tied it to a stake and stuck the stake up on the top of the ridge.

The people of the settlement now went to meet the bird killers, who had kept in their sheds all this time. Tipa, with his red kaka, was the first to come out of the wharau. His wild bird was in such fear that it made the decoy birds flutter and scream, to the no small annoyance of their keepers. When the bird killers had got to the kainga, Tipa went over to Popo and said, page 220 "O our young lord, here is a red kaka for you. As you are to our tribe what a red kaka is to his flock, it is right that you two should be lord and slave."

An old woman at once came to Tipa and took the bird, saying, "I will keep it for our young lord."

Those who had gone to collect the birds had by this time tied them in bundles of ten and had sent a messenger to the tribe to come and carry them to the settlement. Men, women and children at once rushed up the hill and came back heavily laden. In their joy they sang:

It is Tu
It is Rongo
And Paia
And Ngongotahi
Heaps, heaps of
Food have come
To the earth.

The people then took the birds and began to pluck them, while they talked and laughed and amused each other by letting the wind blow the feathers over them. As the day was warm and they were heated with their work, the feathers stuck to them, so that they looked like huge kaka.

The old woman who had taken charge of the kaka kura for Popo made a fire on the marae. She placed on it some manuka ⁴ branches and some of karamu and kawakawa. She confined the red kaka in a basket made of the thick aka that is found climbing up the trees of the forest. She picked it up and swung it to and fro in the smoke, and at the same time held a conversation with the bird. "You have bitten me, but now you are in a cage you will have to learn to do as all birds that have become full-grown before they are taken. You shall swing here till you sneeze a few page 221 times, and then you will be tamed. The smoke in your stomach will take the wild and angry spirit out of you." She kept swinging the cage to and fro in the smoke until she was weary. At last the bird began to sneeze. "Ah, you will not bite me again. You will eat the food I give you and sit like a tame bird on a perch with a poria ⁵ on your leg. The bird had sneezed many times and was now half-suffocated by the smoke. It had dropped down from the perch in the cage and was nodding its head in a half-stifled manner. The old woman went to one side and looked at the bird, and said, "Ah, your brain is not as strong as it was. You will be tame now." She opened the door of the cage and took the bird out, put its beak up to her mouth, opened the beak and breathed into it, until the bird's breast heaved with the breath she breathed into its lungs. It had hung its head down, but now it lifted it and gave a loud scream. The woman again breathed down its throat, and said, "So I have tamed you, have I? You must not bite me again." She placed the poria on its leg, and tied one end of a string to a perch, and the other end to the poria. Thus placed, the bird held the perch tightly with its feet as the old woman swung the perch to and fro. "Ah," she said, "you will be a pet for Popo and all the tribe at Mount Eden. Be quiet and do not scream or bite those who touch you." So saying, she stuck the perch in the ground in front of the hut in which she lived, and sat and watched her new pet.

The bird pluckers had finished all the birds and had tied them in bundles of ten and put them all in a heap. One of the old men rose and called to Tipa, and said, "O Tipa, all the work is done. What are we to do with the birds?"

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Tipa answered, "Let one of the young men go for Koma and tell him that Reko wishes to speak to him."

Koma came and said, "Do not preserve them in their own fat, but let them be sent to our pa as they are. We have many old people who will relish them as they are much more than if they were preserved in the usual manner."

"But to which pa are we to send them first? You are the oldest man amongst us and are better able to remember the rules of etiquette and rank."

"Send them in the order I shall name. Mount Eden, Takapuna, Wairaka, Te Tatua, Remu-wera, Totara-i-ahua, Mangere, Tikopuke, Papanga-te-uira, Rarotonga, Otahuhu, Manurewa, Matuku-rua, Ihu-matao, and Wai-takere. Let the portions for Mount Eden, Takapuna and Totara-i-ahua be a little more than you send to the others. How many birds have you?"

"A few more than five hundred twice told, and they are tied up ten in a bundle."

Well, that will be at the rate of six bundles to each pa, but the surplus you can divide equally and give to the three pa I have named."

Popo's relatives rose and said, "O young people of our pa, this is the word. Take the raw birds as Koma has ordered and let your paddles be strong to deliver them all this day. Let those of you who are able to pull swiftly go on this errand. Let the canoes leave the pa in the order that Koma has named. Let one party of you go to each pa, and when you arrive, say as you place the birds on the marae, 'We come from Koma and his children.' Then return at once."

The messengers took the birds as they were ordered, and the people of Ngutu-wera had a feast that page 223 day of the birds they retained. Popo stayed with them for some time longer, and was attended to by the old priest Koma.