Chapter XV

Mana. -- Young New Zealand. -- The law of England. -- "Pop goes
the weasel." -- Right if we have might. -- God save the Queen. --
Good advice.

In the afternoon I went home musing on what I had heard and seen. "Surely," thought I, "if one half of the world does not know how the other half live, neither do they know how they die."

Some days after this a deputation arrived to deliver up my old friend's _mere_. It was a weapon of great _mana_, and was delivered with some little ceremony. I perceive now I have written this word _mana_ several times, and think I may as well explain what it means. I think this the more necessary as the word has been bandied about a good deal of late years, and meanings often attached to it by Europeans which are incorrect, but which the natives sometimes accept because it suits their purpose. This same word _mana_ has several different meanings, and the difference between these diverse meanings is sometimes very great, and sometimes only a mere shade of meaning, though one very necessary to observe; and it is, therefore, quite impossible to find any one single word in English, or in any other language that I have any acquaintance with, which will give the meaning of _mana_. And, moreover, though I myself do know all the meanings and different shades of meaning properly belonging to the word, I find a great difficulty in explaining them; but as I have begun, the thing must be done. It will also be a tough word disposed of to my hand, when I come to write my Maori dictionary, in a hundred volumes, which, if I begin soon, I hope to have finished before the Maori is a dead language.

Now then for _mana_. _Virtus_, _prestige_, authority, good fortune, influence, sanctity, luck, are all words which, under certain conditions, give something near the meaning of _mana_, though not one of them give it exactly; but before I am done, the reader shall have a reasonable notion (for a pakeha) of what it is.

_Mana_ sometimes means a more than natural virtue or power attaching to some person or thing, different from and independent of the ordinary natural conditions of either, and capable of either increase or diminution, both from known and unknown causes. The _mana_ of a priest or _tohunga_ is proved by the truth of his predictions, as well as the success of his incantations, _which same incantations, performed by another person, of inferior mana, would have no effect_. Consequently, this description of _mana_ is a virtue, or more than natural or ordinary condition attaching to the priest himself, and which he may become possessed of and also lose without any volition of his own. When

"Apollo from his shrine,
No longer could divine,
The hollow steep of Delphos sadly leaving,"--

_Then_ the oracle had lost its _mana_.

Then there is the doctor's _mana_. The Maori doctors in the old times did not deal much in "simples," but they administered large doses of _mana_. Now when most of a doctor's patients recovered, his _mana_ was supposed to be in full feather; but if, as will happen sometimes to the best practitioners, a number of patients should slip through his fingers _seriatim_, then his _mana_ was suspected to be getting weak, and he would not be liable to be "knocked up" as frequently as formerly.

_Mana_ in another sense is the accompaniment of power, but not the power itself; nor is it even in this sense exactly "authority," according to the strict meaning of that word, though it comes very near it. This is the chief's _mana_. Let him lose the power, and the _mana_ is gone; but mind you do not translate _mana_ as power; that won't do: they are two different things entirely. Of this nature also is the _mana_ of a tribe; but this is not considered to be the supernatural kind of _mana_.

Then comes the _mana_ of a warrior. Uninterrupted success in war proves it. It has a _slight_ touch of the supernatural, but not much. Good fortune comes near the meaning, but is just a little too weak. The warrior's _mana_ is just a little something more than bare good fortune; a severe defeat would shake it terribly; two or three in succession would show that it was gone: but before leaving him, some supernaturally ominous occurrence might be expected to take place, such as are said to have happened before the deaths of Julius Caesar, Marcus Antonius, or Brutus. Let not any one smile at my, even in the most distant way, comparing the old Maori warriors with these illustrious Romans, for if they do, I shall answer that some of the old Maori _Toa_, were thought as much of in _their_ world, as any Greek or Roman of old was in his; and, moreover, that it is my private opinion, that if the best of them could only have met my friend "Lizard Skin," in his best days, and would take off his armour and fight fair, that the aforesaid "Lizard Skin" would have tickled him to his heart's content with the point of his spear.

A fortress often assailed but never taken has a _mana_, and one of a high description too. The name of the fortress becomes a _pepeha_, a war boast or motto, and a war cry of encouragement or defiance, like the _slogan_ of the ancient Highlanders in Scotland.

A spear, a club, or a _mere_, may have a _mana_, which in most cases means that it is a lucky weapon which good fortune attends, if the bearer minds what he is about; but some weapons of the old times had a stronger _mana_ than this, like the _mana_ of the enchanted weapons we read of in old romances or fairy tales. Let any one who likes give an English word for this kind of _mana_. I have done with it.

I had once a tame pig, which, before heavy rain, would always cut extraordinary capers and squeak like mad. Every pakeha said he was "weather-wise;" but all the Maori said it was a "_poaka whai mana_," a pig possessed of _mana_; _it had more than natural powers_ and could foretell rain.

If ever this talk about the good old times be printed and published, and every one buy it, and read it, and quote it, and believe every word in it, as they ought, seeing that every word is true, then it will be a _puka puka whai mana_, a book of _mana_; and I shall have a high opinion of the good sense and good taste of the New Zealand public.

When the law of England is the law of New Zealand, and the Queen's writ will run, then both the Queen and the law will have great _mana_; but I don't think either will ever happen, and so neither will have any _mana_ of consequence.

If the reader has not some faint notion of _mana_ by this time, I can't help it; I can't do any better for him. I must confess I have not pleased myself. Any European language can be translated easily enough into any other; but to translate Maori into English is much harder to do than is supposed by those who do it every day with ease, but who do not know their own language or any other but Maori perfectly.

I am always blowing up "Young New Zealand," and calling them "reading, riting, rethmatiking" vagabonds, who will never equal their fathers; but I mean it all for their own good--(poor things!)--like a father scolding his children. But one _does_ get vexed sometimes. Their grandfathers, if they had no backs, had at least good legs, but the grandsons can't walk a day's journey to save their lives; _they_ must _ride_. The other day I saw a young chap on a good horse; he had a black hat and polished Wellingtons; his hat was cocked knowingly to one side; he was jogging along, with one hand jingling the money in his pocket; and may I never see another war dance, if the hardened villain was not whistling "Pop goes the weasel!" What will all this end in?

My only hope is in a handy way (to give them their due) which they have with a _tupara_; and this is why I don't think the law will have much _mana_ here in my time,--I mean the _pakeha_ law; for to say the worst of them, they are not yet so far demoralized as to stand any nonsense of that kind, which is a comfort to think of. I am a loyal subject to Queen Victoria, but I am also a member of a Maori tribe; and I hope I may never see this country so enslaved and tamed that a single rascally policeman, with nothing but a bit of paper in his hand, can come and take a _rangatira_ away from the middle of his _hapu_, and have him hanged for something of no consequence at all, except that it is against the law. What would old "Lizard Skin" say to it? His grandson certainly is now a magistrate, and if anything is stolen from a pakeha, he will get it back, _if he can_, and won't stick to it, because he gets a salary in lieu thereof; but he has told me certain matters in confidence, and which I therefore cannot disclose. I can only hint there was something said about the law, and driving the pakeha into the sea.

I must not trust myself to write on these matters. I get so confused, I feel just as if I was two different persons at the same time. Sometimes I find myself thinking on the Maori side, and then just afterwards wondering if "we" can lick the Maori, and set the law upon its legs, which is the only way to do it. I therefore hope the reader will make allowance for any little apparent inconsistency in my ideas, as I really cannot help it.

I belong to both parties, and I don't care a straw which wins; but I am sure we shall have fighting. Men _must_ fight; or else what are they made for? Twenty years ago, when I heard military men talking of "marching through New Zealand with fifty men," I was called a fool because I said they could not do it with five hundred. Now I am also thought foolish by civilians, because I say we can conquer New Zealand with our present available means, if we set the right way about it (which we won't). So hurrah again for the Maori! We shall drive the pakeha into the sea, and send the law after them! If we can do it, we are right; and if the pakeha beat us, _they_ will be right too. God save the Queen!

So now, my Maori tribe, and also my pakeha countrymen, I shall conclude this book with good advice; and be sure you take notice; it is given to _both parties_. It is a sentence from the last speech of old "Lizard Skin." It is to you both. "Be brave, that you may _live_."

VERBUM SAPIENTI.

HISTORY OF THE WAR IN THE NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND AGAINST

THE CHIEF HEKE, IN THE YEAR 1845;

TOLD BY AN OLD CHIEF OF THE NGAPUHI TRIBE.