| Show F OMEN STRANGE f CUSTOMS OF THE TUF MAORIS I c a rl tt tty s A Splendid y 4 Race R c of New Zealand Z ala d That Is Dja Dica By InterMixture With White Blood Thus runs the chant that us U d to be besu suns sung su by the Maoris of New Zealand Zoa hd at t naming of alternate 9 nd May she be Industrious in cultivating cult va ling the ground rn ri TO o Nt r ehi 1 s for iOl fO hel fish In weaving garments tit n u al mats May she be strong to carry burdens b rd ns That is the sort of helpmeet that the Maori woman was expected to b to her husband in the old days das In re respect respect respect the infringements of or civilization Christian Chr Uan churches government schools hove have h e done little to improve e her lot in innee life nee Maori women are still the hewers of wood and drawers of water for their husbands hu bands at least when they are old When they th are young theres a n differ difference r rentie once ence If It the Maori girl works in the fields nowadays indoor service serice she re refuses refuses refuses fuses as degrading it Is to procure the means of buying new dresses or bon bonnets bonnets bonnets nets after the fashion of her white sisters or ribbons and laces even on occasion stockings and shoes They are pretty and bewitching some of these the he modern Maori girls with their natural grace and beauty fresh unspoiled and just alluringly tinctured with the spice of European coquetry Hear the thc enthusiasm of a stolid Brit Briton on over them Mr Hav Hay author of Brighter Britain writes Bright and cheerful neat and come comely comely ly Iy pleasant partners partner at a bush ball are these half anglicized daughters of the They can prattle pret prettily prettily tily thy in their soft ft Maori English while their glancing eyes and saucy lips are provoking the by no means too hard hearts of white bushmen hushman Then would you appreciate the charms of our Maori belles belies under the Influence of music and the dance supple forms and graceful motions scented hair and flower r wreaths smiles and sparkling eyes the graces of nature not wholly lost under the polish of civilization A Maori Belle I Preeminent among the young ladies ladles of Tanoa is princess of the She is a beauty b auty our Rak pe and more she Is good as she is beautiful Her color is a soft dusky brown under which you can see the blood warming her dimpled cheeks Her figure is self ripe and round and full while every movement shows some new grace and more seductive seductive seductive tive curve Her rich brown hair reaches far below her slender waist and when it is dressed with crimson kawa blossoms the orange flowers of the kaka or the soft downy white feathers that the Maoris prize it would compel the admiration of any London drawing room Her features may may not be Grecian but what wh t professional beauty of London can compare with our as she is glowing glowin with the rich warm color the subtle delicacies of form and all the luxuriant beauty that is born between the South SouthSea SouthSea Sea and 2nd the sun To hear sing is to believe in n the sirens to chat with her and re receive e her looks and smiles is to be the victim of a gentle witchcraft Oh Ra kope I hope hOe you will some day marry a white gentleman and endow him with your our acres Beautiful as the Maori unde is she commonly dresses in a 8 I calico frock and nothing else unless it itis Itis itis is a straw hat rat Her flounces and rib ribbons ribbons bons are not always new or fresh when she is costumed in the latest Auckland modes for church If she dons silk stockings and tight slippers for the dance she does docs so with infinite pain pai and I kicks them off at her opportunity opportunity to smoke a comfortable black blackpipe blackI blackpipe I pipe with some of the ugliest of the theold theold old women of her tribe and moreover I in her home which is smoky beyond the peradventure of a doubt probably smelly possibly dirty she Y wears nothing more than an old native blanket and would feel not the slight slightest est ert shame were it to slip to the ground I before you For she is a child of u na JUl nature ture and free from Crom artificial standards 1 like one of ef natures fearless arless f and splendid splendid splendid did animals Maori nature does not change The acquired veneer of Euro European European penn civilization is at best bet but skin deep and the girls one and all still treasure the native blankets and the trinkets of polished greenstone dogs teeth boars bears tusks polished shells and feathers in which my friends de do delighted lighted to be lie photographed But with fth all this the Maori girs possess so un undeniable undeniable undeniable deniable a 3 charm that not even the lines of tattooing that still sIll ornament the chins of or some of them though the practice is no ho longer a common one ope o with wiUf this generation can spoil it i it itis Itis ItIs is that one or two Maori belles have married titles One is curious to know how old age will treat them for forit forIt forIt it is then that Maori women deteriorate Into the most hideous of creatures cre Whether that may be the result re of ot t thard hard and ungrateful lives they live in New Zealand and might be modified mo by quite another sort of existence ig is l a problem that I have never se seen n demon demonstrated n In the t e old days das Maori chiefs and tand d freemen were were permitted to hay hare several wives and the possession of a assortment was e ed supposed dignity d and greatness the e at atthe IC the first born ranking as u h the others remaining little beter TK w wife E t tha slaves As a rule there n Waa wa a no n di marriage rite Girls a as th w grew up bestowed b t Wed favors on rhom th the pleased and the more suitors th they had ha 4 the more valuable were thy they acL lount ed ml When a it girl had a prefer p e fn one suitor the matter usually ended k oy h her going home with him aid and the e t tw u IWed as aa man and wife 0 Marriage and Divorce Customs Custons Cust Men fen were sometimes known knon to earr arr M off a girl Sirl by force when her reis rt Objected to their union and C Cother on o t h other hand women sometimes ted suicide to avoid Using living with ml m mn whom they disliked Occasionally t ther Si would be a family randly conclave the marriage of a woman oman the chief hief f vT tOre ture t re of which was long speeches by the brothers of the br bri ui who in any case were wen the ones to tc h consulted the parents having haing little to It say in the matter It sometimes hili that a girl would be betroth tapu to a man in her infancy hut huta as ag a rule they seem seeni to have had quite as much to do with their own fates in n this respect as a have our Amen u girls of today Divorce was even an easier perform knee anoe than marriage The i husband had only to put the wife ut of doors after which hi h it was lawful for far any other man to marry her nor did j divorce operate to the disadvantage f of at the woman In fact women sometimES sometime exchanged ex hanged husbands The old and the historians of those times tim re ff port that once a woman was mas as married m infidelity was as rare so long lon as she he wai was wa well treated from the Maori point pointview of f view and had bad children In the TP rf reverse verse case ca e virtue was far from iron ironman man just ju t as young oung girls before mar rings enjoyed much mom than UMA Euro European Penn freedom without reproach Yet there are some dainty da ty romance rO told by the transmitters pf of legends legend in i n the soft South Sea evenings Lo rs of legendary lore will m find interesting the graceful tale of the wooing Of Hin Moa lO and Here one oDe Items of the surpassing beauty of the t e mai r Hine Moa roa and her confession of or lo 10 OM for the which that thu timid fellow f lIow could scarce scares bring himself to believe even after receiving the con m squeeze of the hand of has she swam across the lake of t to join him when all aU of the canoes can s hal been hidden because of the suspicions of her friends and then of how she coyly summoned her er lover and coquet coquettishly hid herself that he might not nt find her quickly To this day h her r H along the shore of the lake tell teU the tale of H Hints Him n Meas beauty and an i chant the lines of the soft poem Many of the curious old Maori Mann ms cue Us toms are dying out Cannibalism has not been practiced for half balf a centura The present presen t religion of the Maoris is a sort of Christianity inexplicably inter intermingled intermingled mingled with ancient tribal forms and rites rite Few Pew of the Maoris now tattoo their faces a custom formerly universal sal One occasionally sees an old ild and anti I orthodox chief or high man whose face facEt t is covered with the curves spirals and other designs denoting no mean degree I of artistic ability It was rather a seri serious ous oils business this tattooing and th operation usually extended over oer I months One chief who was in a hurry to attain the desirably fierce aspect that Was wu supposed to terrify the en enemy mv I and win the hearts of women under undertook undertook took to have hae the whole hole scheme of de dh 1 ration finished in one day but his courage was greater than is stamina for he died under the knife Ready Heady Market For Human Heads In former times these high highly orna ama ornamented ornamented heads were greatly prized s a war trophies Among the English a al 1 vent came to the islands in m inthe inthe the early days a ghastly trade dep deve in the heads Sometimes as mu h has as JO 20 was paid for a specimen went to some museum or fr collection in Europe Of course these head heads ser supposed tp be obtained in fair and andopen andopen open warfare between the tribes but it itIs itis itIs Is a question whether the ready market markt did not result in private enterprises s of tf decapitation Judge Maning in his JIl 11 New Zealand relates a conversation nn w Mh he a p keha mori marl 01 nt tt naturalized white man who had a CD cn of these human relics Looking at the eds sir It was as one of the formerly mention d dYes Yes said I J L turning round just th the least possible thing quicker than the ordinary Eds has bas been a getting gettin scarce says he I should think 5 o n nAys says Ays I We aint ah a ed pd this Ion long longtime longtime time says he The devil says I L Ono n no 0 o them eds has bas been hurt bail bad sayS as ashe ay he I think all an were rather S says I Oh no only one on em eay a ahe ayo he the skull skuli is split and it won wont t frt feth h nothing says stays he Oh murder I Inow Inow p now says I Eds was werry scar stai says Bays he be shaking his own ed d Mi Ah 11 said aid I They The had bad to tattoo a d slav lat I a t a Ii abit abit bit ago ag says sa s he be and the villain tal rl i away and all aU sa says S h li What That said I 1 Bolted afore he hf w a aS fit te to t kill says he Stole off oft with In ht own head says I 1 Than just if says S h he be Capital felony says I 1 V Vmay may say that sir says he be nf G GI walked a j I morning said I and i I pretty smartly Loose notions ah ala abut ut heads d In this country said I to nn nt s Jt L I It Is a question whether this thit ra race f stalwart and beautiful people is rot lit dying out From 1840 to 1870 their nim flat flathers hers bars fell from front to SIti m in 0 then th n their numbers have about ut stationary but this reck reckoning inne i 1 ldes half breeds in the count 1 I n life keep h jC sanitary nitry conditions of with ir Ih tho death rate up to an equality birth rate These Maoris might be rich if it thY thY their r fl n 1 chose to lease or cultivate Mr lands but they are a lazy t people and are sheer sheep sh or r I a abrush tUg dig Kauri Knurl gum shear p brush 1 uh for Cor the whites white The bea beathe beauty j the women results in many as 3 well ell as less formal alliances b be eai i TH ti the whites and it is to of Ot tn th h 0 a few years a will ht bt h hd ha hato t tto splendid aboriginal type to Ibid find |
