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MAORI
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MAORI (pronounced " Mowri "; a Polynesian word meaning
native," " indigenous "; the word occurs in distinction from pakeha, " stranger," in other parts of See also:Polynesia in the forms Maoi and Maoli), the name of the See also:race inhabiting New See also:Zealand when first visited by See also:Tasman in 1642.
That they were not indigenous, but had displaced an earlier Melanesian or Papuan race, the true See also:aborigines, is certain. The Maoris are Polynesians, and, in See also:common with the See also:majority of their kinsfolk throughout the Pacific, they have traditions whichpoint to Savaii, originally Savaiki, the largest See also:island of the Samoan See also:group, as their cradleland. They say they came to New Zealand from " Hawaiki," and they appear to distinguish between a large and small, or a nearer and farther, " Hawaiki." " The See also:seed of our coming is from Hawaiki; the seed of our nourishing, the seed of mankind." Their See also:great See also:chief, Te Kupe, first landed, they say, on Aotearoa, as they called the See also:north island, and, pleased with his See also:discovery, returned to Hawaiki to tell his See also:fellow-countrymen. Thereafter he returned with seven See also:war canoes, each holding a See also:hundred warriors, priests, See also: Thus it would seem certain that the Maoris, starting from " further Hawaiki," or Samoa, first touched at Rarotonga, " nearer Hawaiki," whence, after forming a See also:settlement, they journeyed on to New Zealand. Maori tradition is explicit as to the cause of the See also:exodus from Samoa, gives the names of the canoes in which the See also:journey was made and the See also:time of See also:year at which the See also:coast of New Zealand was sighted. On the question of the date a comparison of genealogies of Maori chiefs shows that, up to the beginning of the loth See also:century, about eighteen generations or probably not much more than five centuries had passed since the first Maori arrivals. There is some See also:evidence that the " tradition of the six canoes " does not represent the first contact of the Polynesian race with New Zealand. If earlier immigrants from Samoa or other eastern Pacific islands arrived they must have become absorbed into the native Papuan See also:population—arguing from the See also:absence of any distinct tradition earlier than that " of the six canoes." Some have sought to find in the Morioris of See also:Chatham Island the remnants of this Papuan-Polynesian population, expelled by Te Kupe and his followers. The extraordinary ruined fortifications found, and the know-ledge of the higher See also:art of war displayed by the Maoris, suggest (what is no doubt the fact) that there was a hard fight for them when they first arrived, but the greatest resistance must have been from the purer Papuan inhabitants, and not from the See also:half-castes who were probably easily overwhelmed. The See also:shell heaps found on the coasts and elsewhere dispose of the theory that New Zealand was uninhabited or practically so six centuries back.
Any description of the Maoris, who in See also:recent years have come more and more under the See also:influence of See also: Among the most industrious of Polynesian races, they have always been famed for See also:wood-See also:carving; and in See also:building, See also:weaving and See also:dyeing they had made great advances before the whites arrived. They are also See also:good farmers and bold See also:seamen. In the Maori See also:wars they showed much strategic skill, and their know-ledge of fortification was' very remarkable. Politically the Maoris have always been democratic. No approach to a See also:monarchy ever existed. Each tribe under its chief was autonomous. Tribal lands were held in common and each See also:man was entitled to a See also:share in the products. They had slaves, but so few as not to alter the social conditions. Every Maori was a soldier, and war was the chief business and joy of his See also:life. Tribal wars were incessant. The weapons were wooden spears, clubs and stone tomahawks. See also:Cannibalism, which earned them in earlier years a terrible name, was generally restricted to the bloodthirsty banquets which always followed a victory. The Maoris See also:ate their enemies' See also:hearts to gain their courage, but to whatever degree animistic beliefs may have once contributed to their cannibalism, it is certain that long before See also:Captain See also:Cook's visit religious See also:sanction for the See also:custom had long given place to See also:mere gluttonous enjoyment. The Maoris had no See also:regular See also:marriage ceremony. See also:Polygamy was universal, and even to-See also:day they are not strictly monogamous. The See also:power of the See also:husband over the wife was See also:absolute, but See also:women took their meals with the men, were allowed a See also:voice in the tribe's affairs, and sometimes accompanied the men into See also:battle. Some tribes were endogamic, and there matriarchy was the See also:rule, descent being traced through the See also:female See also:line. Ferocious as they were in war, the Maoris are generally hospitable and affectionate in their home-life, and a pleasant characteristic, noticed by Captain Cook, is their respect and care of the old. The Maoris buried their dead, the cemeteries being ornamented with carved posts. Their See also:religion was a nature-See also:worship intimately connected with the veneration of ancestors. There was a belief in the soul, which was supposed to dwell in the See also:left See also:eye. They had no doubt as to a future state, but no definite See also:idea of a supreme being. They had no places of worship, nor, though they had sacred wooden figures, is there any See also:reason to consider that they were idolaters in the strict sense of the word. The custom of See also:taboo was very fully See also:developed. Nowadays they are all nominally Christians. While they had no written See also:language, a considerable oral literature of songs, legends and traditions existed. Their priesthood was a highly trained profession, and they had See also:schools which taught a knowledge of the stars and constellations, for many of which they had names. All Maoris are natural orators and poets, and a chief was expected to add these accomplishments to his prowess as a See also:warrior or his skill as a See also:seaman. The Maoris of to-day are See also:law-abiding, peaceable and indolent. They have been called the Britons of the See also:south, and their courage in defending their See also:country and their intelligence amply justify the compliment. By the New Zealanders they are cordially liked. At the See also:census of 1906 they numbered 47,731, as against 45,470 in 1874; and there were 6516 half-castes. See also POLYNESIA and SAMOA. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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