Chapter XXXI: Conclusion

(_A letter from Aké Aké Rangitane, the son of Ngaraki, to the Editor._[28])

O Friend of the Maori Race,--These are my last words to you, for while you remain here among the chills of winter, I go to the land which laughs beneath the southern sun. My experience of the will of the Great Tohungas of the Earth teaches me that it will be obeyed concerning the record of Wanaki. When you have done my bidding and the book is made, then you will remain at peace. I send to you with this a letter that has been given to me by the Pakeha Kahikatea. Set it at the end of Wanaki’s record, but do not write the Pakeha’s other name, for it may be that he has the spirit of one of the Great Tohungas of the Earth whose names are _tapu_. When your task is done, fear not that the fate of Wanaki will overtake you. Now I go, but you remain. Follow me not with your thoughts. When I see the book that is made the love of my heart will flow towards you like a mountain stream. There is no Maori word to tell of “gratitude,” but, O Pakeha, in the Maori heart there are feelings which cannot be hidden behind a word. My letter to you is ended. Farewell.

_A letter from Miriam Grey to Sir… Bart.,… St. James’ Chambers, London._

Dear Kahikatea,--It is with feelings of deep regret that I write to tell you of the death of our dear friend Wanaki. The circumstances of his end were very strange. It was a night when a thunderstorm was brewing, and Wanaki, instead of going to bed, put on his mackintosh and went out to look at the storm. But it did not break till near midnight, and then there was only a single vivid flash, followed by a peal of thunder directly overhead. In the morning, finding our dear friend’s room unoccupied, we searched the garden and the plantations, and at length discovered him lying dead on the grass at the foot of one of the great bluegums. That he had been struck by lightning while standing with his back to the tree was evident, for the grass where he had stood was burnt, and his watch chain was fused. But the strange thing that I have to tell you is this: On the trunk of the tree against which Wanaki had been standing, the lightning had left a mark which is evidently a duplicate tracery of the course the electric fluid took through his body, but at the same time--this is no woman’s fancy--I recognised it as an exact picture on a small scale of the principal ways of the ancient temple, from the marble cave to the foundations. I say again, this is not my fancy, for if anyone could recognise the diagrammatic representation of the spiral tunnels and spaces of that ancient place it would surely be myself. Is this another instance of the strange magic of that terrible priesthood of the ages, which has now left its sign to show that Wanaki has suffered the penalty for revealing the secrets of their temple, or is it capable of a simpler explanation? Is it possible that the lightning followed some occult line of least resistance through that temple of the ages--that mysterious epitome of the universe, the human body, and left the track of its passage burnt in on the tree behind? But I cannot do more than merely suggest the mystery of this exact correspondence, for both my husband and myself are heartbroken at the loss of our dear friend, the story of whose snow-white hair and gentle, weary face, you already know.

I will not write more now except to add, as ever, that my heart is with you in your work--with you as constantly as my thoughts are with her whom we love, and as earnestly as my prayers are with those of all women who stand in the “Brow of Ruatapu” and raise their arms of longing to the heaven where greatness waits to be revealed on earth.

Yours sincerely,
MIRIAM GREY.

THE END.

ENDNOTES.

[01] _karakia_] Philosophical and meditative hymns used as incantations.--Editor.

[02] _pa_] A _pa_ is a fortified village, a stronghold.

[03] _Kahikatea… my friend the Forest Tree_] The Maoris regard the Kahikatea, or white pine, with much poetical feeling.--Editor.

[04] _rangatira_] Gentleman.

[05] _the green lizard that will summon me to Reinga_] The Maori believes that when the little green lizard looks at him meaningly it is a summons for him to depart for the spirit world within three days.--Editor.

[06] _tiki_] An ornament of jade fashioned in the image of Tiki, the first man, and worn round the neck.--Editor.

[07] _white-winged taniwhas_] The taniwha of the Maoris is a mythical monster of the deep. When they first saw the Pakehas’ ships they set them down as taniwhas.--Editor.

[08] _kohutukutu_] The wild fuchsia--the only deciduous native tree.--Editor.

[09] _wharekura_] An ancient Temple of Mysteries.--Editor.

[10] _Zun the Terrible_] Wanaki has a note here to the effect that, although the Maori’s pronunciation of this name was ‘Tunu,’ he prefers to preserve it in what he avers was its original form, _viz._, ‘Zun.’--Editor.

[11] _matakite_] Clairvoyant.

[12] _tapu_] Sacred.

[13] _its spirit had fled beyond Wai Ora Tane_] The bourne from which no traveller returns.--Editor.

[14] _matakite_] A seer--a clairvoyant.--Editor.

[15] _mana_] Power, prestige.--Editor.

[16] _kumara_] The kumara is a kind of sweet potato.

[17] _Taranaki glowed… thundering Tongariro_] According to ancient legend Tongariro and Taranaki, standing together, were rival volcanoes for the hand of a smaller mountain near by, named Pihanga. They fought, hurling great rocks at each other, until at last Taranaki withdrew to the seashore, where he now stands.

[18] _Whaka ariki_] A battle-cry.

[19] _heitiki_] A small image of polished jade, held very sacred.

[20] _waiariki_] A warm spring.

[21] _taepo_] Devil--the hobgoblin of the night.--Editor.

[22] _weka_] The Maori hen--a rare ventriloquist.

[23] _Makutu_] Bewitchment.

[24] _crying_ ‘_Utu! Utu!_’] _Utu_ is payment, compensation for injury.--Editor.

[25] _marae_] The open space.

[26] _utu_] Payment, compensation--an eye for an eye.

[27] _Upokokohua!_] “Boil your head.” All Maori curses relate to cooking or giving in cookery, to boiling or being boiled.--Editor.

[28] This letter, with its enclosure from Miriam Grey to Kahikatea, reached me just as the task of editing this work was finished.--Editor.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES.

The Hodder & Stoughton edition (London, n.d.) was consulted for most of the changes listed below.

Minor spelling variances (_e.g._ lovelight/love-light, nut-trees/nut trees, etc.), the inconsistent italicization of foreign words, and redundant footnotes (matakite, utu) have been preserved.

Plain text edition only: note markers are given in [square] brackets.

Alterations to the text:

Convert footnotes to endnotes.

Punctuation: quotation mark pairings/nestings, missing commas, etc.

[Chapter IV]

Change (“_Tanawha_ lives there,” he said, “it is tapu. The Maori) to _Taniwha_.

[Chapter XII]

“Arrived at a village on the coast line near _Hokitiki_” to _Hokitika_.

[Chapter XIII]

“An easel and _pallette_ reclined against the hedge” to _palette_.

[Chapter XXI]

“the narrowing gulf could be seen the _giant’s_ window” to _giants’_.

[Chapter XXIII]

“descend the marble steps when his controlled emotions _brake_ loose” to _broke_.

[Chapter XXV]

“Yet it _semed_ a trifle strange to me that he should not” to _seemed_.

[End of text]