Revival: Maori Symbolism (1926)

An Account of the Origin, Migration and Culture of the New Zealand Maori

Ettie A. Rout

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9781138506558
• eBook ISBN:
  9781351339216
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Anthropology
• Index: Social Sciences

'Maori Symbolism' is a story of a great race as told in their own Sacred Legends. And it is even more than this. It is an accurate record of the inner meaning of Life Symbolism on which the civilization of the Dark-Whites all over the world is founded. That symbolism stands for Cultivation – of the race, of the body and of the land. The numerous illustrations are to be regarded as documents supporting the evidence reported in the text. Some of this is of startling interest, as for insurance that concerning the casting of ancient statues and megaliths from molten lava.

The Sacred Legends concerning the origin and migration of the New Zealand Maori are reported at some length, and the evidence given throws fresh light on the important 'Diffusion' controversy. Maori land cultivation is shown to have been far in advance of European. Maori cultivation of the body, expressed in native dances, is demonstrated to be an ordered system of physical education, designed to improve and preserve the fittest. Maori race culture is exhibited as based on a lofty code of social and sexual ethics. Maori religion and philosophy, as expressed in symbolic decoration and writing, are for the first time truthfully explained and interpreted.

PART I

ORIGIN AND MIGRATION OF THE NEW ZEALAND MAORI

FIG. 1. MAT OF ROUTE OF GREAT MIGRATION.

ORIGIN AND MIGRATION OF THE NEW ZEALAND MAORI

THE origin of the New Zealand Maori is still a subject of discussion and acute controversy with European and American scientists, but the Maori himself is perfectly clear as to the history of his race from the remotest ages. Had the facts now published for the first time been made known before, it is probable that ethnology would have benefited considerably, but the truth is that the Maori legends have never been treated seriously by Europeans, and no man of science has ever succeeded in penetrating into the secret lore of what is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable races in the world. A new conception of race origins may, it is believed, be gained by a careful study of the facts now brought to light and published for the first time in English.

In the next few pages the Maori migration legends, as handed down for many generations by the Elders and Men of Learning, will be summarized as briefly and explicitly as possible.

The Holy Land, the land where Mankind (Maori) was created, was Assyria (Ihiria), the land of Western Asia. When this land became over-populated different sections of Mankind migrated in different directions: the White Maori went to the North; the Black Maori to the South; the Yellow Maori to the East; and the Brown (New Zealand) Maori to the West. There were originally twelve nations, or houses, of the Brown Maori in Assyria, all descended from Ha-Kopa (Jacob), and they first migrated to Egypt, where they built cities; after a time they returned to Assyria, but a few generations¹ later they split into two parties, and one party began its Great Migration to the West. Two nations remained in Assyria, but ten crossed the Caucasus until they reached “a cold climate” (i.e. the Black Sea), where most turned westward and journeyed across Europe. During this migration three of the nations broke off from the main body and either settled in the lands through which they were passing or migrated in other directions; thus it came about that representatives of only seven nations eventually reached Portugal (Po-tu-kera). During their passage across Europe the Brown Maori had encountered the White Maori, gigantic men and fierce fighters, who would not allow them to settle peaceably in any numbers. Five of the seven nations, and certain noble women of the other two nations, sailed west from Portugal and reached Mexico (Hawaiki-nui) where they organized themselves into one strong nation, built the seven cities referred to in their legends and remained for many generations. Of the two nations left in Portugal, some members migrated to Morocco, others to the Canary Islands and elsewhere, and others remained in Portugal.

The settlers in Mexico had long been in possession when the great White Maori came down from the North and made war upon them. When Mexico fell, the Brown Maori were scattered in defeat, some going north, others to the islands in the Gulf of Mexico, others to different parts of Central America, Yucatan, etc. Many settled in Jamaica (Hawaika) or founded colonies in Guiana (Waini) and countries afterwards said by Europeans to have been inhabited by the Arawak (Arawa) tribes. Those not dispersed gathered themselves together and went south, reaching Peru (Eperu) which then included a great part of South America. There they established themselves in the new and uninhabited land, fighting wild beasts and building up their civilization. At last a great council was held at Titicaca and one nation, the Arawa, decided to migrate still further West. They established a colony on Easter Island where they took roots, seeds, and birds with them, especially a great stock of tubers (Taro, Kumara, etc.), for cultivation in the new land they hoped to find—the Promised Land. Supplies of food ran short on Easter Island, but luckily starvation was averted by the arrival of immense flocks of birds (ManuTara-Ara) which came from the American mainland, as plover still go to Hawaii, a distance of 3,000 miles, and the god-wit cross from New Zealand to Siberia.

It should be mentioned that Titicaca became a Holy Place to the Maori, because it was there that the Sacred Staff had sunk right into the Earth and the Stones of Remembrance were commemorated by the Maori Tiki—an ornament composed of the Sacred Life Symbols, to be described at greater length in another portion of this book.

At Easter Island (Pito-o-te-Whenua) the Maori erected gigantic statues and other memorials were raised at different islands between Easter Island and New Zealand. The strong northern currents prevented the Maori travelling directly westwards, and when they reached Tahiti some of them sailed yet fruther North to Hawaii. Others made their way southwards and westwards, journeying through the South Sea Islands where they met for the first time, since leaving Assyria, the Black Maori—quite a different type from themselves, physically, mentally, and morally. Unlike the White Maori, the Black Maori did not fight whomsoever they came across.

Passing through the South Sea Islands and leaving monuments to mark their passage, the Brown Maori ultimately reached New Zealand, some eight hundred strong, in seven canoes,¹ arriving separately in different parts of the country. There they found the so-called Moriori, or Maoriuri, the descendants of the Pre-Human Ancestor. It was assumed that these people had migrated eastwards and were the Children of the Dawn, whereas the Maori had always travelled towards the Setting Sun and were people from the Farthest West—not from the East as Europeans have mistakenly-guessed.

The Maori’s claim to have inhabited Easter Island, and erected the monuments there, is profoundly interesting in view of the discussion among European and American savants as to the origin of those monoliths. According to Maori legends Waihu is the name of a boiling spring on Pito-o-te-Whenua—the Maori name for Easter Island.¹ This island has many names—Davis’s Land, David’s Island, San Carlos Island, Paasch Island, Rapa-nui, Teapy, and Te Pito te Henua, etc.; and the literature about it would fill a small library. Among the latest Europeans to write on the subject is Professor J. Macmillan Brown, of Canterbury College, New Zealand University, in The Riddle of the Pacific. Reviewing this book the London Observer (May 31, 1925) remarks:—

“Yet here, to the amazement of the world, there have been erected in an almost unbroken line along the coast, be its contour lowland or cliff—indicating, therefore, no change in shore- or sea-level since their construction—immense platforms, 400 to 500 feet long and a dozen feet high, with sepulchral vaults beneath them. They are built of huge blocks of basalt, 8 to 10 tons in weight some of them, ashlared and fitted to a nicety, according to the ‘most excellent rules of art’, and inexplicably similar to the work of the pre-Inca masons of Peru. Still more astonishing, there were upreared upon these structures titanic monolithic human images, some of them 30 feet in stature, and scaling 50 tons. Nor does surprise end here. The head of each statue was surmounted—obviously after its erection—by a separate coronoid cylinder or hat of red tufa, also tons in weight. Though all these imposing monuments have now been (mostly) maliciously overthrown, they stood erect on their platforms defying the gales of the Pacific for untold ages.

“The majority of these images were quarried from the rock outcropping in the walls of one of the volcanic cones, partly high up on the outside, but chiefly from the slope inside its cauldron, and more than 100 feet below its brim. Many figures had been transported thence to the platforms, but hundreds still ‘lie tier upon tier ’, in all stages towards completion, many of them still attached to the living rock out of which they were carved, and where they were completely sculptured, except for a narrow ridge along the spine, before final separation. Then, suddenly, the craftsmen downed their obsidian gravers and chisels—to be recovered centuries later by modern diggers—and took their departure for ever, leaving their handiwork to the astonishment of the centuries.”

PLATE II

COMPARATIVE HEAD-DRESSES, ETC.

1 Hawai. 2 Greek. 3 Ancient Maori Priest. 4 Egyptian. 5 Easter Island. (See Glossary)
[face p. 6

In the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society for May, 1917, there is a report of the Mana Expedition to Easter Island, afterwards expanded into a book entitled The Mystery of Easter Island, in which Mr. and Mrs. Scorseby Routledge give an account of their 16 months’ stay on the Island. Many of the names they mention are obviously of the New Zealand Maori language, but the leaders of the Expedition have the Eastern migration theory fixed in their minds, and they conclude:“It seems certain, as has been said, that we must look to the West and not to the East for the original home of the Easter Islanders,” in other words that they came from Polynesia, etc.

In the course of an interesting discussion, Dr. H. O. Forbes referred to the valuable work of Fleet-Surgeon Palmer, who in 1868 was an officer on H.M.S. Topaze, which brought over the two monolith figures now at the British Museum:“One of the greatest losses to Easter Island ethnography which can never be replaced,” said Dr. Forbes, “was the disposal by auction of Fleet-Surgeon Palmer’s unique collection made on his different visits to the island close on fifty years ago. He possessed, I recollect, a larger number of inscribed tablets than any collection I know of. This collection was offered by his family to me as Director of Museums for Liverpool, but my trustees declined the purchase of ‘objects from such a remote and uninteresting place’. It was probably declined elsewhere, since it was dispersed by auction. Two valuable papers by Palmer are to be found, one in the Journal of the Ethnological Society for 1869, and another in that of this Society (Royal Geographical Society) for 1870.” Dr. Forbes then approached even nearer to the Legends of the Maori in the following passage:“The origin of the astonishing culture seen on Easter Island is, of course, the most interesting question awaiting elucidation. The latest theory is that of Professor Elliot Smith, who holds that it is part of what he designate...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Original Title Page
• Original Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Preface
• Foreword
• Reporter’s Introduction
• Part I Origin and Migration of the New Zealand Maori
• Part II Health and Race Culture
• Part III Social Organization
• Part IV Agriculture and Building (including Writing and Carving)
• Part V Sacred Life Symbols
• Witness’s Declaration
• Reporter’s Certificate
• Appendix: Reporter’s Notes
• Glossary
• Index