The adventures of Kimble Bent: A story of wild life in the New Zealand bushCowan, James
History
The adventures of Kimble Bent: A story of wild life in the New Zealand bush
Cowan, James
Bent, Kimble, 1837-1916; New Zealand -- Description and travel
Before announcing his recognition of the white warrior's remains, he
turned to the people and asked if any of them had taken from a _pakeha_
officer a sword with an unusual curve in it, and a cap bound with a
brass band.
A Hauhau jumped up and said, "Yes, I have them."
"Show me which soldier you took them from," said Bent.
The Maori, with von Tempsky's sword in his hand, pointed to the major's
corpse.
"Well," said Bent, "that is the body of Manu-rau, whom the _pakehas_
called von Tempsky, and that is his sword."
A great "Ah-h" came from the people, and the exultant possessor of
Manu-rau's sword of wondrous _mana_ went bounding down the _marae_,
flashing the weapon above his head, turning his painted face from side
to side in the hideous grimaces of the _pukana_, and thrusting out his
tongue to an extraordinary length.
The Hauhaus were in a frenzy of excitement when they realised that
the renowned Manu-rau was indeed lying dead before them. Some of them
proposed to drag the body out and cook it in the _hangi_, so that they
might have the satisfaction of devouring their most dreaded enemy, and
eating his heart, the heart of a _tino-toa_, a warrior indeed.
But Titokowaru, raising his sacred spear-staff, forbade the handling of
the dead for the present.
Bent was now ordered to return to his hut, and the door was again
fastened on him. The proposal to cook and eat the bodies of von
Tempsky and his comrades was debated in a wild _korero_. Bent, from
his eye-hole in the wall of the _wharé_, saw Hauhau after Hauhau, the
orators of the tribes, jump up, tomahawk or gun or sword in hand,
and furiously declaim as they went leaping and trotting backward and
forward in the open space between the ranks of the victors and the
dead; and the deeds of the battle-field were told again and again in
great boasting words.
Von Tempsky's body, the _pakeha_-Maori had observed while on the
_marae_, had not been mutilated, except for that tomahawk cut. His
heart had not been cut out, though Bent half expected it would have
been. The rite of the _Whangai-hau_, the ceremony of propitiation and
burnt sacrifice following a battle, had not, however, been omitted.
On the previous night, Tihirua, the young war-priest, had cut open
a soldier's body and had torn out the heart, which he had offered
in smoke and fire as oblation to Uenuku, the God of War, chanting a
_karakia_ as he watched the heart of the hated white man smoking in the
flames.
"Manu-rau's" famous sword, too, was set apart as a sacred gift to the
gods; it was a _parakia_, or _taumahatanga_, a thank-offering for
victory. It became a _tapu_ relic, and was religiously preserved by the
Hauhaus. It is in their possession to this day.
Presently the bodies of the slain--the "Fish-of-Tu"--were ceremoniously
apportioned amongst the several tribes represented in the village, as
Bent again watched from his eye-hole in the wall.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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