Chapter XXVII: Appendix: II. (p. 131.)

_The following pathetic address, recently transmitted by H.E.
Sir George Grey to the Duke of Newcastle, H. M. Secretary of
State for the Colonies, for presentation to Her Majesty under
her recent bereavement, also attests the deeply poetic vein that
marks the Maori character._

Oh Victoria, our Mother!--We greet you! You, who are all that now remains to recall to our recollection Albert, the Prince Consort, who can never again be gazed upon by the people.

We, your Maori children, are now sighing in sorrow together with you, even with a sorrow like to yours. All we can now do is to weep together with you. Oh, our good mother, who hast nourished us, your ignorant children of this island, even to this day!

We have just heard the crash of the huge-headed forest tree which has untimely fallen, ere it had attained its full growth of greatness.

Oh, good lady, pray look with favour on our love. Although we may have been perverse children, we have ever loved you.

This is our lament.

Great is the pain which preys on me for the loss of my beloved.
Ah, you will now lie buried among the other departed kings.
They will leave you with the other departed heroes of the land.
With the dead of the tribes of the multitude of 'Ti Mani.
Go fearless then, O Pango, my beloved, in the path of death; for no
evil slanders can follow you.
Oh my very heart! Thou didst shelter me from the sorrows and
ills of life.
Oh my pet bird, whose sweet voice welcomed my glad guests!
Oh my noble pet bird, caught in the forests of Rapaura!
Let, then, the body of my beloved be covered with royal purple robes!
Let it be covered with all-rare robes!
The great Rewa, my beloved, shall himself bind these round thee.
And my ear-ring of precious jasper shall be hung in thy ear.
For, oh! my most precious jewel, thou art now lost to me.
Yes, thou, the pillar that didst support my palace, hast been borne to
the skies.
Oh, my beloved! you used to stand in the very prow of the war-canoe,
inciting all others to noble deeds. Yes, in thy life-time thou wast
great.
And now thou hast departed to the place where even all the mighty must
at last go.
Where, O physicians, was the power of your remedies?
What, O priests, availed your prayers!
For I have lost my love; no more can he re-visit this world.