Australasia: Eight Lectures Prepared for the Visual Instruction Committee of the Colonial OfficeSargent, A. J. (Arthur John)
History
Australasia: Eight Lectures Prepared for the Visual Instruction Committee of the Colonial Office
Sargent, A. J. (Arthur John)
Australasia -- Description and travel
We see the Maori here in European dress and we find him entering
Parliament and the learned professions, or becoming a successful
farmer and grazier in every way as civilised as ourselves. But
he is not anxious to be a mere imitator of the white man, as
he is intensely proud of his own race and past history. In the
remoter districts he still clings to his ancient fashion of life.
Here is a typical group, in native dress, and here is the simple 30
private house of a chief. Again we have an interesting portrait 31
of the daughter of a chief, holding her father’s heavy staff; her 32
curious dress is largely made up of the feathers of the wingless
Kiwi, which we have already seen.
The Maori dances are among the most interesting of their social
customs. We may perhaps see the _haka_, a survival of the 33
old war-dance, performed by half-clad warriors. It is now a
ceremonial dance of welcome. Very different is the _poi_, the 34
pretty action-dance and song of women and girls, which we may
see in the dancing-house of any native village. We notice that
the costumes of the dancers are made up of native flax and
feathers. The chief native sport is the canoe race, as the water
is everything to the Maori. Here is one of the huge dug-out war 35
canoes, hewn from a single tree-trunk, and now becoming somewhat
rare; and here again we see his canoe used to mark the grave of 36
a chief.
We are now in the district south of the Bay of Plenty and near
Lake Rotorua, which we reach by a railway running up the valley
of the Thames. Here is a typical scene. In the group before us a 37
woman is smoking a pipe; we may often see the same thing among
the peasants of Ireland. Down below, a crowd of Maori children 38
are bathing in the stream, while the tourists watch them from
the bridge. The place is called Whakarewarewa, a name rather
difficult to pronounce. This is the northern end of the geyser
district, which we have already visited. Here we see the tourists 39
again, with their cameras, waiting for the great Wairoa Geyser
to start; and here is the geyser playing. Not far away are some 40
Maori women cooking by the steam heat provided by nature. 41
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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