Old New Zealand : a tale of the good old times : and a history of the war in the north against the Chief Heke, in the year 1845

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wee NEW, ZEALAND,

A TALE OF THE GOOD OLD TIMES;
ea
meio LORY OF THE WAR IN. THE
NORTH AGAINST THE CHIEF
HEKE, IN THE YEAR
1845.
TOLD BY AN OLD CHIEF OF THE NGAPUHI TRIBE.

BY A PAKEHA MAORI.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION

BY THE EARL OF PEMBROKE.

LONDON:
mecHARD BENTLEY AND SON,
Publishers tn Ordinary to Her Wajestp the Queen,
NEW BURLINGTON STREET.
1884.

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CONTENTS.

. ZAYASNTRODUCTION
Preface to the Crinindl Edition
“>

CuapTer I.

Introductory—First .View of New Zealand—First Sight
of the Natives, and First Sensations experienced by a mere
Pakeha—A Maori Chief’s notions of trading in the Old Times
The

—A dissertation on “ Courage ”__A few words on Dress

Chief’s Soliloguy—The Maori Cry of Welcome

Cuapter II.

The Market Price of a Pakeha—The value of a Pakeha “ as
such””—Maori Hospitality in the Good Old Times—A Re-
spectable Friend—Maori Mermaids—My Notions of the value
- of Gold—How I got on Shore . : d F :

CuarptTer III.

A Wrestling Match—Beef against Melons—The Victor
gains a loss—‘‘ Our Chief” —His Speech—His status in the
Tribe—Death of “ Melons ”—Rumours of Peace and War—
Getting the Pa in fighting order—My Friend the “ Relation
Eater ”—Expectation and Preparation—Arrival of Doubtful
Friends—Sham Fight—The “ Taki”—The War Dance—
Another Example of Maori Hospitality—Crocodile’s Tears—

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14

vi CONTENTS.

Loose Notions about Heads—Tears of Blood—Brotherly Love—
Capital Felony—Peace

CuapTser IV.
A Little affair of ‘ Flotsam and Jetsam ’’—Rebellion Crushed
in the Bud—A Pakeha’s House Sacked—Maori Law—A
Maori Lawsuit—Affairs thrown into Chancery - :

CHaptTer V.

Every Englishman’s House is his Castle—My Estate and
Castle—How I purchased my Estate—Native Titles to Land,
of what Nature—Value of Land in New Zealand—Land Com-
missioners—The Triumphs of Eloquence—Magna Charta °

Cuartrer VI.

How I kept House—Maori Freebooters—An Ugly Cus-
tomer-——The “ Suaviter in Modo ”—A single Combat to amuse
the Ladies—The true Maori Gentleman—Character of the
Maori People ; ‘ ; : : °

Cuapter VII.

Excitement caused by first Contact with Europeans—The
Two Great Institutions of Maori Land—The Muru—The
Tapu—Instances of Legal Robbery—Descriptions and Ex-
amples of the Muru—Profit and Loss—Explanation of some of
the Workings of the Law of Muru_ : ° :

7 Cuaprer VIII.

The Muru falling ito Disuse—Why—Examples of the
T'apu—The Personal Tapu—Evading the Tapu—The Under-
taker’s Tapu—How I got Tabooed—Frightful Difficulties—
How I got out of them—The War Tapu—Maori War Cus-

toms ° ° ° . . e e e e

Cuaprer IX.

The Tapu Tohunga—The Maori Oracle—Responses of the
Oracle—Priesteraft ; . ; . . ‘ .

Page

24

52

60

67

81

116

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER X.

The Priest evokes a Spirit—The Consequences—A Maori
Tragedy—The “ Tohunga” again

CHAPTER XI.

The Local Tapu—The Taniwha—The Battle on Motiti—
Death of Tiki Whenua—Reflections—Brutus, Marcus Antonius,
and Tiki Whenua—Suicide J : : : ;

CuapTer XII.

The Tapa— Instances of—The Storming of Mokoia —
Pomare—Hongi Ika—Tareha—Honour amongst Thieves

CuarTer XIII.
“ My Rangatira ”—The respective Duties of the Pakeha and
his Rangatira—Public Opinion—A “ Pakeha Kino’’—Descrip-
tion of my Rangatira—His Exploits and Misadventures—His

Moral Principles—Decline in the numbers of the Natives— |

Proofs of former Large Population—Ancient Forts—Causes of
Decrease

CuarTeR XIV

Trading in the Old Times—The Native Difficulty—Virtue
its own Reward—Rule Britannia—Death of my Chief—His
Dying Speech—Rescue—How the World goes Round .

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 :

History oF THE WAR IN THE Nortu or New ZEALAND
AGAINST THE CureF HEKE : . A F

129

140

165

181

INTRODUCTION.

De ARAN the good old times of Conquest and
3 Colonization (I like to be particular
y}) about my dates and places), the civi-
KSSH lized nations of the day followed a
simple policy in regard to the savage races with
whom they came in contact, which may be roughly
described as going their own way, and punishing the
natives if they didn’t conform to it, without troubling
themselves much about what the aforesaid natives
thought or felt on the subject. If they understood
the meaning of it so much the better for them, if
they did not it could not be helped. Holding them-
selves to be morally and intellectually far superior
to the savages, they maintained that it was the
savage’s business to understand and conform to their
notions, and not their business to regard the savage’s.
As for giving savages the rights of civilized men it
was seldom thought of; savages were to be treated

as such.
I do not exactly know when this sort of native
policy was first practised, but I know that it has
b

x INTRODUCTION.

lasted, with modifications, even to our day, and is to
be seen in full working order in more than one part
of the globe.

And let me remark (pace the Philanthropists) that
it is not always the unwisest or cruellest policy that
can be followed, for this reason, that it is simple,
consistent, and easily understood. The man or the
nation that consistently follows its own path, turning
aside for no consideration, soon becomes at least
thoroughly known if not intelligently understood.
And misconceptions and misunderstandings are the
most fruitful of all causes of bloodshed between civi-
lized and savage races.

Let me confess, moreover, that there have been
moments when I have felt certain carnal hankerings
after that same old native policy. When, for instance,
I had just left the French colony of New Caledonia,
where amicable relations with the natives were pre-
served, and the country made as safe as Italy from
end to end by the simple expedient of regularly
and invariably executing a certain number of natives
for every white man that they disposed of, without
much inquiry into the motives of the murderers; and
had returned to New Zealand to hear of a most
lively massacre at Poverty Bay, perpetrated by three
hundred Maori gentlemen, very well up in their Old
Testaments and extremely practical in the use of the
New,’ who having satisfied the more pressing de-

1 They made cartridges of them. These were the Hau Haus,
a sect of Maories who, when the prestige of Christianity first

?

iv

INTRODUCTION. xi

mands of their appetite upon the field of their exploit,
had shown the sacred light of civilization that was
burning within them by potting the remainder of the
corpses in tins snd sending them as presents to their
friends in the country, and had then departed to the
mountains, filled with the comfortable conviction that
nothing worse than imprisonment would follow the
improbable event of their capture, that after a year
or two of most enjoyable skirmishing the matter
would be allowed to drop, and that they would most
of them go to their graves well-honoured and un-
hung.’

began to wane in the native mind, abolished the New Testament,
retained the Old, which was more to their taste, and by mixing
with it a large quantity of their old heathenism, produced a
religion entirely devoted theoretically and practically to plunder
and blood.

1 TI regret to say that the strict propriety (according to the
received code of that day) with which the Poverty-Bay mas-
sacre, and the fighting which followed it, were prosecuted on
both sides, was marred by the scandalous behaviour of a settler
whose name I forget; this man’s wife and child were mutilated,
killed, &c., at the massacre; it was done in a most correct way,
but somehow made him most unaccountably and unreasonably
angry. He joined the expedition that was sent in pursuit of
the murderers, and in one of the first engagements some dozen
of them were made prisoners. At night he approached them,
and, taking treacherous advantage of their guileless confidence,
asked them if they had participated in the massacre, feast, &c. ;
and they, never dreaming that they had anything to fear from
the admission, innocently answered in the affirmative, whereon
this monster, knowing well that the poor fellows would escape
capital, or even very serious, punishment, on the grounds that
they were prisoners of war, or had brown skins, or excellent

xi INTRODUCTION.

At moments like these I have had ideas on native
policy that I dare not utter in the latitude of Exeter
Hall, and the era of the nineteenth century.

But when New Zealand was colonized the feeling
of the English public was distinctly philanthropical
towards native races (especially at a distance), and
the old policy was thoroughly discarded, for one, in
its general theory and intention at least, more en-
lightened and more humane. Speaking broadly, I
think one can see all through the chequered course
of our Maori policy an earnest desire to treat the
native as a man and a brother; to give him the
status of a civilized man whenever it was possible to

motives, or a deficient moral sense, or a defective education,
deliberately shot the whole lot with his revolver, I need hardly
mention that had this act been performed by a Maori upon
white men by way of “utu” (revenge, payment) for some of
his tribe that had been killed, it would have been quite ‘tiku”
(correct, proper); but for a white man so to behave was scan-
dalous. I forget what punishment was awarded him: let us
hope he got what he deserved ; and may this story be a warn-
ing to those who let their angry passions rise.

The leader of the Hau Hau expedition was a ruffian called
Te Kooti. The chief of the native contingent that joined in
their pursuit was a Maori, of the old-fashioned sort, named
Ropata. A friend of mine asked him one day what he thought
would be done with Te Kooti if he were taken. ‘Oh, you'll
make him a judge,” answered Ropata, coolly. ‘ What do you
mean?” asked my friend. ‘ Well,” said Ropata, “the last
two rebels you caught you made native assessors, and Te Kooti’s
a much greater man than either of them; so I don’t see how
you can do less than make him a judge. But you won't if I
catch him,” he added, with a grin. :

het a i lee

INTRODUCTION. xiii

do so; and when not possible to consider and make
due allowance for the fact of his being uncivilized,
and to guide and lead him towards civilization by
just and generous treatment, and appeals to his moral
and intellectual faculties.

I do not wish to dwell upon the dangerous extra-
vagances into which such a policy might and did
occasionally run—such as letting off one native cut-
throat by treating him as a civilized prisoner of war,
and reprieving the next on the ground that he wasa
poor untutored savage who knew no better, to the
utter destruction and confusion of all sense of power,
justice, and security—great as was the amount of
mischief that they did, but will confine myself to
what I believe was the main cause of the almost total
failure of this noble and, in the main, plausible
policy. .

It is quite evident that to give it a chance of suc-
cess it must have been founded on a _ thorough
understanding of the native character. It is no use
making signs to 2a man who cannot understand them,
it is no use uttering the most lovely moral precepts
in language that is sure to mislead him. It was in
this first necessary step that I hold that we failed,
with brilliant individual exceptions no doubt, who,
however, only served to make the confusion worse
with their gleams of light.

Narrow-minded Enthusiasm, Ignorance, and Care-
lessness all contributed their quota to the mischief,
and their favourite blunder consisted in jumping at
conclusions concerning native character from certain

xiv INTRODUCTION.

analogies with our own. It did not occur to many
of us that actions. which marked the presence of
certain qualities in the English character, might
mark the presence of very different ones in the
Maori, and vice versd, or that qualities which marked
the presence of certain other qualities in the English-
man might be very differently accompanied in the
native; we did not realize the fact that the Maori
reflected, argued, and acted in a way that was often
as incomprehensible to us as our way was to him.
When we observed a band of native converts sing-
ing a hymn before advancing to battle we were filled
with admiration at their piety, without perceiving
that those deeper religious feelings which alone could
have produced such a manifestation amongst Eng-
lishmen were entirely absent... When Christianity

1 The Maori notion of prayer reaches no higher than the
thing we call an incantation. One day I was talking to the
old Pakeha Maori (7.e. a white man who lives amongst the
Maories) on the subject of missionary labour. At last he said,
“ T’ll tell you a story that will establish your name for ever at
Exeter Hall, only you musn’t tell it quite the same way that I
do. I was here at the time when both the Protestant and
Roman Catholic missionaries were first beginning to make their
way in the country; and the Maories of my tribe used to come
to me and ask me which had the greatest ‘mana’ (i.e. fortune,
_ prestige, power, strength)—the Protestant God or the Romanist
one. I was always a good Churchman, and used to tell them
that the Protestant God could lick the other into fits. There
was an old Irish sailor about five miles from me who used to
back up the Roman Catholic God, but I had along start of him,
and moreover was the best fighting man of the two, which went

INTRODUCTION. XV

spread through the tribes with amazing rapidity, we
rejoiced over their capability for accepting the doc-
trines of high and pure religion, never perceiving

along way. Inashort time I had about two hundred of the
most muscular, blood-thirsty, hard-fighting Protestants you
could wish to see.

“Well; it so happened that one day we had a little difference
with some of our neighbours, and were drawn up on one side of
a gully all ready to charge. I liked the fun of fighting in those
days, and was rigged out in nothing but a cartridge-box and
belt, with a2 plume of feathers in my hair, and a young woman
to carry my ammunition for me; moreover, I had been put in
command of the desperate young bloods of the tribe, and burned
to distinguish myself, feeling the commander of the Old Guard
_ at Waterloo quite an insignificant person in regard to myself in
point of responsibility and honour.

*‘ Lying down in the fern, we waited impatiently for the
signal to charge ; had not we, on the last occasion worth speak-
ing of, outrun our elders, and been nearly decimated in conse-
quence? Shall it not be different now? See! there is the
great war-chief, the commander of the ‘Taua,’ coming this way
(he was a real ‘ toa’ of the old stamp, too seldom found among
the degenerate Maories of the present day). Little cared he
for the new faith that had sprung up in the last generation;
his skill with the spear, and the incantations of his ‘ Tohungas’
(i.e. priests or magicians), had kept him safe through many a
bitter tussle; his ‘mana’ was great. Straight to me he came
and addressed me thus :—‘ Look here, young fellow! I’ve done
the incantations and made it all square with my God; but you
say that you’ve got a God stronger than mine, and a lot of our
young fellows go with you; there’s nothing like having two
Gods on our side, so you fellows do the proper business with
him, and then we'll fight.” Could anything have been more
practical and business-like than this? But I was quite stuck
up; for though I could have repeated a prayer from the liturgy

xvi INTRODUCTION.

that they accepted it simply because they thought
from our superiority in ships, arms, tools, and ma-
terial prosperity in general, that the ‘‘ Mana” (ze.,
luck, power, prestige) of Christianity must be greater
than that of their old superstition, and would be
quite ready to leave it again when they found out
this was a mistake, their minds being as void of the
higher religious elements as those of many savages
far below them in intellectual powers. When we
heard of a native chief supplying his enemy with
food or ammunition to enable him to carry on the
war we were charmed with his generous chivalry,
and immediately endowed him with all the virtues
that usually accompany such behaviour in an Eng-
lishman, blind to the fact that the chief simply liked
fichting as we might like eating or sleeping, and

myself, my worthy converts, who philosophically and rightly
looked upon religion merely as a means to an end (¢.e. killing
the greatest possible quantity of enemies), were unable to pro-
duce a line of scripture amongst them.

‘«¢ There was an awkward pause; our commander was furious.
Suddenly one discovers that he has a hymn-book in his pocket.
General exultation! ‘Now!’ cries the old chief, foaming at the
mouth with excitement, ‘go down upon your knees (I know
that’s the custom with your God) and repeat the charm after
him. Mind you don’t make a mistake, now, for if one word is
wrong, the whole thing will be turned topsy-turvy, and we
shall be thrashed.’

« And then, having repeated one hymn word for word on our
knees, I and my converts charged, and walked into the Amorites
no end; but whether it was the hymn or the fighting that did
it is of course an open question to this day.”

INTRODUCTION. xvii

furnished his enemy with arms and ammunition just

as we might furnish one’s cook with money to buy

meat with.* |
By radical misconceptions, such as these, we

1 Of the Maori’s passion for fighting for its own sake, with
the chivalrous appearance that it somewhat misleadingly bore, I
will give an instance. A certain chief had a missionary whom
he desired to get rid of. Whether he was tired of his sermons,
disliked his ritual, or what, I cannot say. However, he for-
warded him on to another chief, with his compliments, as a
present. Chief number two not being in need of a chaplain, having
no living vacant, and having perhaps, too, a suspicion that the
missionary was unsound in some respect from the careless way
he was disposed of, declined him, and returned him uniried.
Chief number one was insulted, and declared that if chief
number two had not known his superiority in arms and ammuni-
tion, he would not have dared to behave in such manner, When
this came to the ears of number two, he divided his arms, &c.,
into two halves, and sent one to the enemy, with an invitation
to war.

A distinguished friend of mine in New Zealand once asked a
Maori chief who had fought against us on the Waikato, why,
when he had command of a certain road, he did not attack the
ammunition and provision trains? ‘“ Why, you fool!” answered
the Maori, much astonished, “If we had stolen their powder
and food, how could they have fought ?”’

Sometimes two villages would get up a little war, and the
inhabitants, after potting at each other all day, would come out
of their ‘“‘ pas” in the evening and talk over their day’s sport in
the most friendly manner. “I nearly bagged your brother
to-day.” ‘Ah, but you should have seen how I made your old
father-in-law skip!” and so on. After one or two had been
really killed, they would become more in earnest.

I have heard old Archdeacon , of Tauranga, relate how
in one of these petty wars he has known the defenders of a

XVlil INTRODUCTION.

succeeded in creating in our imaginations an ideal
Maori about as true to the life as a Fenimore Cooper
Indian. And then we proceeded to impress the real
Maori with moral lessons that he could not under-
stand, and with practical examples that he inter-
preted all wrong, to appeal to qualities and ideas
that he did not possess, and ignore those that he did
possess, till in spite of our patience and good-
will we became puzzled by and disgusted with him,
and he contemptuous of and utterly bewildered by
us. I have heard several comments upon us and
our policy from intelligent natives, none of them very
flattering to our sagacity or consistency, but I will
only give one which struck me as being a most strik-
ing comment upon a policy that aimed at conciliation,
forbearance, and patient improvement of the Maori.
‘‘ You are a good people, but you have no fixed plan
and no understanding either in matters of peace or
war. No man can tell when you will fight or when
you will give presents to buy peace, or at what

pa send out to their adversaries to say they were short of
provisions, who immediately sent them a supply to go on with.
Also how he has performed service on Sunday between two
belligerent pas, the inhabitants of which came out to pray, and
met with the most perfect amity, returning to their pas when
service was over, to recommence hostilities on Monday morning.
The fact is, that they were, as the Pakeha Maori says, a race so
demoralized by perpetual war that they had got to look instinc-
tively upon fighting as the chief object in hfe. How difficult it
was for the average Englishman to see this at first, and how
misleading traits such as I have mentioned might be to hin, it
is not hard to imagine.

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are cess eS

INTRODUCTION. xix

sudden moment you will stop doing one and begin
the other. No man can tell your reasons nor the
meaning of what you do.” This man had evidently
caught some vague glimmerings of the meaning of
our policy which only confused him the more. A
little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

From the faithful pictures of Maori character,
ideas, and feelings contained in these two little
books, the observant reader will easily perceive how
mistakes and misconceptions as to what they were,
and might become, and as to how they should be
treated, sprang up in the English mind. It is true
that the Maori question, with all its hopes and fears,
has practically come to anend. The bubble of Maori
civilization has burst, the idea, that seemed at one
time not unlikely to become an actual fact, of a native
race becoming truly Christianized and civilized, and
prospering side by side with their white brothers,
has gone where many a noble and well-fought-for
idea has gone before. The true level of the Maori,
intellectually and morally, has become tolerably well
known; moreover, his numbers are diminishing year
by year.

But the English nation is, and I hope always will
be, in contact with many nations of different blood
and various forms and degrees of civilization, and as
long as this is the case it cannot be too much im-
pressed upon that extremely powerful and somewhat
hasty and headstrong body, the British public, that
human nature is not the same all over the world,
that one man’s meat is another man’s poison, that

xx INTRODUCTION.

there is no code either of logic or of feeling or of
morals universally accepted by humanity, that every
difference in custom makes some difference in mind 3
so that (if that public wishes, as I believe it does, to
manage the races with whom England comes in con-
tact, not so much by force as by intelligent and
beneficial moral influence) the first thing to be done
is to gain an unwarped, accurate, and thorough know-
ledge of the customs, character, and opinions of the
races in question.

If these two little books should suggest to any
careless Englishman that foreigners of dark com-
plexion are not all like either those white men who
seem to have got into brown or black skins by mis-
take, whom one reads about in anti-slavery books
and some missionary reports, or those equally tire-
some black dummies whom one reads about in
another sort of book who have no marked charac-
teristic or intelligible custom except shooting spears
and arrows at people for no apparent reason, I shall
be glad to have introduced them to an English public ;
and let me assure those who care more for amuse-
ment than instruction that they will be amply repaid
by their perusal.

I hope the Pakeha Maori will pardon my imper-
tinence in giving a personal sketch of him to his
English readers on the plea that his writing would
not be.complete without one. |

He was, I believe, sixty years old when I first saw
him, but, in spite of his age, looked the finest man
for strength, activity, and grace I had ever seen.

eT!

INTRODUCTION. _XXi

Six feet three in height and big in proportion, with a
symmetry of shape that almost disguised his immense
size, I felt I could well understand the stories I had
heard of his popularity and his feats amongst the
Maories, especially when I watched the keen, bright
expression of his humorous Irish face.

In manner and conversation he was the very oppo-
site of what one would expect of a man who had
lived since his boyhood among savages. With areal
love, and a considerable knowledge of literature, a
keen appreciation of all intellectual excellence, and
a most delightful humour, I think I never came
across so charming a talker as the man whom I may
not inaptly christen the “ Lever ” of New Zealand.

PEMBROKE.

DEC 9 1895

—t2_ Se OF

LAV ep A Rif
HE-ORIGINAL EDITION.

°)O the English reader, and to most of
~\ those who have arrived in New Zea-

VY land within the last thirty years, it

may be necessary to state that the
descriptions of Maori life and manners of past
times found in these sketches owe nothing to fic-
tion. The different scenes and incidents are given
exactly as they occurred, and all the persons de-
scribed are real persons.

Contact with the British settlers has of late
years effected a marked and rapid change in the
manners and mode of life of the natives, and the
Maori of the present day are as unlike what they
were when I first saw them as they are still un-
like a civilised people or British subjects.

The writer has therefore thought it might be

XXiV PREFACE.

worth while to place a few sketches of old Maori
life on record before the remembrance of them
has quite passed away; though in doing so he has
by no means exhausted an interesting subject, and
a more full and particular delineation of old Maori

life, manners, and history has yet to be written.

OLD NEW ZEALAND:
A TALE OF THE GOOD
OLD TIMES.
BY A PAKEHA MAORI.

“ Of Anthropophagi, and men whose heads

_Do grow BETWEEN their shoulders.”

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1

CHAPTER I.

Introductory.—First view of New Zealand.—First sight of the
natives, and first sensations experienced by a mere Pakeha.—
A Maori chief’s notions of trading in the old times.—A disser-
tation on “courage.”—A few words on dress.—The chief’s
soliloguy.—The Maori cry of welcome.

H! those good old times, when first I
came to New Zealand, we shall never
see their like again. Since then the
world seems to have gone wrong some-
how. A dull sort of world this now. The very
sun does not seem to me to shine as bright as it
used. Pigs and potatoes have degenerated ; and
everything seems ‘flat, stale, and unprofitable.”
But those were the times !—the ‘‘ good old times ”—
before Governors were invented, and law, and justice,

and all that. When every one did as he liked,—

except when his neighbours would not let him, (the
more shame for them,)—when there were no taxes,
or duties, or public works, or public to require them.

Who cared then whether he owned a coat ?—or
.

B

2 OLD NEW ZHALAND.

believed in shoes or stockings? The men were
bigger and stouter in those days; and the women,—
ah! Money was useless and might go a begging.
A sovereign was of no use except to make a hole in
and hang it in a child’s ear. The few I brought
went that way, and I have seen them swapped for
shillings, which were thought more becoming. What
cared 1? A fish-hook was worth a dozen of them,
and I had lots of fish-hooks. Little did I think in
those days that I should ever see here towns and
villages, banks and insurance offices, prime ministers
and bishops; and hear sermons preached, and see.
men hung, and all the other plagues of civilization.
Iam a melancholy man. I feel somehow as if I had
got older. Jam nouse in these dull times. I mope
about in solitary places, exclaiming often, ‘‘ Oh !
where are those good old times?” and echo, or some
young Maori whelp from the Three Kings, answers
from behind a bush,—No HEA.

I shall not state the year in which I first saw the
mountains of New Zealand appear above the sea ;
there is a false suspicion getting about that | am
growing old. This must be looked down, so I will
at present avoid dates. I always held a theory that
time was of no account in New Zealand, and I do —
believe I was right up to the time of the arrival of
the first Governor. The natives hold this opinion
still, especially those who are in debt: so I will just
say it was in the good old times, long ago, that, from
the deck of a small trading schooner in which I had
taken my passage from somewhere, I first cast eyes

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 3

on Maori land. It was Maori land then; but alas!
what is it now? Success to you, O King of Waikato.
May your mana never be less!—long may you hold
at bay the demon of civilization, though fall at last I
fear you must. Plutus with golden hoof is tramp-
ling on your landmarks. He mocks the war-song;
but should J see your fall, at least one Pakeha Maori
shall raise the tang: ; and with flint and shell as of
old shall the women lament you.

Let me, however, leave these melancholy thoughts
for a time, forget the present, take courage, and talk
about the past. I have not got on shore yet; a
thing I must accomplish as a necessary preliminary
to looking about me, and telling what I saw. I do
not understand the pakeha way of beginning a story
in the middle; so to start fair, I must fairly get on
shore, which, | am surprised to find, was easier to do
than to describe.

The little schooner neared the land, and as we
came closer and closer, I began in a most unaccount-
able manner to remember all the tales I had ever
heard of people being baked in ovens, with cabbage
and potato ‘“‘fixins.” I had before this had some
considerable experience of ‘savages,’ but as they
had no regular system of domestic cookery of the
nature I have hinted at, and being, as I was in those
days, a mere pakeha (a character I have since learned
to despise), I felt, to say the least, rather curious as
to the then existing demand on shore for butchers’
meat.

The ship sailed on, and I went below and loaded

4 OLD NEW ZHALAND.

my pistols; not that I expected at all to conquer the
country with them, but somehow because I could not
help it. We soon came to anchor in a fine harbour
before the house of the very first settler who had
ever entered it, and to this time he was the only one.
He had, however, a few Europeans in his employ;
and there was at some forty miles distance a sort of
nest of English, Irish, Scotch, Dutch, French, and
American runaways from South Sea whalers, with
whom were also congregated certain other individuals
of the pakeha race, whose manner of arrival in the
country was not clearly accounted for, and to enquire
into which was, as I found afterwards, considered
extremely impolite, and a great breach of bienséance.
They lived in a half savage state, or to speak cor-
rectly, in a savage and-a-half state, being greater
savages by far than the natives themselves.

I must, however, turn back a little, for I perceive
I am not on shore yet.

The anchoring of a vessel of any size, large or
small, in a port of New Zealand, in those days, was
an event of no small importance; and, accordingly,
from the deck we could see the shore crowded by
several hundreds of natives, all in a great state of -
excitement, shouting and running about, many with
spears and clubs in their hands, and altogether
looking to the inexperienced new-comer very much
as if they were speculating on an immediate change
of diet. I must say these at least were my impres-
sions on seeing the mass of shouting, gesticulating,
tattooed fellows, who were exhibiting before us, and

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 5

who all seemed to be mad with excitement of some
sort or other. Shortly after we came to anchor, a
boat came off, in which was Mr. ——, the settler I
have mentioned, and also the principal chief of the
tribe of natives inhabiting this part of the country.
Mr. gave me a hearty welcome to New Zealand,
and also an invitation to his house, telling me I was
welcome to make it my home for any unlimited time,
till I had one of my own. The chief also—having
made some enquiries first of the captain of the

schooner, such as whether I was a rangatira, if I had
plenty of taonga (goods) on board, and other par-
ticulars; and having been answered by the captain
in the most satisfactory manner,—came up to me
and gave me a most sincere welcome. (I love sin-
cerity.) He would have welcomed me, however, had
I been as poor as Job, for pakehas were, in those
days, at an enormous premium. Even Job, at the
worst (a pakeha Job), might be supposed to have an
old coat, or a spike nail, or a couple of iron hoops
left on hand, and these were ‘‘ good trade” in the
times I speak of; and under a process well under-
stood at the time by my friend the chief, were sure
to change hands soon after his becoming aware of
their whereabouts. His idea of trade was this :—
He took them, and never paid for them till he took
something else of greater value, which, whatever it
- might be, he never paid for till he made a third still
heavier haul. He always paid just what he thought
fit to give, and when he chose to withdraw his
patronage from any pakeha who might be getting

G OLD NEW ZEALAND.

too knowing for him, and extend it to some newer
arrival, he never paid for the last “ lot of trade;”
but, to give ,him his due, he allowed his pakeha
friends to make the best bargain they could with the
rest of the tribe, with the exception of a few of his
nearest relations, over whose interests he would
watch. So, after all, the pakeha would make a living;
but I have never heard of one of the old traders who
got rich by trading with the natives: there were too
many drawbacks of the nature I have mentioned, as
well as others unnecessary to mention just yet,
which prevented it.

I positively vow and protest to you, gentle and
patient reader, that if ever I get safe on shore, I will
do my best to give you satisfaction; let me get once
on shore, and I am all right: but unless I get my
feet on terrd firma, how can I ever begin my tale of
the good old times? As long as I am on board ship
I am cramped and crippled, and a mere slave to
Greenwich time, and can’t get on. Some people, I
am aware, would make a dash at it, and manage the
thing without the aid of boat, canoe, or life preserver ;
but such people are, for the most part, dealers in
fiction, which I am not: my story is a true story,
not ‘‘ founded on fact,” but fact itself, and so I can-
not manage to get on shore a moment sooner than
circumstances will permit. It may be that I ought
to have landed before this; but I must confess I
don’t know any more about the right way to tell a
story, than a native minister knows how to “ come”
a war dance. I declare the mention of the war

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 7

dance calls up a host of reminiscences, pleasurable
and painful, exhilarating and depressing, in such a
way as no one but a few, a very few, pakeha Maori,
can understand. Thunder!—but no; let me get
ashore; how can I dance on the water, or before I
ever knew how? On shore I will get this time, I
am determined, in spite of fate—so now for it.

The boat of my friend Mr. —— being about to re-
turn to the shore, leaving the chief and Mr. on
board, and I seeing the thing had to be done,
plucked up courage, and having secretly felt the
priming of my pistols under my coat, got into the
boat.

I must here correct myself. I have said, “ plucked
up courage,” but that is not exactly my meaning.
The fact is, kind reader, if you have followed me

thus far, you are about to be rewarded for your per-
severance. I am determined to make you as wise as
I am myself on at least one important subject, and
that is not saying a little, let me inform you, as I
can hardly suppose you have made the discovery for
yourself on so short an acquaintance. Falstaff, who
was a very clever fellow, and whose word cannot be
doubted, says—‘t The better part of valour is dis-
cretion.” Now, that being the case, what in the
name of Achilles, Hector, and Colonel Gold (he, I
mean Achilles, was a rank coward, who went about
knocking people on the head, being himself next
thing to invulnerable, and who could not be hurt till
he turned his back to the enemy. There is a deep
moral in this same story about Achilles which per-

8 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

haps, by and bye, I may explain to you)—what, I
say again, in the name of everything valorous, can
the worser part of valour be, if “ discretion” be the
better? The fact is, my dear sir, I don’t believe in
courage at all, nor ever did; but there is something
far better, which has carried me through many
serious scrapes with écldt and safety; I mean the
appearance of courage. If you have this you may
drive the world before you. As for real courage, I
do not believe there can be any such thing. A man
who sees himself in danger of being killed by his
enemy and is not in a precious fright, is simply not
courageous but mad. The man who is not frightened
because he cannot see the danger, is a person of
weak mind—a fool—who ought to be locked up lest
he walk into a well with eyes open; but the appear-
ance of courage, or rather, as I deny the existence of
the thing itself, that appearance which is thought to
be courage, that is the thing will carry you through!
—get you made K.C.B., Victoria Cross, and all that!
Men by help of this quality do the most heroic
actions, being all the time ready to die of mere
fright, but keeping up a good countenance all the
time. Here is the secret—pay attention, it is worth
much money—if ever you get into any desperate
battle or skirmish, and feel in such a state of mortal
fear that you almost wish to be shot to get rid of it,
just say to yourself—‘If I am _ so _ preciously
frightened, what must the other fellow be?” The
thought will refresh you; your own self-esteem will
answer that of course the enemy is more frightened

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 9

than you are, consequently, the nearer you feel to
running away the more reason you have to stand.
Look at the last gazette of the last victory, where
thousands of men at one shilling per diem, minus
certain very serious deductions, ‘‘ covered themselves
with glory.” The thing is clear: the other fellows
ran first, and that is all about it! My secret is a
very good secret; but one must of course do the
thing properly; no matter of what kind the danger
is, you must look it boldly in the face and keep your
wits about you, and the more frightened you get the
more determined you must be—to keep up appear-
ances—and half the danger is gone at once. So now,
having corrected myself, as well as given some
valuable advice, I shall start again for the shore by
saying that I plucked up a very good appearance of
courage and got on board the boat.

For the honour and glory of the British nation, of
which I considered myself in some degree a repre-
sentative on this momentous occasion, I had dressed
myself in one of my best suits. My frock coat was,
I fancy, “ the thing ;” my waistcoat was the result of
much and deep thought, in cut, colour, and material
—lI may venture to affirm that the like had not been
often seen in the southern hemisphere. My tailor
has, as I hear, long since realized a fortune and re-
tired, in consequence of the enlightenment he at dif-
ferent times received from me on the great principles
of, not clothing, but embellishing the human subject.
My hat looked down criticism, and my whole turn-
out such as I calculated would “ astonish the na-

10 OLD NEW ZHALAND.

tives,” and cause awe and respect for myself indi-
vidually and the British nation in general, of whom
I thought fit to consider myself no bad sample.
Here I will take occasion to remark that some atten-
tion to ornament and elegance in the matter of dress
is not only allowable but commendable. Man*is the
only beast to whom a discretionary power has been
left in this respect: why then should he not take a
hint from nature, and endeavour to beautify his per-
son? Peacocks and birds of paradise could no doubt
live and get fat though all their feathers were the
colour of a Quaker’s leggings, but see how they are
ornamented! Nature has, one would say, exhausted
herself in beautifying them. Look at the tiger and
leopard! Could not they murder without their
stripes and spots ?—but see how their coats are
painted! Look at the flowers—at the whole universe
—and you will see everywhere the ornamental com-
bined with the useful. Look, then, to the cut and
colour of your coat, and do not laugh at the Maori
of past times, who, not being “seized” of a coat
because he has never been able to seize one, carves
and tattoos legs, arms, and face.

The boat is, however, darting towards the shore,
rapidly propelled by four stout natives. My friend
—-— and the chief are on board. ‘The chief has got
his eye on my double gun, which is hanging up in the
cabin. He takes it down and examines it closely.
He is a good judge of a gun. It is the best tupara
he has ever seen, and his speculations run something
very like this:—“ A good gun, a first-rate gun; I

cures

OLD NEW ZHALAND. 11

must have this; I must tapw it before I leave the
ship [here he pulls a piece of the fringe from his
cloak and ties it round the stock of the gun, thereby
rendering it impossible for me to sell, give away, or
dispose of it in any way to anyone but himself]; I
wonder what the pakeha will want for it! I will
promise him as much flax or as many pigs as ever he
likes for it. True, I have no flax just now, and am
short of pigs, they were almost all killed at the last
hahunga; but if he is in a hurry he can buy the flax
or pigs from the people, which ought to satisfy him.
Perhaps he would take a piece of land!—that would
be famous. I would give him a piece quite close to
the kainga, where I would always have him close to
me; I hope he may take the land; then I should have
two pakehas, him and All the inland chiefs
would envy me. This is getting too knowing;
he has taken to hiding his best goods of late, and sell-
ing them before I knew he had them. It’s just the
same as thieving, and I won’t stand it. Hesold three
muskets the other day to the Ngatiwaki, and I did
not know he had them, or I should have taken them.
I could have paid for them some time or another.
It was wrong, wrong, very wrong, to let that tribe
have those muskets. He is not their pakeha; let
them look for a pakeha for themselves. Those Ngati-
waki are getting too many muskets—those three
make sixty-four they have got besides two tupara.
_ Certainly we have a great many more, and the Ngati-
waki are our relations, but then there was Kohu, we
killed, and Patu, we stole his wife. There is no say-

12 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

ing what these Ngatiwaki may do if they should get
plenty of muskets; they are game enough for any-
thing. It was wrong to give them those muskets;
wrong, wrong, wrong!” After-experience enabled
me to tell just what the chief’s soliloquy was, as
above.

But all this time the boat is darting to the shore,
and as the distance is only a couple of hundred yards,
I can hardly understand how it is that I have not
yet landed. The crew are pulling like mad, being
impatient to show the tribe the prize they have made,
—a regular pakeha rangatira as well as a rangatira
pakeha (two very different things), who has lots of
tomahawks, and fish-hooks, and blankets, and a tupara,
and is even suspected to be the owner of a great many
“nots” of gunpowder! ‘He is going to stop with
the tribe, he is going to trade, he is going to be a
pakeha for us.” These last conclusions were, how-
ever, jumped at, the “ pakeha” not having then any
notions of trade or commerce, and being only inclined
to look about and amuse himself. The boat nears
the shore, and now arises from a hundred voices the
call of welcome,— Haere mai! haere mai! hoe mai!
hoe mai! haere mat, e-te-pa-ke-ha, haere mai! mats,
hands, and certain ragged petticoats put into requisi-
tion for that occasion, all at the same time waving in
the air in sign of welcome. Thena pause. Then,
as the boat came nearer, another burst of haere maz!
But unaccustomed as I was then to the Maori salute,
I disliked the sound. There was a wailing melancholy
cadence that did not strike me as being the appropriate.

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 13

tone of welcome; and, as I was quite ignorant up to
this time of my own importance, wealth, and general
value as a pakeha, I began, as the boat closed in with
the shore, to ask myself whether possibly this same
“haere mat” might not be the Maori for ‘“‘dilly, dilly,
come and be killed.” There was, however, no help
for itnow; we were close to the shore, and so, putting
on the most unconcerned countenance possible, I
prepared to make my entrée into Maori land in a
proper and dignified manner.

CuaptTer IJ, }-

The market price of a Pakeha,__The _ value of a Pakeha “as
such.”—Maori hospitality in the good ol¢ 1 times.—A respectable
friend.— Maori mermaids.—My notions Voe the value of gold.—
How I got on shore. Pr
BORE RE I must remark g that in those days
the value of a pal ixeha to a tribe was
enormous. For w want of pakehas to
trade with, and fro; isn whom to procure

gunpowder and muskets, many 1 lbribes or sections of
tribes were about this time exterminated or nearly
so by their more fortunate nj mighbours who got
pakehas before them, and who _ Jéonsequently became
armed with muskets “first. A }se pakeha trader was
therefore of a value say about -¢ twenty times his own
weight in muskets. This, a according to my notes
made at the time, I find to h: 1-ve represented a value
in New Zealand something ,petbout what we mean in
England when we talk of 4 t the sum total of the
national debt. A book-keet e. per, or a second-rate
pakeha, not a trader, mighaotis be valued at say his
weight in tomahawks; an w“asenormous sum also. ‘The
poorest labouring pakeha, aeré;hough he might have no
property, would earn som:.ewething—his value to the

OLD NEW ZHALAND. 15

chief and tribe with whom he lived might be esti-
mated at say his weight in fish-hooks, or about a
hundred thousand pounds or so; value estimated by
eagerness to obtain the article.

The value of a musket was not to be estimated to
a native by just what he gave for it; he gave all he
had, or could procure, and had he ten times as much
to give he would have given it, if necessary, or if
not, he would buy ten muskets instead of one.
Muskets! muskets! muskets! nothing but muskets,
was the first demand of the Maori; muskets and
gunpowder at any cost.

I do not, however, mean to affirm that pakehas
were at this time valued “as such,”—like Mr.
Pickwick’s silk stockings, which were very good
and valuable stockings, “as stockings’’—not at
all. A loose, straggling pakeha—a runaway from a
ship for instance,—who had nothing, and was never
likely to have anything, a vagrant straggler passing
from place to place,—was not of much account even
in those times. T'wo men of this description (run-
away sailors) were hospitably entertained one night
by a chief, a very particular friend of mine, who, to
pay himself for his trouble and outlay, eat one of
them next morning. Remember, my good reader,
I don’t deal in fiction; my friend eat the pakeha
sure enough, and killed him before he eat him, which
was civil, for it was not always done. But then,
certainly, the pakeha was a tutua, a nobody, a fellow
not worth a spike nail; no one knew him; he had
no relations, no goods, no expectations, no anything:

18 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

beaver hat! Carry! He would lie down and make
a bridge of his body, with pleasure, for him. Has
he not half a shipful of taonga ?

Well, having stepped in as dignified a manner as
I knew how, from thwart to thwart, till I came to
the bow of the boat, and having tightened on my hat
and buttoned up my coat, I fairly mounted on the
broad shoulders of my aboriginal friend. I felt at
the time that the thing was a sort of failure—a come
down; the position was not graceful, or in any way
likely to suggest ideas of respect or awe, with my
legs projecting a yard or so from under each arm of
my bearer, holding on to his shoulders in the most
painful, cramped, and awkward manner. To be
sacked on shore thus, and delivered like a bag of
goods thus, into the hands of the assembled multi-
tude, did not strike me as a good first appearance on
this stage. But little, indeed, can we tell in this
world what one second may produce. Gentle reader,
fair reader, patient reader! The fates have decreed
it; the fiat has gone forth; on that man’s back I shall
never land in New Zealand. Manifold are the doubts
and fears which have yet to shake and agitate the
hearts and minds of all my friends as to whether I
shall ever land at all, or ever again feel terra jirma
touch my longing foot. My bearer made one step;
the rock is slippery; backwards he goes; back, back!
The steep is near—is passed! down, down, we go!
backwards and headlong to the depths below!

The ebb tide is running like a sluice; in an instant
we are forty yards off, and a fathom below the sur-

OLD NEW ZHALAND. 19

face; ten more fathoms are beneath us. The heels
of my boots, my polished boots, point to the upper
air—ay, point; but when, oh, when again, shall I
salute thee, gentle air; when again, unchoked by the
saline flood, cry Vent aura? When, indeed! for now
I am wrong end uppermost, drifting away with the
tide, and ballasted with heavy pistols, boots, tight
clothes, and all the straps and strings of civilization.
Oh, heavens! and oh earth! and oh ye little thieves
of fishes who manage to live in the waters under
the earth (a miserable sort of life you must have of
it!) oh Maori sea nymphs! who, with yellow hair—
yellow? egad—that’s odd enough, to say the least
of it; however the Maori should come to give their
sea nymphs or spirits yellow hair is curious. The
Maori know nothing about yellow hair; their hair is
black. About one in a hundred of them have a sort
of dirty-brown hair; but even if there should be now
and then a native with yellow hair, how is it that
they have come to give this colour to the sea-sprites
in particular?—who also “dance on the sands, and
yet no footstep seen.” Now I confess I am rather
puzzled and struck by the coincidence. I don’t
believe Shakespeare ever was in New Zealand; Jason
might, being a seafaring-man, and if he should have
called in for wood and water, and happened to have
the golden fleece by any accident on board, and by
any chance put it on for a wig, why the thing would
be accounted for at once. The world is mad now-a-
days about gold, so no one cares a fig about what is
called “ golden hair;” nuggets and dust have the

18 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

beaver hat! Carry! He would lie down and make
a bridge of his body, with pleasure, for him. Has
he not half a shipful of taonga ?

Well, having stepped in as dignified a manner as
I knew how, from thwart to thwart, till I came to
the bow of the boat, and having tightened on my hat
and buttoned up my coat, I fairly mounted on the
broad shoulders of my aboriginal friend. I felt at
the time that the thing was a sort of failure—a come
down; the position was not graceful, or in any way
likely to suggest ideas of respect or awe, with my
legs projecting a yard or so from under each arm of
my bearer, holding on to his shoulders in the most
painful, cramped, and awkward manner. To be
sacked on shore thus, and delivered like a bag of
goods thus, into the hands of the assembled multi-
tude, did not strike me as a good first appearance on
this stage. But little, indeed, can we tell in this
world what one second may produce. Gentle reader,
fair reader, patient reader! The fates have decreed
it; the fiat has gone forth; on that man’s back I shall
never land in New Zealand. Manifold are the doubts
and fears which have yet to shake and agitate the
hearts and minds of all my friends as to whether I

shall ever land at all, or ever again feel terra jirmd —

touch my longing foot. My bearer made one step;
the rock is slippery; backwards he goes; back, back!
The steep is near—is passed! down, down, we go!
backwards and headlong to the depths below!

The ebb tide is running like a sluice; in an instant
we are forty yards off, and a fathom below the sur-

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 19

face; ten more fathoms are beneath us. The heels
of my boots, my polished boots, point to the upper
air—ay, point; but when, oh, when again, shall I
salute thee, gentle air; when again, unchoked by the
saline flood, cry Vent aura? When, indeed! for now
I am wrong end uppermost, drifting away with the
tide, and ballasted with heavy pistols, boots, tight
clothes, and all the straps and strings of civilization.
Oh, heavens! and oh earth! and oh ye little thieves
of fishes who manage to live in the waters under
the earth (a miserable sort of life you must have of
it!) oh Maori sea nymphs! who, with yellow hair—
yellow? egad—that’s odd enough, to say the least
of it; however the Maori should come to give their
sea nymphs or spirits yellow hair is curious. The
Maori know nothing about yellow hair; their hair is
black. About one in a hundred of them have a sort
of dirty-brown hair; but even if there should be now
and then a native with yellow hair, how is it that
they have come to give this colour to the sea-sprites
in particular?—who also ‘dance on the sands, and
yet no footstep seen.” Now I confess I am rather
puzzled and struck by the coincidence. I don’t
believe Shakespeare ever was in New Zealand; Jason
might, being a seafaring-man, and if he should have
called in for wood and water, and happened to have
the golden fleece by any accident on board, and by
any chance put it on for a wig, why the thing would
be accounted for at once. The world is mad now-a-
days about gold, so no one cares a fig about what is
called “ golden hair;” nuggets and dust have the

20 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

preference; but this is a grand mistake. Gold is no
use, or very little, except in so far as this—that
through the foolishness of human beings, one can
purchase the necessaries and conveniences of life
with it. Now, this being the case, if I have a chest
full of gold (which I have not), I am no richer for it
in fact until I have given it away in exchange for
necessaries, comforts, and luxuries, which are, pro-
perly speaking, riches or wealth; but it follows from
this, that he who has given me this same riches or
wealth for my gold, has become poor, and his only
chance to set himself up again is to get rid of the
gold as fast as he can, in exchange for the same sort
and quantity of things, if he can get them, which is
always doubtful. But here lies the gist of the mat-
ter—how did I, in the first instance, become pos-
sessed of my gold? If I bought it, and gave real
wealth for it, beef, mutton, silk, tea, sugar, tobacco,
ostrich feathers, leather breeches, and crinoline,—
why, then, all I have done in parting with my gold,
is merely to get them back again, and I am, con-
sequently, no richer by the transaction; but if I steal
my gold, then I am a clear gainer of the whole lot of
valuables above mentioned. So, uponthe whole, I don’t
see much use in getting gold honestly, and one must
not steal it: digging it certainly is almost as good as
stealing, if it is not too deep, which fully accounts
for so many employing themselves in this way; but
then the same amount of labour would raise no end
of wheat and potatoes, beef and mutton: and all
farmers, mathematicians, and algebraists will agree

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 21

with me in this—that after any country is fully
cultivated, all the gold_in.the world won't force it
to grow one extra, turnip, Aad whatsmore can any
one desire? SaSiow WIBRARMIth, McCulloch, and
all the rest af thempmaey go anmpbe hajiged. The

whole upshot
b ponbly

and golden hair @xhi
the Colonial Treasurer,)is*this:—I would not give

one of your golden locks, my dear, for all the gold,
silver, pearls, diamonds, mere ponamus—stop, let me
think,—a good mere ponamu would be a temptation.
I had once a mere, a present from a Maori friend, the
most beautiful thing of the kind ever seen. It was
nearly as transparent as glass; in it there were beau-
tiful marks like fern leaves, trees, fishes, and—I
would not give much for a person who could not see
almost anything in it. Never shall I cease to regret
having parted with it. The Emperor of Brazil, I
think, has it now; but he does not know the proper
use of it. It went to the Minister many years ago.
I did not sell it. I would have scorned to do that;
but I did expect to be made knight of the golden
pig knife, or elephant and watch box, or something
of that nature: but here I am still, a mere pakeha
Maori, and, as I recollect, in desperate danger of
being drowned.

Up we came at last, blowing and puffing like
grampuses. With a glance I “recognised the situ-
ation :”—we had drifted a long way from the landing
place. My hat was dashing away before the land
breeze towards the sea and had already made a good

22 OLD NHW ZHALAND.

“offing.” Three of the boat’s-crew had jumped over-
board, had passed us a long distance, and were
seemingly bound after the hat; the fourth man
was pulling madly with one oar, and consequently
making great progress in no very particular direc-
tion. The whole tribe of natives had followed our
drift along the shore, shouting and gesticulating,
and some were launching a large canoe, evidently
bent on saving the hat, on which all eyes were
turned. As for the pakeha, it appears they must
have thought it an insult to his understanding to
suppose he could be drowned anywhere in sight
of land. ‘‘ Did he not come from the sea?’ Was
he not a fish? Was not the sea solid land to him?
Did not his fire burn on the ocean? Had he not
slept on the crests of the waves?” All this I heard
afterwards; but at the time had I not been as much
at home in the water as anything not amphibious
could be, I should have been very little better than
a gone pakeha. Here was a pretty wind up! I was
going to “astonish the natives,” was 1?—with my
black hat and my koti roa? But the villain is within
a yard of me—the rascally cause of all my grief.
The furies take possession of me! I dart upon him
like a hungry shark! I have him! I have him
under! Down, villain! down to the kraken and
the whale, to the Taniwha cave!—down! down!
down! As we sank I heard one grand roar of
wild laughter from the shore—the word utw I heard
roared by many voices, but did not then know its
import. The pakeha was drowning the Maori for

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 23

utu for himself, in case he should be drowned. No
matter, if the Maori can’t hold his own, it’s fair play;
and then, if the pakeha really does drown the Maori,
has he not lots of taonga to be robbed of ?—no, not
exactly to be robbed of, either; let us not use unne-
cessarily bad language—we will say to be distrained
upon. Crack! What do I hear? Down in the
deep I felt a shock, and actually heard a sudden
noise. Is it the “crack of doom?” No, it is my
frock-coat gone at one split “from clue to earing ”—
split down the back. Oh if my pistols would go off,
a fiery and watery death shouldst thou die, Caliban.
Egad! they have gone off—they are both gone to
the bottom! My boots are getting heavy! Humane
Society, ahoy! where is your boat-hook?—where is
your bellows? Humane Society, ahoy! We are
now drifting fast by a sandy point, after which
there will be no chance of landing—the tide will
take us right out to sea. My friend is very hard
to drown—must finish him some other time. We
both swim for the point, and land; and this is how
I got ashore on Maori land.

CHAPTER III.

A wrestling match.—Beef against melons.—The victor gains
a loss.—‘“ Our chief.” —His speech.—His status in the tribe.—
Death of ‘‘ Melons.”—Rumours of peace and war.—Getting the
Pa in fighting order.—My friend the “ relation eater.””—Expecta-
tion and preparation.—Arrival of doubtful friends.—Sham fight.
—The “taki.”—The war dance.—Another example of Maori
hospitality.—Crocodile’s tears.—Loose notions about heads.—
Tears of blood.—Brotherly love.—Capital felony.—Peace.

SOMETHING between a cheer, a scream,
and a roar, greet our arrival on the
. sand. An English voice salutes me
with ‘ Well, you served that fellow
out.” One half of my coat hangs from my right
elbow, the other from my left; a small shred of the
collar is still around my neck. My hai, alas! my
hat is gone. I am surrounded by a dense mob of
natives, laughing, shouting, and gesticulating in the
most grotesque manner. Three Englishmen are
also in the crowd—they seem greatly amused at
something, and offer repeated welcomes. At this
moment up comes my salt-water acquaintance, elbow-
ing his way through the crowd; there is a strange
serio-comic expression of anger in his face; he stoops,
makes horrid grimaces, quivering at the same time his

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 25

left hand and arm about in a most extraordinary
manner, and striking the thick part of his left arm
with the palm of his right hand. ‘“ Hu!” says he,
“hu! hu!” ‘What canhe mean?” saidI. “ He is
challenging you to wrestle,” cried one of the English-
men; “he wants wtu.” ‘What is utu?” said I.
“Payment.” “I won't pay him.” ‘Oh, that’s not
it, he wants to take it out of you wrestling.” ‘Oh,
I see; here’s at him; pull off my coat and boots;
I'll wrestle him; his foot is in his own country, and
his name is—what?” “Sir, his name in English
means ‘An eater of melons;’ he is a good wrestler ;
you must mind.” ‘ Water-melons, I suppose; beef
against melons for ever, hurrah! here’s at him.”
Here the natives began to run between us to separate
us, but seeing that I was in the humour to “ have it
out,” and that neither self or friend were actually out
of temper, and no doubt expecting to see the pakeha
floored, they stood to one side and made aring. A
wrestler soon recognises another, and my friend soon
gave me some hints that showed me I had some
work before me. I was a youngster in those days,
all bone and sinew, full of animal spirits, and as
tough as leather. A couple of desperate main
strength efforts soon convinced us both that science
or endurance must decide the contest. My antago-
nist was a strapping fellow of about five-and-twenty,
tremendously strong, and much heavier than me.
I, however, in those days actually could not be
fatigued; I did not know the sensation, and could
run from morning till night. I therefore trusted to

26 OLD NEW ZHALAND.

wearing him out, and avoiding his ta and wir. All
this time the mob were shouting encouragement to
one or other of us. Such a row never was seen. |
soon perceived I had a “party.” ‘Well done,
pakeha!” ‘Now for it, Melons!” “At him
again!” ‘Take care, the pakeha is a tanwwha; the
pakeha is a tino tangata!” ‘‘ Hooray!” (from the
British element). ‘The Pakeha is down!” “No
he isn’t!” (from English side). Here I saw my
friend’s knees beginning to tremble. I made a great
effort, administered my favourite remedy, and there
lay the “‘ Eater of melons” prone upon the sand. |
stood a victor; and like many other conquerors, a
very great loser. There I stood, minus hat, coat,
and pistols, wet and mauled, and transformed very
considerably for the worse since I left the ship.
When my antagonist fell, the natives gave a great
shout of triumph, and congratulated me in their own
way with the greatest goodwill. I could see I had
got their good opinion, though I scarcely could
understand how. After sitting on the sand some
time my friend arose, and with a very graceful
movement, and a smile of good nature on his dusky
countenance, he held out his hand and said in
English, ‘“‘ How do you do ?”

I was much pleased at this; the natives had given
me fair play, and my antagonist, though defeated
both by sea and land, offered me his hand, and wel-
comed me to the shore with his whole stock of
English—“ How do you do?”

But the row is not half over yet. Here comes the

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 27

chief in the ship’s boat. The other is miles off with
its one man crew still pulling no one knows, or at all
cares, where. Some one has been off in a canoe and
told the chief that ‘‘ Melons” and the ‘‘ New Pakeha”’
were fighting like mad on the beach. Here he comes,
flourishing his mere ponamu. He is a tall, stout fel-
low, in the prime of life, black with tattooing, and
splendidly dressed, according to the splendour of
those days. He has on avery good blue jacket, no
shirt or waistcoat, a pair of duck trousers, and a red
sash round his waist; no hat or shoes, these being as
yet things beyond a chief’s ambition. The jacket
was the only one in the tribe; and amongst the sur-
rounding company I saw only one other pair of
trousers, and it had a large hole at each knee, but
this was not considered to detract at all from its
value. The chief jumps ashore; he begins his ora-
tion, or rather to “blow up” all and sundry the
tribe in general, and poor ‘‘ Melons” in particular.
He is really vexed, and wishes to appear to me more
vexed than he really is. He runs, gesticulating and
flourishing his mere, about ten steps in one direction,
in the course of which ten steps he delivers a sen-
tence; he then turns and runs back the same distance,
giving vent to his wrath in another sentence, and so
back and forward, forward and back, till he has ex-
hausted the subject and tired his legs. The English-
men were beside me and gave a running translation
of what he said. ‘“ Pretty work this,’ he began,
* good work; killing my pakeha; look at him! (Here
a flourish in my direction with the mere.) I won’t

28 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

stand this; not at all! not at all! not at all! (The
last sentence took three jumps, a step, and a turn-
round, to keep correct time.) Who killed the
pakeha? It was Melons. You are a nice man, are
you not? (This witha sneer.) Killing my pakeha!
(In a voice like thunder, and rushing savagely, mere
in hand, at poor Melons, but turning exactly at the
end of the ten steps and coming back again.) It will
be heard of all over the country; we shall be called
the ‘ pakeha killers;’ I shall be sick with shame; the
pakeha will run away, and take all his taonga along
with him. What if you had killed him dead, or
broken his bones? his relations would be coming
across the sea for utw. (Great sensation, and I try
to look as though I would say ‘ of course they would.’)
What did I build this pa close to the sea for ?—was
it not to trade with the pakehas?—and here you are
killing the second that has come to stop with me.
(Here poor Melons burst out crying like an infant.)
Where is the hat?—-where the kot: roa 2?—where the
shoes?—(Boots were shoes in those days.) The
pakeha is robbed; he is murdered! (Here a howl
from Melons, and I go over and sit down by him,
clap him on the bare back, and shake his hand.)
Look at that—the pakeha does not bear malice; I
would kill you if he asked me; you are a bad
people, killers of pakehas; be off with you, the whole
of you, away!” This command was instantly obeyed
by all the women, boys, and slaves. Melons also,
being in disgrace, disappeared; but I observed that
‘‘ the whole of you” did not seem to be understood

OLD NEW ZEALAND. ao

as including the stout, able-bodied, tattooed part of
the population, the strength of the tribe—the warriors,
in fact, many of whom counted themselves to be very
much about as good as the chief. They were his
nearest relations, without whose support he could do
nothing, and were entirely beyond his control.

I found afterwards that it was only during actual
war that this chief was perfectly absolute, which
arose from the confidence the tribe had in him, both
as a general and a fighting man, and the obvious
necessity that in war implicit obedience be given to
one head. I have, however, observed in other tribes,
that in war they would elect a chief for the occasion,
a war chief, and have been surprised to see the
obedience they gave him, even when his conduct was
very open to criticism. I say with surprise, for the
natives are so self-possessed, opinionated, and repub-
lican, that the chiefs have at ordinary times but little
control over them, except in very rare cases, where
the chief happens to possess a singular vigour of
character, or some other unusual advantage, to enable
him to keep them under.

I will mention here that my first antagonist, ‘‘ The
Eater of Melons,’ became a great friend of mine.
He was my right-hand man and manager when I set
up house on my own account, and did me many
friendly services in the course of my acquaintance
with him. He came to an unfortunate end some
years later. The tribe were getting ready for a war
expedition; poor Melons was filling cartridges from a
fifty-pound barrel of gunpowder, pouring the gun-

30 OLD NHW ZEALAND.

powder into the cartridges with his hand, and smok-
ing his pipe at the time, as I have seen the natives
doing fifty times since. A spark fell into the cask,
and it is scarcely necessary to say that my poor
friend was roasted alive in a second. I have known
three other accidents of the same kind, from smoking
whilst fillmg cartridges. In one of these accidents
three lives were lost, and many injured; and I really
do believe that the certainty of death will not prevent
some of the natives from smoking for more than a
given time. I have often seen infants refuse the
mother’s breast, and cry for the pipe till it was given
them; and dying natives often ask for a pipe, and
die smoking. I can clearly perceive that the young
men of the present day are neither so tall, or stout,
or strong as men of the same age were when I first
came to the country; and I believe that this smoking
from their infancy is one of the chief causes of this
decrease in strength and stature.

I am landed at last, certainly; but I am tattered
and wet, and in a most deplorable plight: so to make
my story short, for I see, if | am too particular, I
shall never come to the end of it, I returned to the

ship, put myself to rights, and came on shore next

day with all my taonga, to the great delight of the
chief and tribe. My hospitable entertainer, Mr. ——,
found room for my possessions in his store, and a
room for myself in his house; and so now I am
fairly housed we shall see what will come of it.

I have now all New Zealand before me to caper
about in; so I shall do as I like, and please myself.

7 y
a a

OLD NEW ZLALAND. 31

I shall keep to neither rule, rhyme, or reason, but
just write what comes uppermost to my recollection
of the good old days. Many matters which seemed
odd enough to me at first, have long appeared such
mere matters of course, that I am likely to pass
them over without notice. I shall, however, give
some of the more striking features of those delec-
table days, now, alas! passed and gone. Some short
time after this, news came that a grand war expedi-
tion, which had been absent nearly two years at the
South, had returned. This party were about a
thousand strong, being composed of two parties of
about five hundred men each, from two different
tribes, who had joined their force for the purpose of
the expedition. The tribe with which Mr. —— and
myself were staying, had not sent any men on this
war party; but, I suppose to keep their hands in,
had attacked one of the two tribes who had, and who
were, consequently, much weakened by the absence
of so many of their best men. It, however, turned
out that after a battle—the ferocity of which has
seldom been equalled in any country but this—our
friends were defeated with a dreadful loss, having
inflicted almost as great on the enemy. Peace, how-
ever, had afterwards been formally made; but, never-
theless, the news of the return of this expedition was
not heard without causing a sensation almost amount-
ing to consternation. The war chief of the party
who had been attacked by our friends during his
absence, was now, with all his men, within an easy
day’s march. His road lay right through our vil-

32 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

lage, and it was much to be doubted that he would
keep the peace, being one of the most noted war
chiefs of New Zealand, and he and his men returning
from a successful expedition. All now was uproar
and confusion; messengers were running like mad,
in all directions, to call in stragglers; the women
were carrying fuel and provisions into the pa or for-
tress of the tribe. This pa was a very well built and
strong stockade, composed of three lines of strong
fence and ditch, very ingeniously and artificially
planned ; and, indeed, as good a defence as well could
be imagined against an enemy armed only with
musketry.

All the men were now working like furies, putting
this fort to rights, getting it into fighting order,
mending the fences, clearing out the ditches, knock-
ing down houses inside the place, clearing away
brushwood and fern all around the outside within
musket shot. J was in the thick of it, and worked
all day lashing the fence; the fence being of course
not nailed, but lashed with toro-toro, a kind of tough
creeping plant, like a small rope, which was very
strong and well adapted for the purpose. This lash-
ing was about ten or twelve feet from the ground,
and a stage had to be erected for the men to stand
on. To accomplish this lashing or fastening of the
fence well and with expedition required two men,
one inside the fence and another outside; all the men
therefore worked in pairs, passmg the end of the
toro-toro from one to the other through the fence of
large upright stakes and round a cross piece which

OLD NEW ZHALAND. 53

went all along the fence, by which means the whole
was connected into one strong wall. I worked away
like fury, just as if I had been born and bred a
member of the community; and moreover, not being
in those days very particularly famous for what is
called prudence, I intended also, circumstances per-
mitting, to fight like fury too, just for the fun of the
thing. About a hundred men were employed in this
part of the work new lashing the pa. My vis-d-vis
in the operation was a respectable old warrior of
great experience and approved valour, whose name
being turned into English meant “ The eater of his
own relations.” (Be careful not to read rations.)
This was quite a different sort of diet from “ melons,”
and he did not bear his name for nothing, as I could
tell you if I had time, but I am half mad with haste
lashing the pa. I will only say that my comrade
was a most bloodthirsty, ferocious, athletic savage,
and his character was depicted in every line of his
tattooed face. About twenty men had been sent out
to watch the approach of the dreaded visitors. The
repairing of the stockade went on all one day and all
one night by torchlight and by the light of huge
fires lit in the inside. No one thought of sleep.
Dogs barking, men shouting, children crying, women
screaming, pigs squealing, muskets firing (to see if
they were fit for active service and would go off),
and above all the doleful tetere sounding. This was
‘a huge wooden trumpet six feet long, which gave
forth a groaning moaning sound, like the voice of a
D

34: OLD NEW ZHALAND.
dying wild bull. Babel, with a dash of Pandemo-

nium, will give a faint idea of the uproar.

All preparations having been at last made, and no
further tidings of the enemy, as I may call them, I
took a complete survey of the fort, my friend the
‘‘ Relation Eater” being my companion and explain-
ing to me the design of the whole. I learned some-
thing that day; and I, though pretty well “up” in
the noble science of fortification, ancient and modern,
was obliged to confess to myself that a savage who
could neither read or write—who had never heard of
Cohorn or Vauban—and who was moreover avowedly
a gobbler up of his own relations, could teach me
certain practical ‘‘ dodges” in the defensive art quite
well worth knowing.

A long shed of palm leaves had been also built at
a safe and convenient distance from the fort. This
was for the accommodation of the expected visitors,
supposing they came in peaceful guise. A whole
herd of pigs were also collected and tied to stakes
driven into the ground in the rear of the fort. These
were intended to feast the coming guests, according
to their behaviour.

Towards evening a messenger from a neighbouring

friendly tribe arrived to say that next day, about
noon, the strangers might be expected; and also that
the peace which had been concluded with their tribe
during their absence, had been ratified and accepted
by them. This was satisfactory intelligence; but,
nevertheless, no precaution must be neglected. To
be thrown off guard would invite an attack, and

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 30

ensure destruction; everything must be in order;
gun cleaning, flint fixing, cartridge making, was going
on in all directions; and the outpost at the edge of
the forest was not called in. All was active prepara-
tion.

The path by which these doubtful friends were
coming led through a dense forest and came out on
the clear plain about half-a-mile from the pa, which
plain continued and extended in every direction
around the fortress to about the same distance, so
that none could approach unperceived. The outpost
of twenty men were stationed at about a couple of
hundred yards from the point where the path emerged
from the wood; and as the ground sloped consider-
ably from the forest to the fort, the whole interven-
ing space was clearly visible.

Another night of alarm and sleepless expectation,
the melancholy moan of the ¢etere still continuing to
hint to any lurking enemy that we were all wide
awake; or rather, I should say, to assure him most
positively of it, for who could sleep with that diabo-
lical din in his ears? Morning came and an early
breakfast was cooked and devoured hurriedly. Then
groups of the younger men might be seen here and
there fully armed, and “getting up steam” by
dancing the war dance, in anticipation of the grand
dance of the whole warrior force of the tribe, which,
as a matter of course, must be performed in honour
of the visitors when they arrived. In honour, but
quite as much in intimidation, or an endeavour at it,
though no one said so. Noon arrived at last.

36 OLD NEW ZHALAND.

Anxious glances are turning from all quarters to-
wards the wood, from which a path is plainly seen
winding down the sloping ground towards the pa.
The outpost is on the alert. Straggling scouts are
out in every direction. All is expectation. Now
there is a movement at the outpost. They suddenly
spread in an open line, ten yards between each man.
One man comes at full speed running towards the
pa, jumping and bounding over every impediment.
Now something moves in the border of the forest,—
it is a mass of black heads. Now the men are plainly
visible. The whole tawa has emerged upon the plain.
‘‘ Here they come! here they come!” is heard in all
directions. The men of the outpost cross the line of
march in pretended resistance; they present their
guns, make horrid grimaces, dance about like mad
baboons, and then fall back with headlong speed to
the next advantageous position for making a stand.
The taua, however, comes on steadily; they are
formed in a solid oblong mass. ‘The chief at the
left of the column leads them on. The men are all
equipped for immediate action, that is to say, quite
naked except their arms and cartridge boxes, which

are a warrior’s clothes. No one can possibly tell —

what this peaceful meeting may end in, so all are
ready for action at a second’s notice. The ¢aua still
comes steadily on. AsI have said, the men are all
stripped for action, but I also notice that the appear-
ance of nakedness is completely taken away by the
tattooing, the colour of the skin, and the arms and
equipments. The men in fact look much better than

,
)
4

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 37

when dressed in their Maori clothing. Every man,
almost without exception, is covered with tattooing
from the knees to the waist; the face is also covered
with dark spiral lines. Each man has round his
middle a belt, to which is fastened two cartridge
boxes, one behind and one before; another belt goes
over the right shoulder and under the left arm, and
from it hangs, on the left side and rather behind,
another cartridge box, and under the waist-belt is
thrust, behind, at the small of the back, the short-
handled tomahawk for close fight and to finish the
wounded. Each cartridge box contains eighteen
rounds, and every man has a musket. Altogether
this tava is better and more uniformly armed and
equipped than ordinary; but they have been amongst
the first who got pakehas to trade with them, and
are indeed in consequence the terror of New Zealand.
On they come, a set of tall, athletic, heavyy-made men;
they would, I am sure, in the aggregate weigh some
tons heavier than the same number of men taken at
random from the streets of one of our manufacturing
towns. They are now half way across the plain;
they keep their formation, a solid oblong, admirably
as they advance, but they do not keep step; this
causes a very singular appearance at a distance. In-
stead of the regular marching step of civilized soldiers,
which may be observed at any distance, this mass
seems to progress towards you with the creeping
motion of some great reptile at a distance, and when
coming down a sloping ground this effect is quite
remarkable.

38 OLD NEW ZHALAND.

The mimic opposition is now discontinued; the
outpost rushes in at full speed, the men firing their
guns in the air as theyrun. Takini! takini! is the
cry, and out spring three young men, the best run-
ners of our tribe, to perform the ceremony of the
taki. They hold in their hands some reeds to repre-
sent darts or kokiri. At this moment a tremendous
fire of ball cartridge opens from the fort; the balls
whistle in every direction, over and around the
advancing party, who steadily and gravely come on,
not seeming to know that a gun has been fired,
though they perfectly well understand that this
salute is also a hint of full preparation for any unex-
pected turn things may take. Now, from the whole
female population arises the shrill “ haere mai! haere
mai!’ Mats are waving, guns firing, dogs barking;
the chief roaring to “ fall in,” and form for the war
dance. He appears half mad with excitement,
anxiety, and something very like apprehension of a
sudden onslaught from his friends. In the midst of
this horrible uproar off dart three runners. They
are not unexpected. Three young men of the taua
are seen to tighten their waist-belts, and hand their
muskets to their comrades. On go the three young

men from the fort. They approach the front of the —

advancing column; they dance and caper about like
mad monkeys, twisting their faces about in the most
extraordinary manner, showing the whites of their
eyes, and lolling out their tongues. At last, after
several feints, they boldly advance within twenty
yards of the supposed enemy, and send the reed

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 39

darts flying full in their faces: then they turn and
fly as if for life. Instantly, from the stranger ranks,
three young men dart forth in eager pursuit; and
behind them comes the solid column, rushing on at
full speed. Run now, O “ Sounding Sea,” (Taz
Haruru) for the ‘‘ Black Cloud,” (Kapua Mangw) the
swiftest of the Rarawa, is at your back; run now,
for the honour of your tribe and your own name,
run! run! It was an exciting scene. The two
famous runners came on at a tremendous pace, the
dark mass of armed men following close behind at
full speed, keeping their formation admirably, the
ground shaking under them as they rushed on. On
come the two runners (the others are left behind and
disregarded). The pursuer gains upon his man; but
they are fast nearing the goal, where, according to
Maori custom, the chase must end. Run, “ Sound-
ing Sea;” another effort! your tribe are near in full
array, and armed for the war dance; their friendly
ranks are your refuge; run! run! On came the
headlong race. When within about thirty yards of
the place where our tribe was now formed in a solid
oblong, each man kneeling on one knee, with musket
held in both hands, butt to ground, and somewhat
sloped to the front, the pursuing native caught at the
shoulder of our man, touched it, but could do no
more. Here he must stop; to go farther would not
be “correct.” He will, however, boast everywhere
that he has touched the shoulder of the famous
“‘ Sounding Sea.” Our man has not, however, been
caught, which would have been a bad omen. At

40 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

this moment the charging column comes thundering
up to where their man is standing; instantly they all
kneel upon one knee, holding their guns sloped be-
fore their faces, in the manner already described.
The élite of the two tribes are now opposite to each
other, all armed, all kneeling, and formed in two
solid oblong masses, the narrow end of the oblong to
the front. Only thirty yards divide them; the front
ranks do not gaze on each other; both parties turn
their eyes towards the ground, and with heads bent
downwards, and a little to one side, appear to listen.
All is silence; you might have heard a pin drop.
The uproar has turned to a calm; the men are
kneeling statues; the chiefs have disappeared; they
are in the centre of their tribes. The pakeha is be-
ginning to wonder what will be the end of all this;
and also to speculate on the eflicacy of the buck shot
with which his gun is loaded, and wishes it was ball.
Two minutes have elapsed in this solemn silence,
the more remarkable as being the first quiet two
minutes for the last two days and nights. Suddenly
from the extreme rear of the strangers’ column is
heard a scream—a horrid yell. A savage, of her-
culean stature, comes, mere in hand, and rushing
madly to the front. He seems hunted by all the
furies. Bedlam never produced so horrid a visage.
Thrice, as he advances, he gives that horrid cry;
and thrice the armed tribe give answer with a long-
drawn gasping sigh. He is at the front; he jumps
into the air, shaking his stone weapon; the whites
only of his eyes are visible, giving a most hideous

OLD NEW ZEALAND. — A}

appearance to his face; he shouts the first words of
the war song, and instantly his tribe spring from the
ground. It would be hard to describe the scene
which followed. The roaring chorus of the war
song; the horrid grimaces; the eyes all white; the
tongues hanging out; the furious yet measured and
uniform gesticulation, jumping, and stamping. I felt
the ground plainly trembling. At last the war
dance ended; and then my tribe, (I find I am already
beginning to get Maorifed,) starting from the ground
like a single man, endeavoured to outdo even their
amiable friends’ exhibition. They end; then the
new-eomers perform another demon dance; then my
tribe give another. Silence again prevails, and all
sit down. Immediately a man from the new arrivals
comes to the front of his own party; he runs to and
fro; he speaks for his tribe; these are his words :—
‘Peace is made! peace is made! peace is firm!
peace is secure! peace! peace! peace!” This man
is not a person of any particular consequence in his
tribe, but his brother was killed by our people in the
battle I have mentioned, and this gives him the right
to be the first to proclaim peace. His speech is
ended and he “‘ falls in.” Some three or four others
‘* follow on the same side.” ‘Their speeches are short
also, and nearly verbatim what the first was. Then
who of all the world starts forth from ‘ ours,” to
speak on the side of “law and order,” but my
diabolical old acquaintance the “ Relation Eater.” I
had by this time picked up a little Maori, and could
partly understand his speech. ‘‘ Welcome! welcome!

42 OLD NEW ZHALAND.

welcome! peace is made! not till now has there been
true peace! I have seen you, and peace is made!”
Here he broke out into a song, the chorus of which
was taken up by hundreds of voices, and when it
ended he made a sudden and very expressive gesture
of scattering something with his hands, which was a
signal to all present that the ceremonial was at an
end for the time. Our tribe at once disappeared into
the pa, and at the same instant the strangers broke
into a scattered mob, and made for the long shed
which had been prepared for their reception, which
was quite large enough, and the floor covered thickly
with clean rushes to sleep on. About fifty or sixty
then started for the border of the forest to bring their
clothes and baggage, which had been left there as
incumbrances to the movements of the performers in
the ceremonials [ have described. Part, however, of
the “ampedimenta” had already arrived on the backs
of about thirty boys, women, and old slaves; and I
noticed amongst other things some casks of cartridges,
which were, as I thought, rather ostentatiously
exposed to view.

I soon found the reason my friend of saturnine
propensities had closed proceedings so abruptly was,
that the tribe had many pressing duties of hospitality |
to fulfil, and that the heavy talking was to commence
next day. I noticed also that to this time there had
been no meeting of the chiefs, and, moreover, that
the two parties had kept strictly separate—the near-
est they had been to each other was thirty yards
when the war dancing was going on, and they seemed

OLD NEW ZHALAND. 43

quite glad, when the short speeches were over, to
move off to a greater distance from each other.

Soon after the dispersion of the two parties, a
firing of muskets was heard in and at the rear of the
fort, accompanied by the squeaking, squealing, and
dying groans of a whole herd of pigs. Directly
afterwards a mob of fellows were seen staggering
under the weight of the dead pigs, and proceeding to
the long shed already mentioned, in front of which
they were flung down, sans-ceremonie, and without a
word spoken. I counted sixty-nine large fat pigs
flung in one heap, one on the top of the other, before
that part of the shed where the principal chief was
sitting; twelve were thrown before the interesting
savage who had “started” the war dance; and
several single porkers were thrown without any
remark before certain others of the guests. The
parties, however, to whom this compliment was paid
sat quietly saying nothing, and hardly appearing to
see what was done. Behind the pigs was placed, by
the active exertion of two or three hundred people, a
heap of potatoes and kumera, in quantity about ten
tons, so there was no want of the raw material for a
feast.

The pigs and potatoes having been deposited, a
train of women appeared—the whole, indeed, of the
young and middle-aged women of the tribe. They
advanced with a half-dancing half-hopping sort of
step, to the time of a wild but not unmusical chant,
each woman holding high in both hands a smoking
dish of some kind or other of Maori delicacy, hot

4A ODD NEW ZHALAND.

from the oven. The groundwork of this feast ap-
peared to be sweet potatoes and taro, but on the top
of each smoking mess was placed either dried shark,
eels, mullet, or pork, all “ piping hot.” This treat
was intended to stay our guests’ stomachs till they
could find time to cook for themselves. The women
having placed the dishes, or to speak more correctly,
baskets, on the ground before the shed, disappeared ;
and in a miraculously short time the feast disappeared
also, as was proved by seeing the baskets flung in
twos, threes, and tens, empty out of the shed.

Next day, pretty early in the morning, I saw our
chief (as I must call him for distinction) with a few
of the principal men of the tribe, dressed in their best
Maori costume, taking their way towards the shed of
the visitors. When they got pretty near, a cry of
haere mai! hailed them. They went on gravely, and
observing where the principal chief was scated, our
chief advanced towards him, fell upon his neck em-
bracing him in the most affectionate manner, com-
menced a tang?, or melancholy sort of ditty, which
‘lasted a full half hour, and during which, both parties,
as in duty bound and in compliance with custom,
shed floods of tears. How they managed to do it is

more than I can tell to this day, except that I suppose

you may train a man to do anything. Right well
do I know that either party would have almost given
his life for a chance to exterminate the other with all
his tribe ; and twenty-seven years afterwards I saw
the two tribes fighting in the very quarrel which was
pretended to have been made up that day. Before

*.

OLD NEW ZHALAND. 45

this, however, both these chiefs were dead, and others
reigned in their stead. While the tang? was going
on between the two principals, the companions of our
chief each selected one of the visitors, and rushing
into his arms, went through a similar scene. Old
‘Relation Eater” singled out the horrific savage
who had began the war dance, and these two tender-
hearted individuals did, for a full half hour, seated on
the ground, hanging on each other’s necks, give vent
to such a chorus of skilfully modulated howling as
would have given Momus the blue devils to listen to.

After the tangz was ended, the two tribes seated
themselves in a large irregular circle on the plain,
and into this circle strode an orator, who, having said
his say, was followed by another, and so the greater
part of the day was consumed. No arms were to be
seen in the hands of either party, except the green-
stone mere of the principal chiefs; but I took notice
that about thirty of our people never left the nearest
gate of the pa, and that their loaded muskets, although
out of sight, were close at hand, standing against the
fence inside the gate, and I also perceived that under
their cloaks or mats they wore their cartridge boxes
and tomahawks. This caused me to observe the
other party more closely. They also, I perceived,
had some forty men sleeping in the shed; these
fellows had not removed their cartridge boxes either,
and all their companions’ arms were carefully ranged
behind them in a row, six or seven deep, against the
back wall of the shed.

The speeches of the orators were not very interest-

4.6 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

ing, so I took a stroll to a little rising ground at
about a hundred yards distance, where a company of
natives, better dressed than common, were seated.
They had the best sort of ornamented cloaks, and
had feathers in their heads, which I already knew
“commoners” could not afford to wear, as they were
only to be procured some hundreds of miles to the
south. I therefore concluded these were magnates
or ‘“‘personages”’ of some kind or other, and deter-
mined to introduce myself. As I approached, one of
these splendid individuals nodded to me in a very
familiar sort of manner, and I, not to appear rude,
returned the salute. I stepped into the circle formed
by my new friends, and had just commenced a tena
koutou, when a breeze of wind came sighing along
the hill-top. My friend nodded again,—his cloak
blew to one side. What do I see ?—or rather what
doI not see? The head has no body under it! The
heads had all been stuck on slender rods, a cross
stick tied on to represent the shoulders, and the
cloaks thrown over all in such a natural manner as
to deceive anyone at a short distance, but a green
pakeha, who was not expecting any such matter, toa
certainty. I fell back a yard or two, so as to take a
full view of this silent circle. I began to feel as if at
last I had fallen into strange company. I began to
look more closely at my companions, and to try to
fancy what their characters in life had been. One
had undoubtedly been a warrior; there was some-
thing bold and defiant about the whole air of the
head. Another was the head of a very old man,

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 47

grey, shrivelled, and wrinkled. I was going on with
my observations when I was saluted by a voice from
behind with, “‘ Looking at the eds, sir?” It was one
of the pakehas formerly mentioned. “ Yes,” said I,
turning round just the least possible thing quicker
thanordinary. ‘‘ Eds has been a getting scarce,” says
he. “I should think so,” says I. ‘ We an’t ad a
ed this long time,” says he. “The devil!” says I.
‘One o’ them eds has been hurt bad,” says he. “I
should think all were, rather so,” says I. ‘Oh no,
only one on ’em,” says he, “the skull is split, and it
won't fetch nothin,” says he. ‘Oh, murder! I see,
now,” says I. “Eds was werry scarce,” says he,
shaking hisown “ed.” “Ah!” said I. ‘‘ They had
to tattoo a slave a bit ago,” says he, ‘“ and the villain
ran away, tattooin’ and all!” says he. ‘ What?”
said I. ‘ Bolted afore he was fit to kill,” says he.
‘‘ Stole off with his own head?” saysI. “ That’s just
it,” says he. “ Capital felony!” saysI. ‘“ You may
say that, sir,’ says he. ‘Good morning,” said I. I
walked away pretty smartly. ‘‘ Loose notions about
heads in this country,” said I to myself; and involun-
tarily putting up my hand to my own, I thought
somehow the bump of combativeness felt smaller, or
indeed had vanished altogether. ‘It’s all very
funny,” said I.

I walked down into the plain. I saw in one place
a crowd of women, boys, and others. There was a
great noise of lamentation going on. I went up to
the crowd, and there beheld, lying on a clean mat,
which was spread on the ground, another head. A

48 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

number of women were standing in a row before it,
screaming, wailing, and quivering their hands about
ina most extraordinary manner, and cutting them-
selves dreadfully with sharp flints and shells. One
old woman, in the centre of the group, was one clot
of blood from head to feet, and large clots of
coagulated blood lay on the ground where she stood.
The sight was absolutely horrible, I thought at the
time. She was singing or howling a dirge-like wail.
In her right hand she held a piece of tuhua, or
volcanic glass, as sharp as a razor: this she placed
deliberately to her left wrist, drawing it slowly up-
wards to her left shoulder, the spouting blood follow-
ing as it went; then from the left shoulder down-
wards, across the breast to the short ribs on the
right side; then the rude but keen knife was shifted
from the right hand to the left, placed to the right
wrist, drawn upwards to the right shoulder, and so
down across the breast to the left side, thus making
a bloody cross on the breast; and so the operation
went on all the time I was there, the old creature all
the time howling in time and measure, and keeping
time also with the knife, which at every cut was
shifted from one hand to the other, as I have
described. She had scored her forehead and cheeks
before I came; her face and body was a mere clot of
blood, and a little stream was dropping from every
finger—a more hideous object could scarcely be con-
ceived. I took notice that the younger women,
though they screamed as loud, did not cut near so
deep as the old woman, especially about the face.

|
)

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 49

This custom has been falling gradually out of use;
and when practised now, in these degenerate times,
the cutting and maiming is mere form, mere scratch-
ing to draw enough blood to swear by: but, in ‘‘ the
good old times,” the thing used to be done properly.
I often, of late years, have felt quite indignant to see
some degenerate hussy making believe with a piece
of flint in her hand, but who had no notion of cutting
herself up properly as she ought to do. It shows a
want of natural affection in the present generation, I
think; they refuse to shed tears of blood for their
friends as their mothers used to do.

This head, I found on enquiry, was not the head of
an enemy. A small party of our friends had been
surprised; two brothers were flying for their lives
down a hill-side; a shot broke the leg of one of
them and he fell; the enemy were close at hand;
already the exulting cry “na! na! mate rawa!” was.
heard; the wounded man cried to the brother, ‘‘ Do
not leave my head a plaything for the foe.” There
was no time for deliberation. The brother did not
deliberate; a few slashes with the tomahawk saved
his brother’s head, and he escaped with it in his
hand, dried it, and brought it home; and the old
woman was the mother,—the young ones were
cousins. There was no sister, as I heard, when I
enquired. All the heads on the hill were heads of
enemies, and several of them are now in museums in
Europe.

With reference to the knowing remarks of the
pakeha who accosted me on the hill on the state of

E

50 OLD NEW ZHALAND.

the head market, I am bound to remark that my
friend Mr. —— never speculated in this “ article;”
but the skippers of many of the colonial trading
schooners were always ready to deal with a man who
had “ a real good head,” and used to commission such
men as my companion of the morning to “ pick up
heads” for them. It is a positive fact that some time
after this the head of a live man was sold and paid
for beforehand, and afterwards honestly delivered
‘as per agreement.”

The scoundrel slave who had the conscience to
run away with his own head after the trouble and
expense had been gone to to tattoo it to make it more
valuable, is no fiction either. Even in “the good old
times” people would sometimes be found to behave
in the most dishonest manner. But there are good
and bad to be found in all times and places.

Now if there is one thing I hate more than
another it is the raw-head-and-bloody-bones style of
writing, and in these random reminiscences I shall
avoid all particular mention of battles, massacres, and
onslaughts, except there be something particularly
characteristic of my friend the Maori in them. As
_ for mere hacking and hewing, there has been enough
of that to be had in Europe, Asia, and America of
late, and very well described too, by numerous “ our
correspondents.” If I should have to fight a single
combat or two, just to please the ladies, I shall do
my best not to get killed, and hereby promise not to
kill any one myself if I possibly can help it. I, how-
ever, hope to be excused for the last two or three

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 51

pages, as it was necessary to point out that in the
good old times, if one’s own head was not sufficient,
it was quite practicable to get another.

I must, however, get rid of our visitors. Next
day, at daylight, they disappeared: canoes from
their own tribe had come to meet them (the old
woman with the flint had arrived in these canoes),
and they departed sans-ceremonie, taking with them
all that was left of the pigs and potatoes which had
been given them, and also the ‘fine lot of eds.”
Their departure was felt as a great relief, and though
it was satisfactory to know peace was made, it was
even more so to be well rid of the peacemakers.

Hail, lovely peace, daughter of heaven! meek-eyed
inventor of Armstrong guns and Enfield rifles; you
of the liquid fire-shell, hail! Shooter at ‘ bulls’-
eyes,” trainer of battalions, killer of wooden French-
men, hail! (A bit of fine writing does one good.)
Nestling under thy wing, I will scrape sharp the
point of my spear with a pzpz shell; I will carry
fern-root into my pa; I will cure those heads which
I have killed in war, or they will spoil and ‘‘ won’t
fetch nothin:” for these are thy arts, O peace!

CHAPTER LV.

A little affair of “flotsam and jetsam.’’—Rebellion crushed in
the bud.—A Pakeha’s house sacked.— Maori law.—A Maori
lawsuit.— Affair thrown into Chancery.

's 2 NO) AKEHAS, though precious in the good

old times, would sometimes get into
awkward scrapes. Accidents, I have
245@3| observed, will happen at the best of
times. Some time after the matters I have been
recounting happened, two of the pakehas who were
“knocking about” Mr. ——’s premises, went fishing.
One of them was a very respectable old man-of-war’s
man; the other was the connoisseur of heads, who, I
may as well mention, was thought to be one of that
class who never could remember to a nicety how
they had come into the country, or where they came
from. It so happened that on their return, the little
boat, not being well fastened, went adrift in the
night, and was cast on shore at about four miles
distance, in the dominions of a petty chief who was a
sort of vassal or retainer of ours. He did not
belong to the tribe, and lived on the land by the

OLD NEW ZHALAND. 53

permission of our chief as a sort of tenant at will.
Of late an ill-feeling had grown up between him and
the principal chief. The vassal had in fact begun to
show some airs of independence, and had collected
more men about him than our chief cared to see; but
up to this time there had been no regular outbreak
between them, possibly because the vassal had not
yet sufficient force to declare independence formally.
Our chief was however watching for an excuse to
fall out with him before he should grow too strong.
As soon as it was heard where the boat was, the two
men went for it as a matter of course, little thinking
that this encroaching vassal would have the insolence
to claim the right of ‘‘ flotsam and jetsam,” which
belonged to the principal chief, and which was
always waived in favour of his pakehas. On arrival,
however, at this rebellious chief’s dominions, they
were informed that it was his intention to stick to
the boat until he was paid a “stocking of gun-
powder”—meaning a quantity as much as a stocking
would hold, which was the regular standard measure
in those days in that locality. A stocking of gun-
powder! who ever heard of such an awful imposi-
tion? The demand was enormous in value and
rebellious in principle. The thing must be put an
end to at once. The principal chief did not hesi-
tate: rebellion must be crushed in the bud. He at
once mustered his whole force (he did not approve of
“little wars,”) and sent them off under the command
of the Relation Eater, who served an ejectment in
regular Maori form, by first plundering the village

54 OLD NEW ZHALAND.

and then burning it to ashes; also destroying the
cultivation and provisions, and forcing the vassal to
decamp with all his people on pain of instant mas-
sacre—a thing they did not lose a moment in doing,
and I don’t think they either eat or slept till they
had got fifty miles off, where a tribe related to them
received them and gave them a welcome.

Well, about three months after this, about day-
light in the morning, I was aroused by a great
uproar of men shouting, doors smashing, and women
screaming. Up I jumped, and pulled on a few
clothes in less time, I am sure, than ever I had done

before in my life; out I ran, and at once perceived
that Mr. ——’s premises were being sacked by the
rebellious vassal, who had returned with about fifty
men, and was taking this means of revenging himself
for the rough handling he had received from our
chief. Men were rushing in mad haste through the
smashed windows and doors, loaded with anything and
everything they could lay hands on. The chief was
stamping against the door of a room in which he was
aware the most valuable goods were kept, and shout-
ing for help to break it open. A large canoe was
floating close to the house, and was being rapidly
filled with plunder. I saw a fat old Maori woman,
who was washerwoman to the establishment, being
dragged along the ground by a huge fellow, who was
trying to tear from her grasp one of my shirts, to
which she clung with perfect desperation. I per-
ceived at a glance that the faithful old creature would
probably save a sleeve. A long line of similar articles,

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 55

my property, which had graced the tazepa fence the
night before, had disappeared. The old man-of-war’s
man had placed his back exactly opposite to that part
of the said fence where hung a certain striped cotton
shirt and well scrubbed canvas trowsers, which could
belong to no one but himself. He was “hitting out”
lustily right and left. Mr. had been absent some
days on a journey, and the head merchant, as we found
after all was over, was hiding under a bed. When
the old sailor saw me, he “sang out,” in a voice clear
as a bell, and calculated to be distinctly heard above
the din :—‘ Hit out, sir, if you please; let’s make a
fight of it the best we can; our mob will be here in
five minutes; Tahuna has run to fetch them.” While
he thus gave both advice and information, he also set
a good example, having delivered just one thump per
word or thereabouts. The odds were terrible, but
the time was short that I was required to fight; so I
at once floored a native who was rushing by me. He
fell like a man shot, and I then perceived he was one
of our own people who had been employed about the
place ; so, to balance things, I knocked down another,
and then felt myself seized round the waist from be-
hind, by a fellow who seemed to be about as strong
asa horse. At this moment I cast an anxious glance
around the field of battle. The old Maori woman
had, as I expected, saved a good half of my shirt; she
had got on the top of an outhouse, and was waving
it in a “Sister Anne” sort of manner, and calling to
an imaginary friendly host, which she pretended to
see advancing to the rescue. The old sailor had

56 OLD NHW ZHALAND.

fallen under, but not surrendered to, superior force.
Three natives had got him down; but it took all they
could do to keep him down: he was evidently carry-
ing out his original idea of making a fight of it, and
gaining time ;—the striped shirt and canvas trowsers
still hung proudly on the fence. None of his assail-
ants could spare a second to pull them down. I was
kicking and flinging in the endeavour to extricate
myself ; or, at least to turn round, so as to carry out
a ‘‘face to face” policy, which it would be a grand
mistake to suppose was not understood long ago in
the good old times. I had nearly succeeded, and
was thinking what particular form of destruction I
should shower on the foe, when a tremendous shout
was heard. It was ‘‘our mob” coming to the rescue;
and, like heroes of old, ‘‘ sending their voice before
them.” In an instant both myself and the gallant
old tar were released; the enemy dashed on board
their canoe, and in another moment were off, darting
away before a gale of wind and a fair tide at a rate
that put half a mile at least between them and us
before our protectors came up. ‘‘ Load the gun!”
cried the sailor—(there was a nine-pound carronade
on the cliff before the house, overlooking the river).
A cartridge was soon found, and a shot, and the gun
loaded. ‘“Slue her a little,” cried my now com-
mander; “‘fetch a fire stick.” “Aye, aye, sir” (from
self). “Wait a little; that will do—Fire!”—(in a
voice as if ordering the discharge of the whole broad-
side of a three-decker). Bang! The elevation was
perfectly correct. The shot struck the water at

OLD NEW ZHALAND. 57

exactly the right distance, and only a few feet to one
side. A very few feet more to the right and the shot
would have entered the stern of the canoe, and, as
she was end on to us, would have killed half the
people in her. A miss, however, is as good as a mile
off. The canoe disappeared behind a point, and there
we were with an army of armed friends around us,
who, by making great expedition, had managed to
come exactly in time to be too late.

This was a tawa muru (a robbing expedition) in
revenge for the leader having been cleaned out by our
chief, which gave them the right to rob any one con-
nected with, related to, or under the protection of,
our chief aforesaid, provided always that they were
able. We, on the other hand, had the clear right to
kill any of the robbers, which would then have given
them the right to kill us; but until we killed some of
them, it would not have been “‘correct”’ for them to
have taken life, so they managed the thing neatly, so
that they should have no occasion to do so. The
whole proceeding was unobjectionable in every
respect, and tka (correct). Had we put in our nine-
pound shot at the stern of their canoe, it would have
been correct also, but as we were not able, we had no
right whatever to complain.

The above is good law, and here I may as well in-
form the New Zealand public that I am going to
write the whole law of this land in a book, which I
shall call “ Ko nga ture;” and as I intend it for the
good of both races, I shall mix the two languages up
in such a way that neither can understand; but this

58 OLD NEW ZHALAND.

does not matter, as I shall add a “ glossary,” in Cop-
tic, to make things clear.

Some time after this, a little incident happened at
my friend Mr. ——’s place worth noting. Our chief
had, for some time back, a sort of dispute with
another magnate, who lived about ten miles off. I
really cannot say who was in the right—the argu-
ments on both sides were so nearly balanced, that I
should not like to commit myself to a judgment in
the case. The question was at last brought to a fair
hearing at my friend’s house. The arguments on
both sides were very forcible, so much so that in the
course of the arbitration our chief and thirty of his
principal witnesses were shot dead in a heap before
my friend’s door, and sixty others badly wounded,
and my friend’s house and store blown up and burnt
to ashes. My friend was all but, or indeed, quite
ruined, but it would not have been ‘‘correct” for him
to complain—Ais loss in goods being far overbalanced
by the loss of the tribe in men. He was, however,
consoled by hundreds of friends who came in large
parties to condole and tangi with him, and who, as
was quite correct in such cases, shot and eat all his
stock, sheep, pigs, goats, ducks, geese, fowls, &c., all
in high compliment to himself, at which he felt proud, —
as a well conducted and conditioned pakeha Maori (as
he was) should do. He did not, however, survive
these honours long, poor fellow. He died, and
strange to say, no one knew exactly what was the
matter with him—some said it was the climate, they
thought.

OLD NEW ZHALAND. 59

After this the land about which this little mis-
understanding had arisen, was, so to speak, thrown
into chancery, where it has now remained about forty
years; but I hear that proceedings are to commence
de novo (no allusion to the “new system’’) next
summer, or at farthest the summer after; and as I
witnessed the first proceedings, when the case comes
on again ‘“‘ may I be there to see.”

CHAPTER V.

Every Englishman’s house is his castle.—My estate and
castle.—How I purchased my estate.—Native titles to land, of
what nature.—Value of land in New Zealand.—Land commis-
sioners.—The triumphs of eloquence.—Magna Charta.

VERY Englshman’s house is_ his

castle,” “‘I scorn the foreign yoke,”
? and glory in the name of Briton, and
all that. The natural end, however, of
all castles is to be burnt or blown up. In England
it is true you can call the constable, and should any
foreign power attack you with grinding organ and
white mice, you may hope for succours from without,
from which cause “ castles” in England are more
long lived. In New Zealand, however, it is different,
as, to the present day, the old system prevails, and
castles continue to be disposed of in the natural way,
as has been seen lately at Taranaki.

I now purchased a piece of land and built a
“castle” for myself. I really can’t tell to the pre-
sent day who I purchased the land from, for there
were about fifty different claimants, every one of whom
assured me that the other forty-nine were “‘humbugs,”
and had no right whatever. The nature of the diffe-

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 61

rent titles of the different claimants was various.
One man said his ancestors had killed off the first
owners; another declared his ancestors had driven
off the second party; another man, who seemed to
be listened to with more respect than ordinary, de-
clared that his ancestor had been the first possessor
of all, and had never been ousted, and that this
ancestor was a huge lizard that lived in a cave on
the land many ages ago, and sure enough there was
the cave to prove it. Besides the principal claims,
there were an immense number of secondary ones—
a sort of latent equities—which had lain dormant
until it was known the pakeha had his eye on the
land. Some of them seemed to me at the time odd
enough. One man required payment because his
ancestors, as he affirmed, had exercised the right of
catching rats on it, but which he (the claimant) had
never done, for the best of reasons, z.e, there were
no rats to catch, except indeed pakeha rats, which
were plenty enough, but this variety of rodent was
not counted as game. Another claimed because his
erandfather had been murdered on the land, and—as
I am a veracious pakeha—another claimed pay-
ment because fis grandfather had committed the
murder! Then half the country claimed payments
of various value, from one fig of tobacco to a
musket, on account of a certain wahi tapu, or ancient
burying-ground, which was on the land, and in
which every one almost had had relations or rather
ancestors buried, as they could clearly make out, in
old times, though no one had been deposited in it for

62 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

about two hundred years, and the bones of the
others had been (as they said) removed long ago to a
torere in the mountains. It seemed an awkward
circumstance that there was some difference of
opinion as to where this same wahi tapu was situated,
being, and lying, for in case of my buying the land
it was stipulated that I should fence it round and
make no use of it, although I had paid for it. (I,
however, have put off fencing till the exact bounda-
ries have been made out; and indeed I don’t think I
shall ever be called on to do so, the fencing proviso
having been made, as I now believe, to give a
stronger look of reality to the existence of the
sacred spot, it having been observed that I had some
doubts on the subject. No mention was eyer made
of it after the payments had been all made, and so I
think I may venture to affirm that the existence of
the said waht tapu is of very doubtful authenticity,
though it certainly cost me a round “ lot of trade.”)
There was one old man who obstinately persisted in
declaring that he, and he alone, was the sole and
rightful owner of the land; he seemed also to have a
“fixed idea” about certain barrels of gunpowder;
but as he did not prove his claim to my satisfaction,
and as he had no one to back him, I of course gave
him nothing; he nevertheless demanded the gun-
powder about once a month for five-and-twenty
years, till at last he died of old age, and I am now a
landed proprietor, clear of all claims and demands,
and have an undeniable right to hold my estate as
long as ever I am able.

i,

OLD NEW ZULALAND. 63

It took about three months’ negotiation before the
purchase of the land could be made; and, indeed, I
at one time gave up the idea, as I found it quite im-
possible to decide who to pay. If I paid one party,
the others vowed I should never have possession, and
to pay all seemed impossible; so at last I let all
parties know that I had made up my mind not to
have the land. This, however, turned out to be the
first step I had made in the right direction; for,
thereupon, all the different claimants agreed amongst
themselves to demand a certain quantity of goods,
and divide them amongst themselves afterwards. I
was glad of this, for I wished to buy the land, as I
thought, in case I should ever take a trip to the
‘“‘ colonies,” it would look well to be able to talk of
“my estate in New Zealand.” The day being now
come on which I was to make the payment, and all
parties present, I then and there handed over to the
assembled mob the price of the land, consisting of a
great lot of blankets, muskets, tomahawks, tobacco,
spades, axes, &c. &c.; and received in return a very
dirty piece of paper with all their marks on it, I
- having written the terms of transfer on it in English to
my own perfect satisfaction. The cost per acre to me
was, as near as can be, about five and a half times
what the same quantity of land would have cost me at
the same time in Tasmania; but this was not of much
importance, as the value of land in New Zealand then,
and indeed now, being chiefly imaginary, one could just
as easily suppose it to be of a very great value as a
very small one; I therefore did not complain of the cost.

64 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

While I am on the subject of land and land titles,
I may as well here mention that many years after the
purchase of my land I received notice to appear before
certain persons called “‘ Land Commissioners,’ who
were part and parcel of the new inventions which had
come up soon after the arrival of the first governor,
and which are still a trouble to the land. I was in-
formed that I must appear and prove my title to the
land I have mentioned, on pain of forfeiture of the
same. Now I could not see what right any one could
have to plague me in this way, and if I had had no
one but the commissioners and two or three hundred
men of their tribe to deal with, I should have put my
pa in fighting order, and told them to ‘come on;”
for before this time I had had occasion to build a pa,
(a little misunderstanding,) and being a regularly
naturalized member of a strong tribe, could raise men
to defend it at the shortest notice. But somehow
these people had cunningly managed to mix up the
name of Queen Victoria, God bless her! (no dis-
paragement to King Potatau) in the matter; and I,
though a pakeha Maori, am a loyal subject to her
Majesty, and will stick up and fight for her as long as
ever I can muster a good imitation of courage ora leg
to stand upon. This being the case, I made a very
unwilling appearance at the court, and explained and
defended my title to the land in an oration of four
hours and a half’s duration; and which, though I was
much out of practice, I flatter myself was a good
specimen of English rhetoric, and which, for its own
merits as well as for another reason which I was not

OLD NEW ZHALAND. 65

aware of at the time, was listened to by the court with
the greatest patience. When I had concluded, and
having been asked “‘if I had any more to say?” I
saw the commissioner beginning to count my words,
which had been all written, I suppose, in shorthand ;
and having ascertained how many thousand I had
spoken, he handed me a bill, in which I was charged
by the word, for every word I had spoken, at the rate
of one farthing and one twentieth per word. Oh,
Cicero! Oh, Demosthenes! Oh, Pitt, Fox, Burke,
Sheridan! Oh, Daniel O’Connell! what would have
become of you, if such a stopper had been clapt on
your jawing tackle? Fame would never have cracked
her trumpet, and “ Dan” would never have raised the
rint. For my part I have never recovered the shock.
I have since that time become taciturn, and have
adopted a Spartan brevity when forced to speak, and
I fear I shall never again have the full swing of my
mother tongue. JBesides this, I was charged ten
shillings each for a little army of witnesses who I had
brought by way of being on the sure side—five shil-
lings a head for calling them into court, and five more
for ‘examining ”’ them; said examination consisting
of one question each, after which they were told to
“be off.” I do believe had I brought up a whole
tribe, as | had thoughts of doing, the commissioners
‘vould not have minded examining them all. They
were, [ am bound to say, very civil and polite; one
of them told me I was ‘a damned, infernal, clever
fellow, and he should like to see a good many more
like me.” I hope I am not getting tedious, but this
F

66 OLD NEW ZEALAND,

business made such an impression on me, that I can’t
help being too prolix, perhaps, when describing it. I
have, however, often since that time had my doubts
whether the Queen (God bless her!) got the money or
knew half as much of the affair as they wanted to
make out. I don’t believe it. Our noble Queen
would be clean above such a proceeding; and I mean
to say it’s against Magna Charta, it is! ‘“ Justice
shall not be sold,” saith Magna Charta; and if it’s not
selling justice to make a loyal pakeha Maori pay for
every word he speaks when defending his rights in a
court of justice, I don’t know what is.

Well, to make matters up, they after some time
gave me a title for my land (as if I had not one
before); but then, after some years, they made me
give it back again, on purpose, as they said, that they
might give me a better! But since that time several
more years have passed, and I have not got it; so, as
these things are now all the fashion, “I wish I may
get 1.”

CHapPTer VI.

How I kept house.—Maori freebooters.— An ugly customer.—
The “suaviter in modo.”—A single combat to amuse the ladies.
—The true Maori gentleman.—Character of the Maori people.

NEVER yet could get the proper knack

of telling a story. Here I am now, a
good forty years ahead of where I ought
to be, talking of “title deeds” and
‘‘land commissioners,” things belonging to the new
and deplorable state of affairs which began when this
country became ‘“‘a British colony and possession,”
and also “‘ one of the brightest jewels in the British
crown.” I must go back.

Having purchased my “estate,” I set up house-
keeping. My house was a good commodious raupo
building; and as I hada princely income of a few
hundred a year “in trade,” I kept house in a very
magnificent and hospitable style. I kept always eight
stout paid Maori retainers, the pay being one fig of
tobacco per week, and their potatoes, which was about
asmuch more. Their duties were not heavy; being
chiefly to amuse themselves fishing, wrestling, shoot-
ing pigeons, or pig-hunting, with an occasional pull in
the boat when I went on a water excursion. Besides

68 OLD NEW ZHALAND.

these paid retainers, there was always about a dozen
hangers-on, who considered themselves a part of
the establishment, and who, no doubt, managed to
live at my expense; but as that expense was merely
a few hundredweight of potatoes a week, and an odd
pig now and then, it was not perceptible in the good
old times. Indeed these hangers-on, as I call them,
were necessary; for now and then, in those brave
old times, little experiments would be made by certain
Maori gentlemen of freebooting propensities, and who
were in great want of “ British manufactures,” to see
what could be got by bullying ‘‘ the pakeha,” and to
whom a good display of physical force was the only
argument worth notice. These gentry generally came
from a long distance, made a sudden appearance, and,
thanks to my faithful retainers, who, as a matter of
course, were all bound to fight for me, though I
should have found it hard to get much work out of
them, made as sudden a retreat, though on one or two
occasions, when my standing army were accidentally
absent, I had to do battle single-handed. I think I
have promised somewhere that I would perform a
single combat for the amusement of the ladies, and so
I may as well do it now as at any other time. I
shall, therefore, recount a little affair I had with one
of these gentry, as it is indeed quite necessary I should,
if I am to give any true idea of ‘“‘ the good old times.”
I must, however, protest against the misdeeds of a few
ruffians—human wolves—being charged against the
whole of their countrymen. At the time I am speaking
of, the only restraint on such people was the fear of

me

OLD NEW ZHALAND. 69

retaliation, and the consequence was, that often a
dare-devil savage would run a long career of murder,
robbery, and outrage before meeting with a check,
simply from the terror he inspired, and the “luck”
which often accompanies outrageous daring. Ata
time, however, and in a country like New Zealand,
where every man was a fighting man or nothing, these

esperadoes, sooner or later, came to grief, being at
last invariably shot, or run through the body, by
some sturdy freeholder, whose rights they had in-
vaded. I had two friends staying with me, young
men who had come to see me from the neighbouring
colonies, and to take a summer tour in New Zealand;
and it so happened that no less than three times
during my absence from home, and when I had taken
almost all my people along with me, my castle had
been invaded by one of the most notorious ruffians
who had ever been an impersonation of, or lived by,
the law of force. This interesting specimen of the
genus homo had, on the last of these visits, demanded
that my friends should hand over to him one pair of
blankets; but as the prospectus he produced, with
respect to payment, was not at all satisfactory, my
friends declined to enter into the speculation, the
more particularly as the blankets were mine. Our
freebooting acquaintance then, to explain his views
more clearly, knocked both my friends down; threat-
ened to kill them both with his tomahawk; then
rushed into the bed-room, dragged out all the bed-
clothes, and burnt them on the kitchen fire.

This last affair was rather displeasing to me. I

70 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

held to the theory that every Englishman’s house was
his castle, and was moreover rather savage at my
guests having been so roughly handled. I in fact
began to feel that though I had up to this time
managed to hold my own pretty well, I was at last
in danger of falling under the imposition of “ black
mail,” and losing my status as an independent poten-
tate—a rangatira of the first water. I then and there
declared loudly that it was well for the offender that
I had not been at home, and that if ever he tried his
tricks with me he would find out his mistake. These
declarations of war, I perceived, were heard by my
men in a sort of incredulous silence, (silence in New
Zealand gives dis-sent,) and though the fellows were
stout chaps, who would not mind a row with any
ordinary mortal, I verily believe they would have all
ran at the first appearance of this redoubted ruffian.
Indeed his antecedents had been such as might have
almost been their excuse. He had killed several men
in fair fight, and had also—as was well known—com-
mitted two most diabolical murders, one of which was
on his own wife, a fine young woman, whose brains
he blew out at half a second’s notice for no further
provocation than this :—He was sitting in the verandah
of his house, and told her to bring him a light for his
pipe. She, being occupied in domestic affairs, said,
“ Can’t you fetch it yourself? I am going for water.”
She had the calibash in her hand and their infant
child on her back. He snatched up his gun and
instantly shot her dead on the spot; and I had heard
him afterwards describing quite coolly the comical

OLD NEW ZHALAND. 71

way in which her brains had been knocked out by
the shot with which the gun was loaded. He also
had, for some trifling provocation, lopped off the arm
of his own brother or cousin, I forget which, and was,
altogether, from his tremendous bodily strength and
utter insensibility to danger, about as “ugly a
customer” as one would care to meet.

I am now describing a regular Maori ruffian of the
good old times, the natural growth of a state of society
wherein might was to a very great extent right, and
where bodily strength and courage were almost the
sole qualities for which a man was respected or
valued. He was a bullet-headed, scowling, bow-
legged, broad-shouldered, herculean savage, and all
these qualifications combined made him unquestion-
ably “a great rangatira,” and, as he had never been
defeated, his mana was in full force.

A few weeks after the affair of the blankets, as I
was sitting all alone reading a Sydney newspaper,
which, being only a year old, was highly interesting,
my iriends and all my natives having gone on an
expedition to haul a large fishing net, who should I
see enter the room and squat down on the floor, as if
taking permanent possession, but the amiable and
highly interesting individual I have taken so much
trouble to describe. He said nothing, but his posture
and countenance spoke whole volumes of defiance
and murderous intent. He had heard of the threats
I had made against him, and there he was, let me
turn him outif I dare. That was his meaning—there
was no mistaking it.

72 OLD NEW ZEALAND

I have all my life been an admirer of the swaviter
in modo, though it is quite out of place in New
Zealand. If you tell a man—a Maori I mean—in a
gentle tone of voice and with a quiet manner, that if
he continues a given line of conduct you will begin to
commence to knock him down, he simply disbelieves
you, and thereby forces you to do that which, if you
could have persuaded yourself to have spoken very
uncivilly at first, there would have been no occasion
for, I have seen many proofs of this, and though I
have done my best for many years to improve the
understanding of my Maori friends in this particular,
I find still there are but very few who can understand
at all how it is possible that the swaviter ir modo can
be combined with the fortiter in re. They in fact
can’t understand it for some reason perfectly inexplic-
able to me. It was, however, quite a matter of in-
difference, I could perceive, how I should open pro-
ceedings with my friend, as he evidently meant
mischief. ‘‘Habit is second nature,” so I instinctively
took to the suaviter. “ Friend,” said I, in a very
mild tone and with as amiable a smile as I could get
up, in spite of a certain clenching of the teeth which
somehow came on me at the moment, ‘‘ my advice to
you is to be off.” Heseemed to nestle himself firmer
in his seat, and- made no answer but a scowl of
defiance. “I am thinking, friend, that this is my
house,” said I, and springing upon him I placed my
foot to his shoulder, and gave a shove which would
have sent most people heels over head. Not so, how-
ever, with my friend. It shook him, certainly, a

a

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 73

little; but in an instant, as quick as lightning, and as
it appeared with a single motion, he bounded from
the ground, flung his mat away over his head, and
struck a furious blow at my head with his tomahawk.
I escaped instant death by a quickness equal to or
greater than his own. My eye was quick, and so was
my arm; life was at stake. I caught the tomahawk
in full descent; the edge grazed my hand; but my
arm, stiffened like a bar of iron, arrested the blow.
He made one furious, but ineffectual, effort to tear the
tomahawk from my grasp; and then we seized one
another round the middle, and struggled like maniacs
in the endeavour to dash each other against the boarded
floor, I holding on for dear life to the tomahawk, and
making desperate efforts to get it from him, but with-
out a chance of success, as it was fastened to his wrist
by a strong thong of leather. He was, as I soon
found, somewhat stronger than me, and heavier; but
I was as active as a cat, and as long-winded as an
emu, and very far from weak. At last he got a wiri
round my leg ; and had it not been for the table on
which we both fell, and which, in smashing to pieces,
broke our fall, | might have been disabled, and in
that case instantly tomahawked. We now rolled
over and over on the floor like two mad bulldogs; he
trying to bite, and I trying to stun him by dashing
his bullet head against the floor. Up again!—still
both holding on to the tomahawk. Another furious
struggle, in the course of which both our heads, and
half our bodies, were dashed through the two glass
windows in the room, and every single article of fur-

74: OLD NEW ZEALAND.

niture was reduced to atoms. Down again, rolling
like mad, and dancing about amongst the rubbish—
the wreck of the house. By this time we were both
covered with blood from various wounds, received I
don’t know how. I had been all this time fighting
under a great disadvantage, for my friend was trying
to kill me, and I was only trying to disarm and tie
him up—a much harder thing than to kill My
reason for going to this trouble was, that as there
were no witnesses to the row, if I killed him, I might
have had serious difficulties with his tribe. Up again;
another terrific tussle for the tomahawk; down again
with a crash; and so this life or death battle went on,
down and up, up and down, for a full hour. At last
I perceived that my friend was getting weaker, and
felt that victory was only now a question of time. 1,
so far from being fatigued, was even stronger.
Another desperate wrestling match. I lifted my
friend high in my arms, and dashed him, panting,
furious, foaming at the mouth, but beaten, against the
ground. There he lies; the worshipper of force. His
god has deserted him. But no, not yet. He has one
more chance, and a fatal one it nearly proved to me.
I began to unfasten the tomahawk from his wrist.
An odd expression came over his countenance. He
spoke for the first time. “Enough, I am beaten; let
me rise.” Now I had often witnessed the manly and
becoming manner in which some Maoris can take
defeat, when they have been defeated in what they
consider fair play. I had also ceased to fear my
friend, and so incautiously let go his left arm. Like

OLD NEW ZHALAND. 75

lightning he snatched at a large carving fork which,
unperceived by me, was lying on the floor amongst
the smashed furniture and débris of my household
effects ; his fingers touched the handle, and it rolled
away out of his reach, and my life was saved. He
then struck me with all his remaining force on the
side of the head, causing the blood to flow out of my
mouth. One more short struggle, and he was con-
quered. But now I had at last got angry. The
drunkenness, the exhilaration of fight, which comes
on some constitutions, was fairly on me. I had also
a consciousness that now I must kill my man, or,
sooner or later, he would kill me. I thought of the
place I would bury him ; how I would stun him first
with the back of the tomahawk, to prevent too much
blood being seen ; how I would then carry him off (I
could carry two such men now, easy). I would
murder him and cover him up. I unwound the
tomahawk from his wrist: he was passive and help-
less now. I wished he was stronger, and told him to
get up and “die standing,” as his countrymen say.
I clutched the tomahawk for the coup-de-grace, (I
can’t help it, young ladies, the devil is in me,)—at
this instant a thundering sound of feet is heard,—
a whole tribe are coming! Now am I either lost or
saved !—saved from doing that which I should after-
wards repent, though constrained by necessity to do
it. The rush of charging feet comes closer. In an
instant comes dashing and smashing through doors
and windows, in breathless haste and alarm, a whole
tribe of friends. Small ceremony now with my an-

76 OLD NEW ZHALAND.

tagonist. He was dragged by the heels, stamped on,
kicked, and thrown half-dead, or nearly quite dead,
into his canoe. All the time we had been fighting a
little slave imp of a boy belonging to my antagonist
had been loading the canoe with my goods and chat-
tels, and had managed to make a very fair plunder of
it. These were all now brought back by my friends,
except one cloth jacket, which happened to be con-
cealed under the wharikt, and which I only mention
because I remember that the attempt to recover it
some time afterwards cost one of my friends his life.
The savage scoundrel who had so nearly done for
me, broke two of his ribs, and so otherwise injured
him that he never recovered, and died after lingering
about a year. My friends were going on a journey,
and had called to see me as they passed. They saw
the slave boy employed as I have stated, and knowing
to whom he belonged had rushed at once to the
rescue, little expecting to find me alive. I may as
well now dispose of this friend of mine by giving his
after history. He for a long time after our fight
went continually armed with a double gun, and said
he would shoot me wherever he met me; he how-
ever had had enough of attacking me in my “ castle,”
and so did not call there any more. I also went
continually armed, and took care also to have always
some of my people at hand. After this, this fellow
committed two more murders, and also killed in fair
fight with his own hand the first man in a native
battle, in which the numbers on each side were about
three hundred, and which I witnessed. The man he

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 77

killed was a remarkably fine young fellow, a great
favourite of mine. At last, having attacked and
attempted to murder another native, he was shot
through the heart by the person he attempted to
murder, and fell dead on the spot, and so there died
““a oreat rangatira.” His tribe quietly buried him
and said no more about it, which showed their sense
of right. Had he been killed in what they considered
an unjust manner, they would have revenged his
death at any cost; but I have no doubt they themselves
were glad to get rid of him, for he was a terror to all
about him. I have been in many a scrape both by sea
and land, but I must confess that I never met a more
able hand at an argument than this Maori rangatira.

I have not mentioned my friend’s name with whom
I had this discussion on the rights of Englishmen,
because he has left a son, who is a great rangatira,
and who might feel displeased if I was too particular,
and I am not quite so able now to carry out a “‘ face-
to-face”’ policy as I was a great many years ago;
besides there is a sort of ‘honour amongst thieves”
‘ feeling between myself and my Maori friends on
certain matters which we mutually understand are
not for the ears of the “‘ new people.”

Now, ladies, I call that a fairish good fight, con-
sidering no one is killed on either side. I promise to
be good in future and to keep the peace, if people
will let me; and indeed, I may as well mention, that
from that day to this I have never had occasion to
explain again to a Maori how it is that “every
Englishman’s house is his castle.”

78 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

‘Fair play is a jewel;” and I will here, as bound
in honour to do, declare that I have met amongst
the natives with men who would.be a credit to any
nation; men on whom nature had plainly stamped
the mark of “‘ Noble,” of the finest bodily form, quick
and intelligent in mind, polite and brave, and capable
of the most self-sacrificing acts for the good of others;
patient, forbearing, and affectionate in their families;
in a word, gentlemen. These men were the more
remarkable, as they had grown up surrounded by a
set of circumstances of the most unfavourable kind
for the development of the qualities of which they
were possessed; and I have often looked on with
admiration, when I have seen them protesting against,
and endeavouring to restrain some of, the dreadful
barbarities of their countrymen.

As for the Maori people in general, they are neither
so good or so bad as their friends and enemies have
painted them, and I suspect are pretty much like
what almost any other people would have become, if
subjected for ages to the same external circumstances.
For ages they have struggled against necessity in all
its shapes. This has given to them a remarkable
greediness for gain in every visible and immediately
tangible form. It has even left its mark on their
language. Without the aid of iron the most trifling
tool or utensil could only be purchased by an enor-
mously disproportionate outlay of labour in its con-
struction, and, in consequence, became precious to a
degree scarcely conceivable by people of civilised and
wealthy countries. This great value attached to

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 79

personal property of all kinds, increased proportion-
ately the temptation to plunder; and where no law
existed, or could exist, of sufficient force to repress
the inclination, every man, as a natural consequence,
became a soldier, if it were only for the defence of
his own property and that of those who were banded
with him—his tribe, or family. From this state of
things regular warfare arose, as a matter of course;
the military art was studied as a science, and brought
to great perfection as applied to the arms used; and
a marked military character was given to the people.
The necessity of labour, the necessity of warfare, and
a temperate climate, gave them strength of body,
accompanied by a perseverance and energy of mind
perfectly astonishing. With rude and blunt stones
they felled the giant kauri—toughest of pines; and
from it, in process of time, at an expense of labour,
perseverance, and ingenuity perfectly astounding to
those who know what it really was—produced, carved,
painted, and inlaid, a masterpiece of art, and an object
of beauty—the war canoe, capable of carrying a hun-
dred men on a distant expedition, through the boister-
ous seas surrounding their island.

As a consequence of their warlike habits and cha-
racter, they are self-possessed and confident in them-
selves and their own powers, and have much diplo-
matic finesse and casuistry at command. Their
intelligence causes them theoretically to acknowledge
the benefits of law, which they see established
amongst us, but their hatred of restraint causes them
practically to abhor and resist its full enforcement

80 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

amongst themselves. Doubting our professions of
friendship, fearing our ultimate designs, led astray
by false friends, possessed of that “little learning”
which is, in their case, most emphatically ‘a dan-
gerous thing,” divided amongst themselves,—such
are the people with whom we are now in contact,—
such the people to whom, for our own safety and
their preservation, we must give new laws and insti-
tutions, new habits of life, new ideas, sentiments, and
informationn—whom we must either civilise or by
our mere contact exterminate. How is this to be
done? Let me see. I think I shall answer this
question when I am prime minister.

1 PRINTER’S Duvin:—How is this to be done P—which ? what?
—how ?—civilise or exterminate? PaxkEena Maort:—LHaha mau!

CHAPTER VIL.

Excitement caused by first contact with Huropeans.—The two
great institutions of Maori land.—The Muru.—The Tapu.—
Instances of legal robbery.—Descriptions and Examples of the
Muru.—Profit and loss.—Explanation of some of the workings
of the law of Muru.

i. Laks ©)
ifs

EX hy

HE natives have been for fifty years or
é more in a continual state of excitement
ni; hex on one subject or another, which has
<3) hada markedly bad effect on their cha-
racter and physical condition, as I shall by-and-by
take occasion to point out. When the first strag-
gling ships came here the smallest bit of iron was a
prize so inestimable that I might be thought to exag-
gerate were I to tell the bare truth on the subject.
The excitement and speculation caused by a ship
being seen off the coast was immense. Where would
she anchor? What zron could be got from her?
Would it be possible to seize her? The oracle was
consulted, preparations were made to follow her along
the coast, even through an enemy’s country, at all
risks; and when she disappeared she was not for-
gotten, and would continue long to be the subject of
anxious expectation and speculation.
G

82 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

After this, regular trading began. The great mad-
ness then was for muskets and gunpowder. A furious
competition was kept up. Should any tribe fail to
procure a stock of these articles as soon as its neigh-
bours, extermination was its probable doom. We
may then imagine the excitement, the over-labour,
the hardship, the starvation (occasioned by crops
neglected whilst labouring to produce flax or other
commodity demanded in payment)—I say imagine,
but I have seen at least part of it.

After the demand for arms was supplied, came a
perfect furore for iron tools, instruments of husbandry,
clothing, and all kinds of pakeha manufactures.
These things having been quite beyond their means
while they were supplying themselves with arms,
they were in the most extreme want of them, parti-
cularly iron tools. A few years ago the madness
ran upon horses and cattle; and now young New
Zealand believes in nothing but money, and they
are continually tormenting themselves with plans to
acquire it in large sums at once, without the trouble
of slow and saving industry, which, as applied to the
accumulation of money, they neither approve of nor
understand; nor will:they ever, as a people, take this
mode till convinced that money, like everything else —
of value, can only be procured as a rule by giving
full value for it, either in labour or the produce of
labour.

- Here I am, I find, again before my story. Right.
down to the present time talking of ‘young New
Zealand,” and within a hair’s-breadth of settling

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 85

“the Maori difficulty ” without having been paid for
it, which would have been a great oversight, and con-
trary to the customs of New Zealand. | must go back.

There were in the old times two great institutions,
which reigned with iron rod in Maori land—the Tapu
and the Muru. Pakehas who knew no better, called
the muru simply ‘‘ robbery,” because the word muru,
in its common signification, means to plunder. But
I speak of the regular legalized and established
system of plundering as penalty for offences, which
in a rough way resembled our law by which a man is
obliged to pay “damages.” Great abuses had, how-
ever, crept into this system—so great, indeed, as to
render the retention of any sort of moveable pro-
perty almost an impossibility, and to, in a great mea-
sure, discourage the inclination to labour for its ac-
quisition. These great inconveniences were, how-
ever, met, or in some degree softened, by an expe-
dient of a peculiarly Maori nature, which I shall by-
and-by explain. The offences for which people were
plundered were sometimes of a nature which, to a
mere pakeha, would seem curious. A man’s child
fell in the fire and was almost burnt to death. The
father was immediately plundered to an extent that
almost left him without the means of subsistence:
fishing nets, canoes, pigs, provisions—all went. His
canoe upset, and he and all his family narrowly
escaped drowning—some were, perhaps, drowned.
He was immediately robbed, and well pummelled
with a club into the bargain, if he was not good at
the science of self-defence—the club part of the

84. OLD NEW ZEALAND.

eeremony being always fairly administered one against
one, and after fair warning given to defend himself.
He might be clearing some land for potatoes, burning
off the fern, and the fire spreads farther than he in-
tended, and gets into a wahi tapu or burial-ground.
No matter whether any one has been buried in it or
no for the last hundred years, he is tremendously
robbed. In fact, for ten thousand different causes a
man might be robbed; and I can really imagine a
case in which a man for scratching his own head
might be legally robbed. Now, as the enforcers
of this law were also the parties who received
the damages, as well as the judges of the amount,
which in many cases (such as that of the burnt
child) would be everything they could by any means
lay hands on, it is easy to perceive that under
such a system personal property was an evanescent
sort of thing altogether. These executions or dis-
traints were never resisted; indeed, in many cases, as
I shall explain by-and-by, it would have been felt as
a slight, and even an insult, not to be robbed; the
sacking of a man’s establishment being often taken as
a high compliment, especially if his head was broken
into the bargain; and to resist the execution would
not only have been looked upon as mean and dis- |
graceful in the highest degree, but at would have de-
barred the contemptible individual from the privilege of
robbing his neighbours, which was the compensating
expedient I have alluded to. All this may seem a
waste of words to my pakeha Maori readers, to whom
these things have become such matters of course as

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 85

to be no longer remarkable; but I have remembered
that there are so many new people in the country
who don’t understand the beauty of being knocked
down and robbed, that I shall say a few more words
on the subject.

The tract of country inhabited bya single tribe
might be say from forty to a hundred miles square,
and the different villages of the different sections of
the tribe would be scattered over this area at different
distances from each other. We will, by way of illus-
trating the working of the muru system, take the case
of the burnt child. Soon after the accident it would
be heard of in the neighbouring villages; the family
of the mother are probably the inhabitants of one of
them; they have, according to the law of muru, the
first and greatest right to clean out the afflicted
father—a child being considered to belong to the
family of the mother more than to that of the father
—in fact it is their child, who the father has the
rearing of. The child was moreover a promising
lump of a boy, the makings of a future warrior, and
consequently very valuable to the whole tribe in
general, but to the mother’s family in particular.
“ A pretty thing to let him get spoiled.” Then he is
a boy of good family, a rangatira by birth, and it
would never do to let the thing pass without making
a noise about it. That would be an insult to the
dignity of the families of both father and mother.
Decidedly, besides being robbed, the father must be
assaulted with the spear. True, he is a famous
spearman, and for his own credit must “ hurt” some

86 OLD NEW ZHALAND.

one or another if attacked. But this is of no conse-
quence; a flesh wound more or less deep is to be
counted on; and then think of the plunder! It is
against the law of muru that any one should be killed,
and first blood ends the duel. Then the natural
affection of all the child’s relations is great. They
are all ina great state of excitement, and trying to
remember how many canoes, and pigs, and other
valuable articles, the father has got: for this must be
a clean sweep. <A strong party is now mustered,
headed probably by the brother of the mother of the
child. He is-a stout chap, and carries a long tough
spear. A messenger is sent to the father, to say that
the taua muru is coming, and may be expected to-
morrow, or the next day. He asks, “ Is it a great
taua?” “ Yes; itis a very great taua indeed.” The
victim smiles, he feels highly complimented, he is
then a man of consequence. His child is also of great
consideration; he is thought worthy of a large force
being sent to rob him! Now he sets all in motion to
prepare a huge feast for the friendly robbers his re-
lations. He may as well be liberal, for his provisions
are sure to go, whether or no. Pigs are killed and
baked whole, potatoes are piled up in great heaps, all
is made ready, he looks out his best spear, and keeps
it always ready in his hand. At last the tawa appears
on a hill half a mile off; then the whole fighting men
of the section of the tribe of which he is an important
member, collect at his back, all armed with spear and
club, to show that they could resist if they would—a
thing, however, not to be thought of under the cir-

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 87

cumstances. On comes the taua. The mother begins
to cry in proper form; the tribe shout the call of
welcome to the approaching robbers; and then with
a grand rush, all armed, and looking as if they in-
tended to exterminate all before them, the haz muru
appear on the scene. They dance the war dance,
which the villagers answer with another. Then the
chief’s brother-in-law advances, spear in hand, with
the most alarming gestures. ‘‘ Stand up!—stand up!
I will kill you this day,” is his cry. The defendant
is not slow to answer the challenge. A most exciting,
and what to a new pakeha would appear a most
desperately dangerous, fencing bout with spears in-
stantly commences. The attack and defence are in
the highest degree scientific; the spear shafts keep
up a continuous rattle; the thrust, and parry, and
stroke with the spear shaft follow each other with
almost incredible rapidity, and are too rapid to be
followed by an unpractised eye. At last the brother-
in-law is slightly touched; blood also drops from our
chief’s thigh. The fight instantly ceases; leaning on
their spears, probably a little badinage takes place
between them, and then the brother-in-law roars out
“murua!l murua! murua!” Then the new arrivals
commence a regular sack, and the two principals sit
down quietly with a few others for a friendly chat, in
which the child’s name is never mentioned, or the
inquiry as to whether he is dead or alive even made.
The case I have just described would, however, be
one of more than ordinary importance; slighter
“accidents and offences” would be atoned for by a

88 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

milder form of operation. But the general effect was
to keep personal property circulating from hand to
hand pretty briskly, or indeed to convert it into
public property; for no man could say who would
be the owner of his canoe or blanket in a month’s
time. Indeed, in that space of time, I once saw a
nice coat, which a native had got from the captain of
a trading schooner, and which was an article much
coveted in those days, pass through the hands, and
over the backs, of six different owners, and return,
considerably the worse for wear, to the original pur-
chaser; and all these transfers had been made by
legal process of muru. I have been often myself paid
the compliment of being robbed for little accidents
occurring in my family, and have several times also,
from a feeling of politeness, robbed my Maori friends,
though I can’t say I was a great gainer by these
transactions. I think the greatest haul I ever made
was about half a bag of shot, which I thought a
famous joke, seeing that I had sold it the day before
to the owner for full value. A month after this I
was disturbed early in the morning by a voice shout-
ing, “Get up!—get up! I will kill you this day.
You have roasted my grandfather. Get up!—stand
up!” I, of course, guessed that I had committed
some heinous though involuntary offence, and the
“stand up” hinted the immediate probable conse-
quences; so out I turned, spear in hand, and who
should I see, armed with a bayonet on the end of a
long pole, but my friend the umwhile owner of the
bag of shot. He came at me with pretended fury,

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 89

made some smart bangs and thrusts, which I parried,
and then explained to me that I had “cooked his
erandfather ;” and that if I did not come down
handsome in the way of damages, deeply as he might
regret the necessity, his own credit, and the law of
muru, compelled him either to sack my house or die
in the attempt. I was glad enough to prevent either
event, by paying him two whole bags of shot, two
blankets, divers fish-hooks, and certain figs of tobacco,
which he demanded. I found that I had really and
truly committed a most horrid crime. I had on a
journey made my fire at the foot of a tree, in the top
of which the bones of my friend’s grandfather had
once been deposited, but from which they had been
removed ten years before; the tree caught fire and
had burnt down: and I, therefore, by a convenient
sort of figure of speech, had “roasted his grand-
father,’ and had to pay the penalty accordingly.

It did not require much financial ability on my
part, after a few experiences of this nature, to per-
ceive that I had better avail myself of my privileges
as a pakeha, and have nothing further to do with the
law of muru—a determination I have kept to strictly.
If ever I have unwittingly injured any of my neigh-
bours, I have always made what I considered just
compensation, and resisted the muru altogether; and
I will say this for my friends, that when any of them
have done an accidental piece of mischief, they have,
in most cases without being asked, offered to pay
for it.

The above slight sketch of the penal law of New

90 OLD NHW ZEALAND.

Zealand I present and dedicate to the Law Lords of
England, as it might, perhaps, afford some hints for a
reform in our own. ‘The only remark I shall have to
add is, that if a man killed another, ‘‘ malice prepense
aforethought,” the act, In nineteen cases out of twenty,
would be either a very meritorious one, or of no con-
sequence whatever ; in either of which cases the penal
code had, of course, nothing to do in the matter. If,
however, a man killed another by accident, in the
majority of cases the consequences would be most
serious; and not only the involuntary homicide, but
every one connected with him, would be plundered of
everything they possessed worth taking. This, how-
ever, to an English lawyer, may require some expla-
nation, which is as follows:—If a man thought fit to
kill his own slave, it was nobody’s affair but his own ;
the law had nothing to do withit. If he killed a
man of another tribe, he had nothing to do but
declare it was in revenge or retaliation for some
aggression, either recent or traditional, by the other
tribe, of which examples were never scarce. In this
case the action became at once highly meritorious,
and his whole tribe would support and defend him to
the last extremity. If he, however, killed a man by
accident, the slain man would be, as a matter of
course, in most instances, one of his ordinary com-
panions—z.e., one of his own tribe. The accidental
discharge of a gun often caused death in this way.
Then, indeed, the law of muru had full swing, and the
wholesale plunder of the criminal and family was the
penalty. Murder, as the natives understood it—that

OLD NEW ZHALAND. 91

is to say, the malicious destruction of a man of the
same tribe—did not happen as frequently as might be
expected; and when it did, went in most cases un-
punished; the murderer in general managing to escape
to some other section of the tribe where he had rela-
tions, who, as he fled to them for protection, were
bound to give it, and always ready to do so; or other-
wise he would stand his ground and defy all comers,
by means of the strength of his own family or section,
who all would defend him and protect him as a mere
matter of course; and as the law of utu or lex talionis
was the only one which applied in this case, and as,
unlike the law of muru, nothing was to be got by en-
forcing it but hard blows, murder in most cases went
unpunished.

{ And so, in this day, when a Maori, for some real or
fancied injury, or as a means to elevate his name, kills
some wretched white man, he nearly always goes un-
punished. The Government ask for him to be given
up, the tribe refuse, and there is an end of the
matter.—Pembroke. |

Bd.

Cuapter VIII.

The Muru falling into disuse.—Why ?—EHxamples of the
Tapu.—tThe personal Tapu.—Evading the Tapu.—The under-
taker’s Tapu.—How I got tabooed.—Frightful difficulties.—
How I got out of them.—The war Tapu.—Maori war customs.

HE law of muru is now but little used, »
3) and only ona small scale. The dege-

nerate men of the present day in general

content themselves with asking “ pay-
after some cavilling as to the amount, it
is generally given; but if refused, the case is brought
before a native magistrate, and the pleadings on
both sides are often such as would astound our most
famous barristers, and the decisions of a nature to
throw those famous ones by Sancho Panza and Walter
the Doubter for ever into the shade.

I think the reason that the muru is so much less
practised than formerly is the fact that the natives
are now far better supplied with the necessaries and
comforts of life than they were many years ago, espe-
cially iron tools and utensils, and in consequence the
temptation to plunder is proportionately decreased.
Money would still be a temptation; but it is so easily

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 93

concealed, and in general they have so little of it, that
other means are adopted for its acquisition. When I
first saw the natives, the chance of getting an axe or
a spade by the short-hand process of muru, or—at a
still more remote period—a few wooden implements,
or a canoe, was so great that the lucky possessor was
continually watched by many eager and observant
eyes, in hopes to pick a hole in his coat, by which the
muru might be legally brought to bear upon him. I[
say legally, for the natives always tried to have a
sufficient excuse; and I absolutely declare, odd as it
may seem, that actual, unauthorized, and inexcusable
robbery or theft was less frequent than in any country
I ever have been in, though the temptation to steal
was a thousandfold greater. The natives of the pre-
sent day are, however, improving in this respect, and,
amongst other arts of civilization, are beginning to
have very pretty notions of housebreaking, and have
even tried highway robbery, though in a bungling
way. The fact is they are just now between two
tides. The old institutions which, barbarous and
rude as they were, were respected and in some degree
useful, are wearing out, and have lost all beneficial
effect, and at the same time the laws and usages of
civilization have not acquired any sufficient force.
This state of things is very unfavourable to the morale
of Young New Zealand; but it is likely to change
for the better, for it 1s a maxim of mine that ‘“ laws,
if not made, will grow.”

I must now take some little notice of the other
great institution, the tapu. The limits of these flying

94: OLD NEW ZEALAND.

sketches of the good old times will not allow of more
than a partial notice of the all-pervading tapu. Earth,
air, fire, water, goods and chattels, growing crops,
men, women, and children,—everything absolutely
was subject to its influence, and a more perplexing
puzzle to new pakehas who were continually from
ignorance infringing some of its rules, could not be
well imagined. The natives, however, made con-
siderable allowance for this ignorance, as well they
might, seeing that they themselves, though from
infancy to old age enveloped in a cloud of tapu, would
sometimes fall into similar scrapes.

The original object of the ordimary tapu seems to
have been the preservation of property. Of this
nature in a great degree was the ordinary personal
tapu. This form of the tapu was permanent, and
consisted in a certain sacred character which attached
to the person of a chief and never left him. It was
his birthright, a part in fact of himself, of which he
could not be divested, and which was well understood
and recognized at all times as a matter of course. The
fighting men and petty chiefs, and every one indeed
who could by any means claim the title of rangatira
—which in the sense I now use it means gentleman—
were all in some degree more or less possessed of this
mysterious quality. It extended or was communicated
to all their moveable property, especially to their
clothes, weapons, ornaments, and tools, and to every-
thing in fact which they touched. This prevented

their chattels from being stolen or mislaid, or spoiled |

by children, or used or handled in any way by others.

ee ete i

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 95

And as in the old times, as I have before stated,
every kind of property of this kind was precious in
consequence of the great labour and time necessarily,
for want of iron tools, expended in the manufacture,
this form of the tapu was of great real service. An
infringement of it subjected the offender to various
dreadful imaginary punishments, of which deadly
sickness was one, as well as to the operation of the
law of muru already mentioned. If the transgression
was involuntary, the chief, or a priest, or tohunga,
could, by a certain mystical ceremony, prevent or
remit the doleful and mysterious part of the punish-
ment if he chose, but the civil action, or the robbery
by law of muru, would most likely have to take its
course, though possibly in a mitigated form, according
to the circumstances.

I have stated that the worst part of the punish-
ment of an offence against this form of the tapu was
imaginary, but in truth, though imaginary it was not
the less a severe punishment. ‘‘ Conscience makes
cowards of us all,” and there was scarcely a man in a
thousand, 2f one, who had sufficient resolution to dare
the shadowy terrors of the tapu. I actually have
seen an instance where the offender, though an in-
voluntary one, was killed stone dead in six hours, by _
what I considered the effects of his own terrified
imagination, but what all the natives at the time
believed to be the work of the terrible avenger of the
tapu. ‘The case I may as well describe, as it was a
strong one, and shows how, when falsehoods are once
believed, they will meet with apparent proof from

96 OLD NEW ZHALAND.

accidental circumstances. A chief of very high rank,
standing, and mana was on a war expedition; with
him were about five hundred men. His own personal
tapw was increased twofold, as was that of all the
warriors who were with him, by the war tapu. The
taua being on a very dangerous expedition, they were
over and above the ordinary personal tapu made
sacred in the highest degree, and were obliged to
observe strictly several mysterious and sacred customs,
some of which I may have to explain by-and-by.
They were, in fact, as irreverent pakehas used to say,
“tabooed an inch thick,” and as for the head chief,
he was perfectly unapproachable. The expedition
halted to dine. The portion of food set apart for the
chief, in a neat paro or shallow basket of green flax
leaves, was, of course, enough for two or three men,
and consequently the greater part remained uncon-
sumed. The party having dined, moved on, and
soon after a party of slaves and others, who had been
some mile or two in the rear, came up carrying am-
munition and baggage. One of the slaves, a stout,
hungry fellow, seeing the chief’s unfinished dinner,
eat it up before asking any questions, and had hardly
finished when he was informed by a horror-stricken
individual—another slave who had remaimed behind
when the tawa had moved on—of the fatal act he had
committed. IJ knew the unfortunate delinquent well.
He was remarkable for courage, and had signalized
himself in the wars of the tribe. (The able-bodied
slaves are always expected to fight in the quarrels of
their masters, to do which they are nothing loth.)

7

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 97

No sooner did he hear the fatal news than he was
seized by the most extraordinary convulsions and
cramps in the stomach, which never ceased till he
died, about sundown the same day. He was a strong
man, in the prime of life, and if any pakeha free-
thinker should have said he was not killed by the
tapu of the chief, which had been communicated to
the food by contact, he would have been listened to
with feelings of contempt for his ignorance and in-
ability to understand plain and direct evidence.

It will be seen at once that this form of the tapu
was a great preserver of property. The most valuable
articles might, in ordinary circumstances, be left to
its protection, in the absence of the owners, for any
length of time. It also prevented borrowing and
lending in a very great degree; and though much
laughed at and grumbled at by unthinking pakehas,
who would be always trying to get the natives to give
it up, without offering them anything equally effec-
tive in its place, or, indeed, knowing its real object or
uses, it held its ground in full force for many years,
and, in a certain but not so very observable a form,
exists still. This form of the tapu, though latent in
young folks of rangatira rank, was not supposed to
develope itself fully till they had arrived at mature
age, and set up house on their own account. The
lads and boys “ knocked about” amongst the slaves
and lower orders, carried fuel or provisions on their
backs, and did all those duties which this personal
tapu prevented the elders from doing, and which re-
straint was sometimes very troublesome and inconve-

H

98 OLD NEW ZHALAND.

nient. A man of any standing could not carry pro-
visions of any kind on his back, or if he did they
were rendered tapu, and, in consequence, useless to
any one but himself. If he went into the shed used
as a kitchen (a thing, however, he would never think
of doing except on some great emergency), all the
pots, ovens, food, &c. would be at once rendered use-
less—none of the cooks or inferior people could make
use of them, or partake of anything which had been
cooked in them. He might certainly light a little
fire in his own house, not for cooking, as that never
by any chance could be done in his house, but for
warmth; but that, or any other fire, if he should have
blown upon it with his breath in lighting it, became
at once tapu, and could be used for no common or
culinary purpose. Even to light a pipe at it would
subject any inferior person, or In many instances an
equal, to a terrible attack of the tapu morbus, besides
being a slight or affront to the dignity of the person
himself. I have seen two or three young men fairly
wearing themselves out on a wet day and with bad
apparatus trying to make fire to cook with, by rub-
bing two sticks together, when on a journey, and at
the same time there was a roaring fire close at hand
at which several rangatira and myself were warming
ourselves, but it was tapu, sacred fire—one of the
rangatira had made it from his own tinder-box, and
blown upon it in lighting it, and as there was not
another tinder-box amongst us, fast we must, though
hungry as sharks, till common culinary fire could be
obtained <A native whose personal tapw was perhaps

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 99

of the strongest, might, when at the house of a
pakeha, ask for a drink of water; the pakeha, being
green, would hand him some water in a glass, or in
those days, more probably in a tea-cup; the native
would drink the water, and then gravely and quietly
break the cup to pieces, or otherwise he would appro-
priate it by causing it to vanish under his mat. The
new pakeha would immediately fly into a passion, to
the great astonishment of the native, who considered,
as a matter of course, that the cup or glass was, in the
estimation of the pakeha, a very worthless article, or
he would not have given it into his hand and allowed
him to put it to his head, the part most strongly in-
fected by the tapu. Both parties would be surprised
and displeased; the native wondering what could have
put the pakeha into such a taking, and the pakeha
‘“ wondering at the rascal’s impudence, and what he
meant by it?” The proper line of conduct for the
pakeha in the above case made and provided, sup-
posing him to be of a hospitable and obliging disposi-
tion, would be to lay hold of some vessel containing
about two gallons of water (to allow for waste), hold
it up before the native’s face, the native would then
stoop down and put his hand, bent into the shape of
a funnel or conductor for the water, to his mouth;
then, from the height of a foot or so, the pakeha
would send a cataract of water into the said funnel,
and continue the shower till the native gave a slight
upward nod of the head, which meant “enough,” by
which time, from the awkwardness of the pakeha, the
two gallons of water would be about expended, half,

100 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

at least, on the top of the native’s head, who would
not, however, appear to notice the circumstance, and
would appreciate the civility of his pakeha friend. I
have often drank in this way in the old times; asking
for a drink of water at a native village, a native would
gravely approach with a calabash, and hold it up
before me ready to pour forth its contents; I, of
course, cocked my hand and lip in the most knowing
manner. If I had laid hold of the calabash and
drank in the ordinary way as practised by pakehas, I
would have at once fallen in the estimation of all by-
standers, and been set down as a tutwa—a nobody,
who had no tapu or mana about him; a mere scrub
of a pakeha, whom any one might eat or drink after
without the slightest danger of being poisoned. These
things are all changed now, and though I have often
in the good old times been tabooed in the most
diabolical and dignified manner, there are only a
few old men left now who, by little unmistakable
signs, I perceive consider it would be very uncivil to
act in any way which would suppose my tapu to have
disappeared before the influx of new-fangled pakeha
notions. Indeed I feel myself sometimes as if I was
somehow insensibly partially civilized. What it will
all end in, I don’t know.

This same personal tapw would even hold its own
in some cases against the muru, though not in a sufii-
ciently general manner to seriously affect the opera-
tion of that well-enforced law. Its inconveniences
were, on the other hand, many, and the expedients
resorted to to avoid them were sometimes comical

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 101

enough. I was once going on an excursion with a
number of natives; we had two canoes, and one of
them started a little before the other. I was with
the canoe which had been left behind, and just as we
were setting off it was discovered that amongst twenty
stout fellows, my companions, there was no one who
had a back !—as they expressed it—and, consequently,
no one to carry our provisions into the canoe: all the
lads, women, and slaves had gone off in the other
canoe—all those who had backs—and so there we
were left, a very disconsolate lot of rangatira, who
could not carry their own provisions into the canoe,
and who at the same time could not go without them.
The provisions consisted of several heavy baskets of
potatoes, some dried sharks, and a large pig baked
whole. What was to be done? We were all brought
to a full stop, though in a great hurry to goon. We
were beginning to think we must give up the expedi-
tion altogether, and were very much disappointed
accordingly, when a clever fellow, who, had he been
bred a lawyer, would have made nothing of driving a
mail coach through an act of parliament, set us all to
rights in a moment. “I'll tell you what we must do,”
said he, “we will not carry (pzkau) the provisions, we
will hike them.” (iki is the word in Maori which
- describes the act of carrying an infant in the arms.)
This was a great discovery! A huge handsome
fellow seized on the baked pig and dandled it, or heki’d
it, in his arms like an infant; another laid hold of a
shark, others took baskets of potatoes, and carrying
them in this way deposited them in the canoe. And

102 OLD NHW ZHALAND.

so, having thus evaded the law, we started on our ex-
pedition.

I remember another amusing instance in which the
inconvenience arising from the tapu was evaded. I
must, however, notice that these instances were only
evasions of the tapu of the ordinary kind, what I have
called the personal tapu, not the more dangerous and
dreadful kind connected with the mystic doings of the
tuhunga, or that other form of tapw connected with the
handling of the dead. Indeed, my companions in the
instance I have mentioned, though all rangatira, were
young men on whom the personal tapu had not arrived
at the fullest perfection ; it seemed, indeed, sometimes
to sit very lightly on them, and I doubt very much if
the play upon the words hike and pikaw would have
reconciled any of the elders of the tribe to carrying a
roasted pig in their arms, or if they did do so, I feel
quite certain that no amount of argument would
have persuaded the younger men to eat it; as for
slaves or women, to look at it would almost be danger-
ous to them.

The other instance of dodging the law was as fol-
lows :—I was the first pakeha who had ever arrived
at a certain populous inland village. The whole of
the inhabitants were in a great state of commotion
and curiosity, for many of them had never seen a
pakeha before. As I advanced, the whole juvenile
population ran before me at a safe distance of about a
hundred yards, eyeing me, as I perceived, with great
terror and distrust. At last I suddenly made a charge
at them, rolling my eyes and showing my teeth, and |

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 103

to see the small savages tumbling over one another,
and running for their lives, was something curious,
and though my “demonstration ” did not continue
more than twenty yards, I am sure some of the little
villains ran a mile before looking behind to see
whether the ferocious monster called a pakeha was
gaining on them. They did run! [ arrived at the
centre of the village, and was conducted to a large
house or shed, which had been constructed as a place
of reception for visitors, and as a general lounging
place for all the inhabitants. It was a whare noa, a
house to which, from its general and temporary uses,
the tapu was not supposed to attach, I mean, of course,
the ordinary personal tapu or tapu rangatira. Any
person, however, znjected with any of the more serious
or extraordinary forms of the tapu entering it, would
at once render it uninhabitable. I took my seat.
The house was full, and nearly the whole of the rest
of the population were blocking up the open front of
the large shed, all striving to see the pakeha, and
passing to the rear from man to man every word he
happened to speak. I could hear them say to the
people behind, “‘ The pakeha has stood up!” ‘ Now
he has sat down again!” ‘‘ He has said, how do you
all do?” ‘He has said, this is a nice place of yours!’
etc.,etc. Now there happened to be at a distance an
old gentleman engaged in clearing the weeds from a
kumera or sweet potato field, and as the kumera in the
old times was the crop on which the natives depended
chiefly for support, like all valuable things it was tapu,
and the parties who entered the field to remove the

104 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

weeds were tapu, pro tem., also. Now one of the
effects of this temporary extra tapu was that the
parties could not enter any regular dwelling-house, or
indeed any house used by others. Now the breach of
this rule would not be dangerous in a personal sense,
but the effect would be that the crop of sweet potatoes
would fail. The industrious individual I have alluded
to, hearing the cry of ‘“‘ A pakeha! a pakeha!” from
many voices, and having never had an opportunity to
examine that variety of the species, or genus homo,
flung down his wooden kaheru or weed exterminator
and rushed towards the town house before mentioned.
What could he do? The tapu forbade his entrance, and
the front was so completely blocked up by his admir-
ing neighbours that he could not get sight of the
wonderful guest. In these desperate circumstances a
bright thought struck him; he would, by a bold and
ingenious device, give the tapu the slip. He ran to
the back of the house, made with some difficulty a
hole in the padded raupo wall, and squeezed his head
through it. The elastic wall of raupo closed again
around his neck; the tapwu was fairly beaten! Noone
could say he was zm the house. He was certainly
more out than in, and there, seemingly hanging from
or stuck against the wall, remained for hours, with
open mouth and wondering eyes, this brazen head,
till at last the shades of night obstructing its vision, a
rustling noise in the wall of flags and reeds announced
the departure of my bodyless admirer.

Some of the forms of the tapu were not to be played
with, and were of a most virulent kind. Of this kind

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 105

was the tapu of those who handled the dead, or con-
veyed the body to its last resting-place. This tapu
was, in fact, the uncleanness of the old Jewish law,
and lasted about the same time, and was removed in
almost the same way. It was a most serious affair.
The person who came under this form of the tapu was
cut off from all contact, and almost all communication
with the human race. He could not enter any house,
or come in contact with any person or thing, without
utterly bedevilmg them. He could not even touch
food with his hands, which had become so frightfully
tapu or unclean as to be quite useless. Food would
be placed for him on the ground, and he would then
sit or kneel down, and, with his hands carefully held
behind his back, would gnaw it in the best way he
could. In some cases he would be fed by another
person, who, with outstretched arm, would manage to
do it without touching the tapu’d individual; but this
feeder was subjected to many and severe restrictions,
not much less onerous than those to which the other
was subject. In almost every populous native village
there was a person who, probably for the sake of im-
munity from labour, or from being good for nothing
else, took up the undertaking business as a regular
profession, and, in consequence, was never for a
moment, for years together, clear of the horrid incon-
veniences of the ¢apu, as well as its dangers. One of
these people might be easily recognized, after a little
experience, even by a pakeha. Old, withered, hag-
gard, clothed in the most miserable rags, daubed all
over from head to foot with red paint (the native

106 OLD NEW ZHALAND.

funereal colour), made of stinking shark oil and red
ochre mixed, keeping always at a distance, silent
and solitary, often half insane, he might be seen
sitting motionless all day at a distance, forty or
fifty yards from the common path or thoroughfare of
the village. There, under the “lee” of a bush, or
tult of flax, gazing silently, and with “ lack-lustre
eye,’ on the busy doings of the Maori world, of which
he was hardly to be called a member. Twice a day
some food would be thrown on the ground before him,
to gnaw as best he might, without the use of hands;
and at night, tightening his greasy rags around him,
he would crawl into some miserable lair of leaves and
rubbish, there, cold, half-starved, miserable, and dirty,
to pass, in fitful ghost-haunted slumbers, a wretched
night, as prelude to another wretched day. It re-
quires, they say, all sorts of people to make a world;
and I have often thought, in observing one of these
miserable objects, that his or her’s was the very lowest
ebb to which a human being’s prospects in life could
be brought by adverse fate. When I met, or rather
saw, a female practitioner, I fairly ran for it; and so,
believing my readers to be equally tender-hearted, I
shall not venture on any more description, but merely
say that the man undertaker, such as I have described _
him, would be taken for Apollo if seen in one of these
hag’s company.

What will my kind reader say when I tell him that
I myself once got tapw’d with this same horrible,
horrible, most horrible style of tapu? I hold it to be
a fact that there is not one man in New Zealand but
myself who has a clear understanding of what the

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 107

word ‘‘excommunication”” means, and I did not un-
derstand what it meant till I got tapw’d. I was re-
turning with about sixty men from a journey along
the west coast. I was a short distance in advance of
the party, when I came to where the side of a hill
had fallen down on to the beach, and exposed a
number of human bones. There was a large skull
rolling about in the water. I took up this skull with-
out consideration, carried it to the side of the hill,
scraped a hole, and covered it up. Just as I had
finished covering it up, up came my friends, and I saw
at once, by the astonishment and dismay depicted on
their countenances, that I had committed some most
unfortunate act. They soon let me know that the
hill had been a burying-place of their tribe, and
jumped at once to the conclusion that the skull was
the skull of one of their most famous chiefs, whose
name they told me, informing me also that I was no
1 nger fit company for human beings, and begging me
to fall to the rear and keep my distance. They told
me all this from a very respectful distance, and if I
made a step towards them, they all ran as if I had
been infected by the plague. This was an awkward
state of things, but as it could not be helped, I voted
myself tapu, and kept clear of my friends till night.
At night when they camped I was obliged to take my
solitary abode at a distance, under shelter of a rock.
When the evening meal was cooked, they brought me
a fair allowance, and set it down at a respectful
distance from where I sat, fully expecting, I suppose,
that I should bob at it as Maori haz tango atua or un-
dertakers are wont to do. I had, however, no idea of

108 OLD NEW ZHALAND.

any such proceeding; and pulling out my knife pro-
ceeded to operate in the usual manner. I was checked
by an exclamation of horror and surprise from the
whole band, “Oh, what are you about, you are not
going to touch food with your hands?” ‘Indeed,
but I am,” said I, and stretched out my hand. Here
another scream—“ You must not do that, it’s the
worst of all things; one of us will feed you; it’s
wrong, wrong, very wrong!” ‘Oh, bother,” said I,
and fell to at once. I declare positively I had no
sooner done so than I felt sorry. The expression of
horror, contempt, and pity observable in their faces,
convinced me that I had not only offended and hurt
their feelings, but that I had lowered myself greatly
in their estimation. Certainly I was a pakeha, and
pakehas will do most unaccountable things, and may
be, mn ordinary cases, excused; but this, I saw at
once, was an act which, to my friends, seemed the ne
plus ultra of abomination. I now can well understand
that I must have, sitting there eating my potatoes,
appeared to them a ghoul, a vampire—worse than
even one of their own dreadful atua, who, at the com-
mand of a witch, or to avenge some breach of the
tapu, enters into a man’s body and slowly eats away
his vitals. I can see it now, and understand what a
frightful object I must have appeared. My friends
broke up their camp at once, not feeling sure, after
what I had done, but I might walk in amongst them
in the night, when they were asleep, and bedevil them
all. They marched all night, and in the morning
came to my house, where they spread consternation

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 109

and dismay amongst my household by telling them in
what a condition I was coming home. The whole of
my establishment at this time being natives, they ran
at once; and when I got home next evening, hungry
and vexed, there was not a soul to be seen. The
house and kitchen were shut up, fires out, and, as I
fancied, everything looked dreary and uncomfortable.
If only a dog had come and wagged his tail in wel-
come, it would have been something; but even my
dog was gone. Certainly there was an old tom cat,
but I hate cats, there is no sincerity in them, and so
I had kicked this old tom on principle whenever he
came in my way, and now, when he saw me, he ran
for his life into the bush. The instinct of a hungry
man sent me into the kitchen; there was nothing eat-
able to be seen but a raw leg of pork, and the fire was
out. I now began to suspect that this attempt of
mine to look down the tapu would fail, and that I
should remain excommunicated for some frightfully
indefinite period. I began to think of Robinson
Crusoe, and to wonder if I could hold out as well as
he did. Then I looked hard at the leg of pork. The
idea that I must cook for myself brought home to me
the fact more forcibly than anything else how I had
“fallen from my high estate’—cooking being the
very last thing a rangatira can turn his hand to. But
why should [ have anything more to do with cook-
ing? Was I not cast off and repudiated by the
human race? (A horrible misanthropy was fast
taking hold of me.) Why should I not tear my leg

of pork raw, like a wolf? “I will run a muck!”

110 OLD NEW ZHALAND.

suddenly said I. “I wonder how many I can kill
before they ‘bag’ me? I will kill, kill, kill! but—I
must have some supper.”

I soon made a fire, and after a little rummaging
found the matériel for a good meal. My cooking was
not so bad either, I thought ; but certainly hunger
is not hard to please in this respect, and I had eaten
nothing since the diabolical meal of the preceding
evening, and had travelled more than twenty miles.
I washed my hands six or seven times, scrubbing
away and muttering with an intonation that would
have been a fortune to a tragic actor. ‘“ Out, damned
spot;” and so, after having washed and dried my
hands, looked at them, returned, and washed again,
again washed, and so on several times, I sat down
and demolished two days’ allowance. After which,
reclining before the fire with my pipe and a blanket
over my shoulders, a more kindly feeling towards my
fellow men stole gradually upon me. ‘I wonder,”
said I to myself, “how long this devilish tapw will
last! I wonder if there is to be any end at all to it!
I won’t run a muck for a week, at all events, till I
see what may turn up. Confounded plague though
to have to cook!” Having resolved as above, not to
take any one’s life for a week, I felt more patient. ©
Four days passed somehow or another, and on the
morning of the fifth, to my extreme delight, I saw a
small canoe, pulled by one man, landing on the beach
before the house. He fastened his canoe and ad-
vanced towards the kitchen, which was .detached
from the house, and which, in the late deplorable

, »
" S

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 1il

state of affairs, had become my regular residence.
I sat in the doorway, and soon perceived that my
visitor was a famous tohunga, or priest, and who also
had the reputation of being a witch of no ordinary
dimensions. He was an old, grave, stolid-looking
savage, with one eye, the other had been knocked
out long ago in a fight before he turned parson. On
he came, with a slow, measured step, slightly gesti-
culating with one hand, and holding in the other
a very small basket, not more than nine or ten
inches long. He came on, mumbling and grumbling
a perfectly unintelligible karakia or incantation. I
guessed at once he was coming to disenchant me,
and prepared my mind to submit to any conditions or
ceremonial he should think fit to impose. My old
friend came gravely up, and putting his hand into
the little basket pulled out a baked kumera, saying,
‘‘ He kat mau.” I of course accepted the offered
food, took a bite, and as I ate he mumbled his incanta-
tion over me. I remember I felt a curious sensation
at the time, like what I fancied. a man must feel who
had just sold himself, body and bones, to the devil.
For a moment I asked myself the question whether
I was not actually being then and there handed over
to the powers of darkness. The thought startled me.
There was I, an unworthy bift believing member of
the Church of England as by Parliament established,
‘“‘Inuckling down” abjectly to the ministration of a
ferocious old cannibal, wizard, sorcerer, high priest,
—as it appeared very probable,—to Satan himself:
“Blacken his remaiming eye! knock him over and

112 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

run the country!” whispered quite plainly m my ear
my guardian angel, or else a little impulsive sprite
who often made suggestions to me in those days.
For a couple of seconds the sorcerer’s eye was in des-
perate danger; but just in those moments the cere-
mony, or at least this most objectionable part of it,
came to an end. He stood back and said, “ Have
you been in the house?” Fortunately I had pre-
sence of mind enough to forget that I had, and said,
“¢ No.” - “ Throw out all those pots and kettles.” I
saw it was no use to resist—so out they went.
“Fling out those dishes” was the next command.
“The dishes?—they will break.” ‘I am going to
break them all.” Capital fun this—out go the dishes ;
“and may the ——.” I fear I was about to say
something bad. ‘Fling out those knives, and those
things with sharp points”—/(the old villain did not
know what to call the forks!)—‘ and those shells
with handles to them ”—(spoons !)—‘‘ out with every-
thing.” The last sweeping order is obeyed and the
kitchen is fairly empty. The worst is over now at
last, thank goodness, said I to myself. ‘‘ Strip off all
your clothes.” ‘What? strip naked! you desperate
old thief—mind your eye.” Human patience could
bear no more. OutI jumped. I did “strip.” Off
came my jacket. ‘How would you prefer being
killed, old ruffian? can you do anything in this
way?” (Here a pugilistic demonstration.) “ Strip!
he doesn’t mean to give me five dozen, does he?” said
I, rather bewildered, and looking sharp to see if he
had anything like an instrument of flagellation in

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 113

his possession. ‘Come on! what are you waiting
for?” said I. In those days, when labouring under
what Dickens calls the “description of temporary
insanity which arises from a sense of injury,” I
always involuntarily fell back upon my mother tongue,
which in this case was perhaps fortunate, as my necro-
mantic old friend did not understand the full force of
my eloquence. He could not, however, mistake my
warlike and rebellious attitude, and could see clearly
I was going into one of those most unaccountable rages
that pakehas were liable to fly into, without any im-
aginable cause. ‘ Boy,” said he, gravely and quietly,
and without seeming to notice my very noticeable de-
claration of war and independence, “don’t act fool-
ishly ; don’t gomad. No one willever come near you
while you have those clothes. You will be miserable
here by yourself. And what is the use of being angry?
what will anger do for you?” The perfect coolness
of my old friend, the complete disregard he paid to
my explosion of wrath, as well as his reasoning,
began to make me feel a little disconcerted. He
evidently had come with the purpose and intention
to get me out of a very awkward scrape. I began
also to feel that, looking at the affair from his point
of view, I was just possibly not making a very
respectable figure; and then, if I understood him
rightly, there would be no flogging. ‘‘ Well,” said I,
at last, ‘‘ Fate compels; to fate, and not old Hurlo-
thrumbo there, I yield—so here goes.’ Let me not
dwell upon the humiliating concession to the powers
of tapu. Suflice it to say, I disrobed, and received
I

114 OLD NEW ZHALAND.

permission to enter my own house in search of other
garments. When I came out again, my old friend
was sitting down with a stone in his hand, battering
the last pot to pieces, and looking as if he was per-
forming a very meritorious action. He carried away
all the smashed kitchen utensils and my clothes in
baskets, and deposited them in a thicket at a consi-
derable distance from the house. (I stole the knives,
forks, and spoons back again some time after, as he
had not broken them.) He then bid me good-bye,
and the same evening all my household came flock-
ing back; but years passed before any one but
myself would go into the kitchen, and I had to build
another. And for several years also I could observe,
by the respectable distance kept by young natives
and servants, and the nervous manner with which
they avoided my pipe in particular, that they consi-
dered I had not been as completely purified from the
tapu tango atua as I might have been. I now am
aware, that in consideration of my being a pakeha,
and also perhaps, lest driven to desperation, I should
run away entirely, which would have been looked upon
as a great misfortune to the tribe, I was let off very
easy, and might. therefore be supposed to retain some
tinge of the dreadful infection.

Besides these descriptions of tapu, there were
many others. There was the war tapu, which in
itself included fifty different ‘sacred customs,” one
of which was this—that often when the fighting
men left the pa or camp, they being themselves made
tapu, or sacred, as in this particular case the word

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 115

means, all those who remained behind, old men,
women, slaves, and all non-combatants were obliged
strictly to fast while the warriors were fighting; and,
indeed, from the time they left the camp till their
return, even to smoke a pipe would be a breach of
this rule. These war customs, as well as other forms
of the tapu, are evidently derived from a very ancient
religion, and did not take their rise in this country.
I shall probably, some of these days, treat of them
at more length, and endeavour to trace them to their
source.

Sacrifices were often made to the war demon, and
I know of one instance in which, when a tribe were
surrounded by an overwhelming force of their ene-
mies, and had nothing but extermination, immediate
and unrelenting, before them, the war chief cut out
the heart of his own son as an offering for victory, and
then he and his tribe, with the fury of despair and the
courage of fanatics, rushed upon the foe, defeated
them with terrific slaughter, and the war demon had
much praise, and many men were eaten.

The warriors, when on a dangerous expedition, also
observed strictly the custom to which allusion is
made. 1 Samuel, xxi. 4-5.

CHAPTER IX.

The Tapu Tohunga.—The Maori oracle-—Responses of the
oracle.—Priestcraft.

YON PMIOS ES

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hes

HEN came the tapu tohunga, or priest’s
tapu, a quite different kind or form of
X* tapu from those which I have spoken of.
x03) These tohunga presided over all those
ceremonies and customs which had something ap-
proaching to a religious character. They also pre-
tended to the power, by means of certain familiar
spirits, to foretell future events, and even in some
cases to control them. The belief in the power of
these tohunga to foretell events was very strong, and
the incredulous pakeha who laughed at them was
thought a person quite incapable of understanding
plain evidence. I must allow that some of their pre-
dictions were of a most daring nature, and happening
to turn out perfectly successful, there may be some
excuse for an ignorant people believing im them.
Most of these predictions were, however, given, like
the oracles of old, in terms which would admit a
double meaning, and secure the character of the sooth-
sayer no matter how the event turned out. It is also

ail

OLD NHW ZEALAND. 117

remarkable that these tohunga did not pretend to
divine future events by any knowledge or power exist
ing in themselves ; they pretended to be for the time
inspired by the familiar spirit, and passive in his
hands. This spirit ‘‘entered into” them, and, on
being questioned, gave a response in a sort of half-
whistling, half-articulate voice, supposed to be the
proper language of spirits; and I have known a
tohunga who, having made a false prediction, laid the
blame on the “ tricksey spirit,” who he said had pur-
posely spoken false for certain good and sufficient
spiritual reasons, which he then explained. Amongst
the fading customs and beliefs of the good old times
the tohunga still holds his ground, and the oracle is as
often consulted, though not so openly, as it was a
hundred years ago, and is as firmly believed in, and
this by natives who are professed Christians; and the
inquiries are often on subjects of the most vital im-
portance to the welfare of the colony. A certain
tohunga has even quite lately, to my certain know-
ledge, been paid a large sum of money to do a
miracle! J saw the money paid, and I saw the
miracle. And the miracle was a good enough sort of
miracle, as miracles go in these times. The natives
know we laugh at their belief in these things. They
would much rather we were angry, for then they
would defy us; but as we simply laugh at their
credulity, they do all they can to conceal it from us;
but nevertheless the chiefs, on all matters of import-
ance, continue to consult the Maori oracle.

I shall give two instances of predictions which came

118 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

under my own observation, and which will show how
much the same priestcraft has been in all times.

A man—a petty chief—had a serious quarrel with
his relations, left his tribe, and went to a distant part
of the country, saying that he cast them off, and
would never return. After a time the relations be-
came both uneasy at his absence and sorry for the
disagreement. The presence of the head of the
family was also of consequence to them. They there-
fore inquired of the oracle if he would return. At
night the tohunga imvoked the familiar spirit, he
became inspired, and in a sort of hollow whistle came
the words of fate:—‘ He will return, but yet not
return.” This response was given several times, and
then the spirit departed, leaving the priest or tohunga
to the guidance of his own unaided wits. No one
could understand the meaning of the response. The
priest himself said he could make nothing of it. The
spirit of course knew his own meaning; but all
agreed that, whatever that meaning was, it would
turn out true. Now the conclusion of this story is
rather extraordinary. Some time after this several
of the chief’s relations went to offer reconciliation
and to endeavour to persuade him to return home.
Six months afterwards they returned, bringing him ~
along with them a corpse; they had found him
dying, and carried his body home. Now all knew
the meaning of the words of the oracle, “ He will
return, but yet not return.”

Another instance, which I witnessed myself, was
as follows:—A captain of a large ship had run away

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 119

with a Maori girl; or a Maori girl had run away
with a ship captain; I should not like to swear which
is the proper form of expression; and the relations,
as in such cases happens in most countries, thought
it incumbent on them to get into a great taking, and
make as much noise as possible about the matter.
Off they set to the tohunga; I happened to be at his
place at the time, and saw and heard all I am about
to recount. The relations of the girl did not merely
confine themselves to asking questions, they demanded
active assistance. The ship had gone to sea loaded
for along voyage. The fugitives had fairly escaped ;
and what the relations wanted was that the atua, or
familiar spirit of the tohunga, should bring the ship
back into port, so that they might have an oppor-
tunity to recover the lost ornament of the family.
I heard the whole. The priest hummed and hawed.
‘“‘ He did not know, could not say. We should hear
what the ‘boy’ would say. He would do as he
_ liked. Could not compel him;” and so forth. At
night all assembled in the house where the priest
usually performed. All was expectation. I saw I was
de trop in the opinion of our soothsayer; in fact, I
had got the name of an infidel (which I have since
taken care to get rid of), and the spirit was unwilling
to enter the company of unbelievers. My friend the
priest hinted to me politely that a nice bed had been
made for me in the next house. I thanked him in
the most approved Maori fashion, but said I was
“‘very comfortable where I was;” and, suiting the
action to the word, rolled my cloak about me, and

120 OLD NHW ZEALAND.

lay down on the rushes with which the floor was
covered. About-midnight I heard the spirit saluting
the guests, and they saluting him; and I also noticed
they hailed him as “ relation,” and then gravely pre-
ferred the request that he would ‘drive back the ship
which had stolen his cousin.” The response, after a
short time, came in the hollow, mysterious, whistling
voice,—“‘ The ship’s nose I will batter out on the
great sea.” This answer was repeated several times,
and then the spirit departed and would not be re-
called. The rest of the night was spent in conjec-
turing what could be the meaning of these words.
All agreed that there must be more in them than
met the ear; but no one could say it was a clear
concession of the request made. As for the priest,
he said he could not understand it, and that ‘ the
spirit was a great rogue ”—a koroke hangareka. He,
however, kept throwing out hints now and then that
something more than common was meant, and talked
generally in the “we shall see” style. Now here
comes the end of the affair. About ten days after
this in comes the ship. She had been “battered”
with a vengeance. She had been met by a terrible
gale when a couple of hundred miles off the land,
and had sprung a leak in the bow. The bow in
Maori is called the “nose” (thu). The vessel had
been in great danger, and had been actually forced
to run for the nearest port, which happened to be
the one she had left. Now, after such a coincidence
as this, I can hardly blame the ignorant natives for
believing in the oracle, for I actually caught myself

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 121

quoting, ‘“‘Can the devil speak truth?” Indeed I
have in the good old times known several pakehas
who “thought there was something in it,” and two
who formally and believingly consulted the oracle,
and paid a high douceur to the priest.

I shall give one more instance of the response of
the Maori oracle. A certain northern tribe, noted
for their valour, but not very numerous, sent the
whole of their best men on a war expedition to the
south. This happened about forty years ago. Be-
fore the tawa started the oracle was consulted, and
the answer to the question, “Shall this expedition
be successful?” came. ‘‘ A desolate country !—a de-
solate country!—a desolate country!” This the
eager warriors accepted as a most favourable re-
sponse. They said the enemy’s country would be
desolated. It, however, so turned out that they
were all exterminated to a man, and the miserable
remnant of their tribe, weakened and rendered help-
less by their loss, became a prey to their more imme-
diate neighbours, lost their lands, and have ceased
from that day to be heard of as an independent tribe.
So, in fact, it was the country of the eager inquirers
which was laid “ desolate.” Every one praised the
oracle, and its character was held higher than ever.

CHAPTER X.

The priest evokes a spirit.—The consequences.—A Maori
tragedy. The “ Tohunga”’ again.

WHESE priests or tohunga would, and dc
) to this hour, undertake to call up the
spirit of any dead person, if paid for the
same. I have seen many of these ex-
hibitions, but one instance will suffice as an example.

A young chief, who had been very popular and
greatly respected in his tribe, had been killed in
battle, and, at the request of several of his nearest
friends, the tohunga had promised on a certain night
to call up his spirit to speak to them, and answer cer-
tain questions they wished to put. The priest was to
come to the village of the relations, and the interview
was to take place in a large house common to all the
population. This young man had been a great friend
of mine; and so, the day before the event, I was sent
to by his relations, and told that an opportunity
offered of conversing with my friend once more. |
was not much inclined to bear a part in such out-
rageous mummery, but curiosity caused me to go.
Now it is necessary to remark that this young chief

OLD NEW ZHALAND. 123

was a man in advance of his times and people in many
respects. He was the first of his tribe who could
read and write; and, amongst other unusual things
for a native to do, he kept a register of deaths and
births, and a journal of any remarkable events which
happened in the tribe. Now this book was lost. No
one could find it, although his friends had searched
unceasingly for it, as it contained many matters of
interest, and also they wished to preserve it for his
sake. I also wished to get it, and had often inquired
if it had been found, but had always been answered in
the negative. The appointed time came, and at night
we all met the priest in the large house I have men-
tioned. Fires were lit, which gave an uncertain,
flickering light. The priest retired to the darkest
corner. All was expectation, and the silence was
only broken by the sobbing of the sister and other fe-
male relations of the dead man. They seemed to be,
and indeed were, in an agony of excitement, agitation,
and grief. This state of things continued for a long
time, and I began to feel in a way surprising to my-
self, as if there was something real in the matter.
The heart-breaking sobs of the women, and the grave
and solemn silence of the men, convinced me that, to
them at least, this was a serious matter. I saw the
brother of the dead man now and then wiping the
tears in silence from his eyes. I wished I had not
come, for I felt that any unintentional symptom of in-
credulity on my part would shock and hurt the feel-
ings of my friends extremely; and yet, whilst feeling
thus, I felt myself more and more near to believing in

124 OLD NEW ZLALAND.

the deception about to be practised. The real grief,
and also the general undoubting faith, in all around
me, had this effect. We were all seated on the rush-
strewn floor, about thirty persons. The door was
shut; the fire had burnt down, leaving nothing but
glowing charcoal. The room was oppressively hot.
The light was little better than darkness, and the part
of the room in which the tohunga sat was now in per-
fect darkness. Suddenly, without the slightest warn-
ing, a voice came out of the darkness. “Salutation !—
salutation to you all!—salutation !—salutation to you,
my tribe!—family, I salute you!—friends, I salute
you !—friend, my pakeha friend, I salute you!”’ The
high-handed, daring imposture was successful; our
feelings were taken by storm. A cry expressive of
affection and despair, such as was not good to hear,
came from the sister of the dead chief, a fine, stately,
and really handsome woman of about five-and-twenty.
She was rushing, with both arms extended, into the
dark, in the direction from whence the voice came.
She was instantly seized round the waist and re-
strained by her brother by main force, till moaning
and fainting she lay still on the ground. Atthe same
instant another female voice was heard from a young
girl who was held by the wrists by two young men,
her brothers. ‘‘Isit you?—is it you?—truly is it you ?—
aue! aue! they hold me, they restrain me; wonder
not that I have not followed you; they restrain me,
they watch me, but I go to you. The sun shall not
rise, the sun shall not rise, awe! awe!” Here she fell
insensible on the rush floor, and with the sister was

OLD NEW ZHALAND. 125

carried out. The remaining women were all weeping
and exclaiming, but were silenced by the men, who
were themselves nearly as much excited, though not
so clamorous. I, however, did notice two old men,
who sat close to me, were not in the slightest degree
moved in any way, though they did not seem at all
incredulous, but quite the contrary. The spirit spoke
again. ‘‘ Speak to me, the tribe!—speak to me, the
family !—speak to me, the pakeha!” The “‘ pakeha,”
however, was not at the moment inclined for conver-
sation. The deep distress of the two women, the
evident belief of all around him of the presence of the
spirit, the “darkness visible,’ the novelty of the
scene, gave rise to a state of feeling not favourable to
the conversational powers. Besides, I felt reluctant
to give too much apparent credence to an imposture,
which at the very same time, by some strange im-
pulse, I felt half ready to give way to. At last the
brother spoke. “ How is it with you?—is it well with
you in that country?” The answer came—(the voice
all through, it is to be remembered, was not the voice
of the tohunga, but a strange melancholy sound, like
the sound of the wind blowing into a hollow vessel),
—‘]I¢ is well with me; my place is a good place.”
The brother spoke again. ‘‘ Have you seen
and ——, and °” (1 forget the names men-
tioned.) ‘‘ Yes, they are all with me.” A woman’s
voice now from another part of the room anxiously
cried out, ‘‘ Have you seen my sister?” ‘“ Yes, I
have seen her.” ‘ Tell her my love is great towards
her and never will cease.” ‘ Yes, I will tell.” Here

126 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

the woman burst into tears, and the pakeha felt a
strange swelling of the chest, which he could in no
way account for. The spirit spoke again. “Give my
large tame pig to the priest (the pakeha was disen-
chanted at once) and my double-gun.” Here the
brother interrupted, ‘‘ Your gun is a manatunga, I
shall keep it.” He is also disenchanted, thought I,
but I was mistaken. He believed, but wished to
keep the gun his brother had carried so long. An
idea now struck me that I could expose the imposture
without showing palpable disbelief. ‘‘We cannot find
your book,” said I, “where have you concealed it?”
The answer instantly came, ‘‘ I concealed it between
the tahuhu of my house and the thatch, straight over
you as you go in at the door.” Here the brother
rushed out; all was silence till his return. In five
minutes he came back with the book in his hand. 1
was beaten, but made another effort. ‘ What have
you written in that book?” said I. “ A great many
things.” “Tell me some of them.” ‘“ Which of
them?” “Any of them.” “ You are seeking for
some information, what do you want to know? I
will tell you.” Then suddenly, “ Farewell, O tribe!
farewell, my family, I go!” Here a general and im-
pressive cry of ‘‘ farewell” arose from every one in the
house. ‘‘ Farewell,” again cried the spirit, from deep
beneath the ground! ‘ Farewell,” again from high in
air! “Farewell,” once more came moaning through
the distant darkness of the night. ‘ Farewell!” I
was for a moment stunned. The deception was
perfect. There was a dead silence — at last.

OLD NHW ZHALAND. 127

‘A ventriloquist,’ said I; ‘ or—or—perhaps the
devil.”

I was fagged and confused. It was past midnight;
the company broke up, and I went to a house where
a bed had been prepared for me. I wished to be
quiet and alone; but it was fated there should be little
quiet that night. I was just falling asleep, after
having thought for some time on the extraordinary
scenes I had witnessed, when I heard the report of a
musket at some little distance, followed by the shout-
ing of men and the screams of women. Out I rushed.
I had a presentiment of some horrible catastrophe.
Men were running by, hastily armed. I could get no
information, so went with the stream. There was a
bright flame beginning to spring up at a short distance,
and every one appeared going in that direction. I
was soon there. A house had been set on fire to make
alight. Before another house, close at hand, a dense
circle of human beings was formed. I pushed my
way through, and then saw, by the bright light of the
flaming house, a scene which is still fresh before me:
there, in the verandah of the house, was an old grey-
bearded man; he knelt upon one knee, and on the
other he supported the dead body of the young girl
who had said she would follow the spirit to spirit
land. The delicate-looking body from the waist up-
wards was bare and bloody; the old man’s right arm
was under the neck, the lower part of his long grey
beard was dabbled with blood, his left hand was
twisting his matted hair; he did not weep, he howled,
and the sound was that of a heathen despair, knowing

128 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

no hope. The young girl had secretly procured a
loaded musket, tied a loop for her foot to the trigger,
placed the muzzle to her tender breast, and blown her-
self to shatters. And the old man was her father,
and a tohunga. A calm low voice now spoke close
beside me, ‘She has followed her rangatira,” it said.
I looked round, and saw the famous tohunga of the
night.

Now, young ladies, I have promised not to frighten
your little wits out with raw-head-and-bloody-bones
stories, a sort of thing I detest, but which has been
too much the fashion with folks who write of matters
Maori. I have vowed not to draw a drop of blood
except in a characteristic manner. But this story is
tragedy, or I don’t know what tragedy is, and the
more tragic because, in every particular, literally true,
and so if you cannot find some pity for the poor
Maori girl who “ followed her lord to spirit land,” I
shall make it my business not to fall in love with any
of you any more for I won’t say how long.

CHAPTER XI.

The local Tapu.—The Taniwha.—The battle on Motiti.—
The death of Tiki Whenua.—Reflections.—Brutus, Marcus An-
tonius, and Tiki Whenua.—Suicide.

pugilist, must be born, and not made,
and I begin to fancy I have not been
born under a story-telling planet, for
by no effort that I can make can I hold on to the
thread of my story, and I am conscious the whole
affair is fast becoming one great parenthesis. If I
could only get clear of this tapu I would “ try back.”
I believe I ought to be just now completing the pur-
chase of my estate. I am sure I have been keeping
house a long time before it is built, which is I believe
clear against the rules, so I must get rid of this talk
about the tapu the best way I can, after which I will
start fair and try not to get before my story.

Besides these different forms of the tapw which I
have mentioned, there were endless others, but the
temporary local tapus were the most tormenting to a
pakeha, as well they might be, seeing that even a native
could not steer clear of them always. A place not
K

130 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

tapu yesterday might be most horribly tapu to-day,
and the consequences of trespassing thereon propor-
tionately troublesome. Thus, sailing along a coast
or a river bank, the most inviting landing-place
would be almost to a certainty the freehold property
of the Taniwha, a terrific sea-monster, who would to
a certainty, if his landed property was trespassed on,
upset the canoe of the trespassers and devour them
all the very next time they put to sea. The place
was tapu, and let the weather be as bad as it might,
it was better to keep to sea at all risks than to land
there. Even pakeha, though in some cases invul-
nerable, could not escape the fangs of the terrible
Taniwha. ‘ Was not little Jackey-poto, the sailor,
drowned by the Taniwha? He would go on shore,
in spite of every warning, to get some water to mix
with his waipiro, and was not his canoe found next
day floating about with his paddle and two empty
case bottles in it?—a sure sign that the Taniwha had
lifted him out bodily. And was not the body of the
said Jackey found some days after with the Taniwha’s
mark on it,—one eye taken out?”

These Taniwha would, however, sometimes attach
themselves to a chief or warrior, and in the shape of
a huge sea monster, a bird, or a fish, gambol round
his canoe, and by their motions give presage of good
or evil fortune.

When the Ngati Kuri sailed on their last and fated
expedition to the south, a huge Taniwha, attached to
the famous warrior, Tiki Whenua, accompanied the
expedition, playing about continually amongst the

——s

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 131

canoes, often coming close to the canoe of Tiki
Whenua, so that the warrior could reach to pat him
approvingly with his paddle, at which he seemed
much pleased; and when they came in sight of the
island of Tuhua, this Taniwha chief called up the
legions of the deep! The sea was blackened by an
army of monsters, who, with uncouth and awful
floundering and wallowing, performed before the
chief and his companions a hideous tu ngarahu, and
then disappeared. The Ngati Kuri, elated, and ac-
cepting this as a presage of victory, landed on Tuhua,
stormed the pa, and massacred its defenders. But
they had mistaken the meaning of the monster
review of the Taniwha. It was a leave-taking of his
favourite warrior, for the Ngati Kuri were fated to
die to a man on the next land they trod. A hundred
and fifty men were they—the pick and prime of their
tribe. All rangatira, all warriors of name, few in
numbers, but desperately resolute, they thought it
little to defeat the thousands of the south, and take
the women and children asa prey! Having feasted
and rejoiced at Tuhua, they sail for Motiti. This
world was too small for them. They were impatient
for battle. They thought to make the name of Kuri
strike against the skies; but in the morning the sea
is covered with war canoes. The thousands of the
south are upon them! Ngati Awa, with many an
allied band, mad for revenge, come on. Fight now,
oh Ngati Kuri!—not for victory, no, nor for life.
Think only now of utw/—for your time is come.
That which you have dealt to many, you shall now

132 OLD NEW ZHALAND.

receive. Fight!—fight! Your tribe shall be exter-
minated, but you must leave a name! Now came
the tug of war on “bare Motiti.” From early
morning till the sun had well declined, that ruthless
battle raged. Twice their own number had the
Ngati Kuri slain; and then Tiki Whenua, still
living, saw around him his dead and dying tribe. A
handful of bleeding warriors still resisted—a last and
momentary struggle. He thought of the utw; it was
great. He thought of the ruined remnant of the
tribe at home, and then he remembered—horrid
thought !—that ere next day’s setting sun, he and all
the warriors of his tribe would be baked and eaten.
(Tiki, my friend, thou art in trouble.) A cannon
was close at hand—a nine-pound carronade. They
had brought it in the canoes. Hurriedly he filled it
half full of powder, seized a long firebrand, placed
his breast to the cannon’s mouth, fired with his own
hand. Tiki Whenua, Good night!

Now I wonder if Brutus had had such a thing as
a nine-pounder about him at Phillippi, whether he
would have thought of using it inthis way. I really
don’t think he would. I have never looked upon
Brutus as anything of an original genius, but Tiki
Whenua most certainly was. I don’t think there is
another instance of a man blowing himself from a
gun—of course there are many examples of people
blowing others from cannon, but that is quite a
different thing—any blockhead can do that. But the
exit of Tiki Whenua has a smack of originality about
it which I like, and so I have mentioned it here.

OLD NEW ZHALAND. 135

But all this is digression on digression; how-
ever, I suppose the reader is getting used to it, and I
cannot help it; besides, I wanted to show them how
poor Tiki “‘ took arms against a sea of troubles,” and
for the want of a “bare bodkin” made shift with a
carronade. I shall never cease to lament those nice
lads who met with that little accident (poor fellows !)
on Motiti. A fine, strapping, stalwart set of fellows,
who believed in force. We don’t see many such men
now-a-days; the present generation of Maori are a
stunted, tobacco-smoking, grog-drinking, psalm-sing-
ing, special-pleading, shilling-hunting set of wretches ;
not above one in a dozen of them would know how
to cut up a man secundem artem. Pshaw! I am
ashamed of them.

I am getting tired of this tapu, so will give only
one or two more instances of the local temporary tapw.
In the autumn, when the great crop of kumera was
gathered, all the paths leading to the village and cul-
tivated lands were made tapu, and any one coming
along them would have notice of this by finding a
rope stretched across the road about breast-high;
when he saw this, his business must be very urgent
indeed or he would go back, and it would have been
taken as a very serious affront indeed, even in a near
relation, supposing his ordinary residence was not in
the village, to disregard the hint given by the rope,
—that for the present there was ‘‘no thoroughfare.”
Now, the reason of this blockade of the roads was
this. The report of an’ unusually fine crop of
kumera had often cost its cultivators and the whole

134 OLD NEW ZHALAND.

tribe their lives. The news would spread about that
Ngati so-and-so, living at so-and-so, had housed so
many thousands of baskets of kumera. Exaggeration
would multiply the truth by ten, the fertile land
would be coveted, and very probably its owners, or
rather its holders, would have to fight both for it and
their lives before the year was out. For this reason
strangers were not welcome at the Maori harvest
home. The kumera were dug hurriedly by the
whole strength of the working hands, thrown in
scattered heaps, and concealed from any casual ob-
servation by strangers by being covered over with
the leaves of the plants, and when all were dug then -
all hands set to work, at night, to fill the baskets and
carry off the crop to the storehouse or rua, and every
effort was made to get all stored and out of sight
before daylight, lest any one should be able to form
any idea of the extent of the crop. When the
digging of one field was completed another would be
done in the same manner, and so on till the whole
crop was housed in this stealthy manner. I have
been at several of these midnight labours, and have
admired the immense amount of work one family
would do in a single night, working as it were for
life and death. In consequence of this mode of pro-
ceeding, even the families inhabiting the same
village did not know what sort of a crop their neigh-
bours had, and if a question was asked (to do which
was thought impertinent and very improper), the
invariable answer was, ‘‘ Nothing at all; barely got
back the seed; hardly that; we shall be starved; we

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 135

shall have to eat fern root this year,” &c. The last
time I observed this custom was about twenty-seven
years ago, and even then it was nearly discontinued
and no longer general.

Talking of bygone habits and customs of the
natives, | remember I have mentioned two cases of
suicide. I shall, therefore, now take occasion to
state that no more marked alteration in the habits of
the natives has taken place than in the great decrease
of cases of suicide. In the first years of my resi-
dence in the country, it was of almost daily occur-
rence. When a man died, it was almost a matter of
course that his wife, or wives, hung themselves.
When the wife died, the man very commonly shot
himself. I have known young men, often on the
most trifling affront or vexation, shoot themselves;
and I was acquainted with a man who, having been for
two days plagued with the toothache, cut his throat
with avery blunt razor, without a handle, as a radical
cure, which it certainly was. I do not believe that one
case of suicide occurs now, for twenty when I first
came into the country. Indeed, the last case I have
heard of in a populous district, occurred several years
ago. It was rather aremarkable one. A native owed
another a few shillings; the creditor kept continually
asking for it; but the debtor, somehow or other, never
could raise the cash. At last, being out of patience,
and not knowing anything of the Insolvent Court, he
loaded his gun, went to the creditor’s house, and
called him out. Out came the creditor and his wife.
The debtor then placed the gun to his own breast,

136 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

and saying, ‘Here is your payment,” pulled the
trigger with his foot, and fell dead before them. I
think the reason suicide has become so comparatively
unfrequent is, that the minds of the natives are now
filled and agitated by a flood of new ideas, new wants
and ambitions, which they knew not formerly, and
which prevents them, from one single loss or disap-
pointment, feeling as if there was nothing more to
live for.

CHapTer XII.

The Tapa.—Instances of.—The storming of Mokoia.—Pomare.—
Hongi Ika.—Tareha.—Honour amongst thieves.

S<ZHERE was a kind of variation on the
3?) tapu, called tapa, of this nature. For
instance, if a chief said, ‘* That axe is
my head,” the axe became his to all
intents and purposes, except, indeed, the owner of
the axe was able to break his “ head,” in which case,
I have reason to believe, the tapa would fall to the
ground. It was, however, in a certain degree neces-
sary to have some legal reason, or excuse, for making
the tapa; but to give some idea of what constituted
the circumstances under which a man could fairly
tapa anything, I must needs quote a case in point.
When the Ngapuhi attacked the tribe of Neati
Wakawe, at Rotorua, the Ngati Wakawe retired to
the island of Mokoia in the lake of Rotorua, which
they fortified, thinking that, as the Ngapuhi canoes
could not come nearer than Kaituna on the east
coast, about thirty miles distant, they in their island
position would be safe. But in this they were
fatally deceived, for the Ngapuhi dragged a whole
fleet of war canoes over land. When, however, the

138 OLD NEW ZHALAND.

advanced division of the Ngapuhi arrived at Rotorua,
and encamped on the shore of the lake, Ngati Wak-
awe were not aware that the canoes of the enemy
were coming, so every morning they manned their
large canoes, and leaving the island fort, would come
dashing along the shore, deriding the Ngapuhi, and
erying, “Ma wai koe e kawe mai ki Rangitiki?”—
‘“Who shall bring you, or how shall you arrive, at
Rangitiki?” Rangitiki was the name of one of their
hill forts. The canoes were fine large ornamented
totara canoes, very valuable, capable of carrying from
fifty to seventy men each, and much coveted by the
Ngapuhi. The Ngapuhi, of course, considered all
these canoes as their own already, but the different
chiefs and leaders, anxious to secure one or more of
these fine canoes for themselves and people, and not
knowing who might be the first to lay hands on them
in the confusion of the storming of Mokoia, which
would take place when their own canoes arrived, each
tapa’d one or more for himself, or, as the native ex-
pression is, to himself. Up jumped Pomare, and
standing on the lake shore, in front of the encamp-
ment of the division of which he was leader, he shouts,
pointing at the same time to a particular canoe at the
time carrying about sixty men, ‘“ That canoe is my ~
back-bone.” Then Tareha, in bulk like a sea-elephant,
and sinking to the ankles in the shore of the lake, with
a hoarse, croaking voice roars out, “That canoe! my
skull shall be the baler to bale it out.” This was a
horribly strong tapa. Then the soft voice of the
famous Hongi Ika, surnamed “‘ The eater of men,” of

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 139

Hongi kat tangata, was heard, ‘‘Those two canoes are
my two thighs.” And so the whole flotilla was ap-
propriated by the different chiefs. Now it followed
from this that in the storming and plunder of Mokoia,
when a warrior clapped his hand on a canoe and
shouted, ‘‘This canoe is mine,” the seizure would not
stand good if it was one of the canoes which were
tapa-tapa, for it would be a frightful insult to Pomare
to claim to be the owner of his “back-bone,” or to
Tareha to go on board a canoe which had been made
sacred by the bare supposition that his “skull” should
be a vessel to bale it with. Of course the first man
laying his hand on any other canoe, and claiming it,
secured it for himself and tribe, always provided that
the number of men there present representing his
tribe or hapu were sufficient to back his claim, and
render it dangerous to dispossess him. I have seen
men shamefully robbed, for want of sufficient support,
of their honest lawful gains, after all the trouble and
risk they had gone to in killing the owners of their
plunder. But dishonest people are to be found almost
everywhere, and I will say this, that my friends the
Maoris seldom act against law, and always try to be
able to say what they do is “ correct” (tka).

This tapu is a bore, even to write about, and I fear
the reader is beginning to think it a bore to read
about. It began long before the time of Moses, and
I think that steam navigation will be the death of it;
but lest it should kill my reader, I will have done with
it for the present, and “try back,” for I have left my
story behind completely.

CuapTrer XIII.

“ My Rangatira.”—The respective duties of the Pakeha and
his Rangatira.—Public opinion.—A “ Pakeha Kino.”—Descrip-
tion of my Rangatira.—His exploits and misadventures.—His
moral principles.—Decline in the numbers of the natives.—
Proofs of former large population.—Ancient forts.—Causes of

decrease.

+HEN I purchased my land the payment
’) 4 was made on the ground, and imme-
i diately divided and subdivided amongst
IVS) the different sellers. Some of them,
who, according to their own representations formerly
made to me, were the sole and only owners of the
land, received for their share about the value of one
shilling, and moreover, as I also observed, did not
appear at all disappointed.

One old rangatira, before whom a considerable por-
tion of the payment had been laid as his share of the
spoil, gave it a slight shove with his foot, expressive
of refusal, and said, “‘I will not accept any of the pay-
ment, I will have the pakeha.” I saw some of the
magnates present seemed greatly disappointed at this,
for I dare say they had expected to have the pakeha
as well as the payment. But the old gentleman had
regularly checkmated them by refusing to accept any

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 141

payment, and being also a person of great respect-
ability, z.¢., a good fighting man, with twenty more at
his back, he was allowed to have his way, and thereby,
in the opinion of all the natives present, making a far
better thing of the land sale than any of them, though
he had received no part of the payment.

I consequently was therefore a part, and by no
means an inconsiderable one, of the payment for my
own land; but though now part and parcel of the
property of the old rangatira aforementioned, a good
deal of liberty was allowed me. The fact of my
having become his pakeha made our respective rela-
tions and duties to each other about as follows :—

Firstly.—At all times, places, and companies my
owner had the right to call me “his pakeha.”

Secondly.—He had the general privilege of ‘ pot-
luck” whenever he chose to honour my establishment
with a visit; said pot-luck to be tumbled out to him
on the ground before the house, he being far too
great a man to eat out of plates or dishes, or any de-
generate invention of that nature; as, if he did, they
would all become tapu, and of no use to any one but
himself, nor indeed to himself either, as he did not see
the use of them.

Thirdly.—It was well understood that to avoid
the unpleasant appearance of paying “black mail,”
and to keep up general kindly relations, my owner
should from time to time make me small presents,
and that in return I should make him presents of five
or six times the value: all this to be done as if
arising from mutual love and kindness, and not the

142 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

slightest allusion to be ever made to the relative
value of the gifts on either side (an important
article). |

Fourthly.—It was to be a sine qua non that I must
purchase ‘everything the chief or his family had to
sell, whether I wanted them or not, and give the
highest market price, or rather more. (Another
very important article.)

Fifthly.—The chief’s own particular pipe never to
be allowed to become extinguished for want of the
needful supply of tobacco.

Sixthly.—AIl desirable jobs of work, and all
advantages of all kinds, to be offered first to the
family of my rangatira before letting any one else
have them; payment for same to be about 25 per
cent. more than to any one else, exclusive of a dou-
ceur to the chief himself because he did not work.

In return for these duties and customs, well and
truly performed on my part, the chief was under-
stood to—

Firstly Stick up for me in a general way, and
not let me be bullied or imposed upon by any one
but himself, as far as he was able to prevent it.

Secondly.—In case of my being plundered or mal-
treated by any powerful marauder, it was the duty
of my chief to come in hot haste with all his family,
armed to the teeth, to my rescue, after all was over,
and when it was too late to be of any service. He
was also bound on such occasions to make a great
noise, dance the war dance, and fire muskets, (I find-
ing the powder, ) and to declare loudly what he would

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 143

have done had he only been in time. I, of course,
on such occasions, for my own dignity, and in con-
sideration of the spirited conduct of my friends, was
bound to order two or three fat pigs to be killed, and
lots of potatoes to be served out to the “army,” who
were always expected to be starving, as a general
rule. A distribution of tobacco, in the way of
largess, was also a necessity of the case.

Thirdly.—In case of my losing anything of conse-
quence by theft—a thing which, as a veracious
pakeha, I am bound to say, seldom happened; the
natives in those days being, as I have already men-
tioned, a very law-observing people, (the law of
muru,) had, indeed, little occasion to steal, the above-
named law answering their purposes in a general
way much better, and helping them pretty certainly
to any little matter they coveted; yet, as there are
exceptions to all rules, theft would sometimes be
committed; and then, as I was saying, it became
the bounden duty of my rangatira to get the stolen
article back if he was able, and keep it for himself
for his trouble, unless I gave him something of more
value in lieu thereof.

Under the above regulations things went on
pleasantly enough, the chief being restrained, by
public opinion and the danger of the pakeha running
away from pushing his prerogative to the utmost
limit; and the pakeha, onthe other hand, making
the commonalty pay for the indirect taxation he was
subjected to; so that in general, after ten or fifteen
years’ residence, he would not be much poorer than

144 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

a

when he arrived, unless, indeed, some unlucky
accident happened, such as pakehas were liable to
sometimes in the good old times.

Mentioning “public opinion” as a restraint on
the chiefs’ acquisitiveness, I must explain that a chief
possessing a pakeha was much envied by his neigh-
bours, who, in consequence, took every opportunity
of scandalizing him, and blaming him for any rough
plucking process he might submit the said pakeha to;
and should he, by any awkward handling of this sort,
cause the pakeha at last to run for it, the chief would
never hear the end of it from his own family and
connections, pakehas being, in those glorious old
times, considered to be geese who laid golden eggs,
and it would be held to be the very extreme of fool-
ishness and bad policy either to kill them, or, by too
rough handling, to cause them to fly away.

On the other hand, should the pakeha fail in a
culpable manner in the performance of his duties,
though he would not, as a rule, be subjected to any
stated punishment, he would soon begin to find a
most unaccountable train of accidents and all sorts of
unpleasant occurrences happening, enough, in the
aggregate, to drive Job himself out of his wits; and,
moreover, he would get a bad name, which, though he
removed, would follow him from one end of the
island to the other, and effectually prevent him having
the slightest chance of doing any good,—that is,
holding his own in the country, as the natives, wher-
ever he went, would consider him a person out of
whom the most was to be made at once, as he was not

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 145

to be depended on as a source of permanent revenue.
I have known several industrious, active, and sober
pakeha who never could do any good, and whose life,
' for a long series of years, was a mere train of mis-
haps, till at last they were reduced to extreme poverty,
merely from having, in their first dealings with the
natives, got a bad name, in consequence of not having
been able to understand clearly the beauty of the set
of regulations I have just mentioned, and from an
inability to make them work smoothly. The bad
name I have mentioned was short and expressive ;
wherever they went, there would be sure to be some
one who would introduce them to their new acquaint-
ances as “a pakeha pakeke,”—a hard pakeha; “a
pakeha taehae,’—a miser; or, to sum up all, “a pake-
ha kino.”

The chief who claimed me was a good specimen of
the Maori rangatira. He was a very old man, and
had fought the French when Marion, the French cir-
cumnavigator, was killed. He had killed a French-
man himself, and carried his thighs and legs many
miles as a bonne bouche for his friends at home at the
pa. This old gentleman was not head of his tribe.
He was a man of good family, related to several
high chiefs. He was head of a strong family,
or hapu, which mustered a considerable number of
fighting men, all his near relations. He had been
himself a most celebrated fighting man, and a war
chief; and was altogether a highly respectable person,
and of great weight in the councils of the tribe. I
may say I was fortunate in having been appropriated

L

146 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

by this old patrician. He gave me very little trouble;
did not press his rights and privileges too forcibly on
my notice, and in fact behaved in all respects towards
me in so liberal and friendly a manner, that before
long I began to have a very sincere regard for him,
and he to take a sort of paternal interest in me, which
was both gratifying to observe, and also extremely
comical sometimes, when he, out of real anxiety to
see me a perfectly accomplished rangatira, would
lecture on good manners, etiquette, and the use of the
spear. He was, indeed, a model of a rangatira, and
well worth being described. He wasa little man, with
a high massive head, and remarkably high square fore-
head, on which the tattooer had exhausted his art.
Though, as I have said, of a great age, he was still
nimble and active. He had evidently been one of
those tough, active men, who, though small in stature,
areamatch for anyone. There wasin my old friend’s
eyes a sort of dull fiery appearance, which, when any-
thing excited him, or when he recounted some of
those numerous battles, onslaughts, massacres, or
stormings in which all the active part of his life had
been spent, actually seemed to blaze up and give
forth real fire. His breast was covered with spear-
wounds, and he also had two very severe spear-
wounds on his head; but he boasted that no single
man had ever been able to touch him with the
point of a spear. It was in grand mélées, where he
would have sometimes six or eight antagonists, that
he had received these wounds. He was a great

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 147

general, and I have heard him criticize closely the
order and conduct of every battle of consequence
which had been fought for fifty years before my
arrival in the country. On these occasions the old
‘“ martialist ” would draw on the sand the plan of the
battle he was criticizing and describing; and in the
course of time I began to perceive that, before the
introduction of the musket, the art of war had been
brought to great perfection by the natives: and that,
when large numbers were engaged in a pitched
battle, the order of battle resembled, in a most
striking manner, some of the most approved orders of
battle of the ancients. Since the introduction of fire-
arms the natives have entirely altered their tactics,
and adopted a system better adapted to the new
weapon and the nature of the country.

My old friend had a great hatred for the musket.
He said that in battles fought with the musket there
were never so many men killed as when, in his young
days, men fought hand to hand with the spear; when
a good warrior would kill six, eight, ten, or even
twenty men in a single fight; for when once the
enemy broke and commenced to run, the combatants
being so close together, a fast runner would knock a
dozen on the head in a short time; and the great aim
of these fast-running warriors, of whom my old friend
had been one, was to chase straight on and never
stop, only striking one blow at one man, so as to
cripple him, so that those behind should be sure to
overtake and finish him. It was not uncommon for

148 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

one man, strong and swift of foot, when the enemy
were fairly routed, to stab with a light spear ten or a
dozen men in such a way as to ensure their being
overtaken and killed. On one occasion of this kind
my old tutor had the misfortune to stab a running
man in the back. He did it, of course, scientifically,
so as to stop his running, and as he passed him by he
perceived it was his wife’s brother. He was finished
immediately by the men close behind. I should have
said the man was a brother of one of my friend’s four
wives, which being the case, I dare say he had a
sufficient number of brothers-in-law to afford to kill
one now and then. A worse mishap, however, oc-
curred to him on another occasion. He was return-
ing from a successful expedition from the south (in
the course of which, by-the-bye, he and his men
killed and cooked several men of the enemy in Short-
land Crescent, and forced three others to jump over a
cliff, which is, I think, now called Soldier’s Point),
when off the Mahurangi a smoke was seen rising from
amongst the trees near the beach. They at once
concluded that it came from the fires of people be-
longing to that part of the country, and who they
considered as game. They therefore waited till night,
concealing their canoes behind some rocks, and when —
it became dark landed; they then divided into two
parties, took the supposed enemy completely by sur-
prise, attacked, rushing upon them from two opposite
directions at once. My rangatira, dashing furiously
among them, and, as I can well suppose, those eyes
of his flashing fire, had the happiness of once again

.

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 149

killing the first man, and being authorized to shout,
“ Ki au te mataika!” A few more blows, the parties
recognize each other: they are friends!—men of the
same tribe! Who is the last mataika slain by this
famous warrior? Quick, bring a flaming brand; here
he lies dead! Ha! It is his father!

Now an ancient knight of romance, under similar
awkward circumstances, would probably have retired
from public life, sought out some forest cave, where he
would have hung up his armour, let his beard grow,
flogged himself twice a day “regular,” and lived on
‘‘pulse,” which, I suppose, means pea-soup, for the rest
of his life. But my old rangatira and his companions
had not a morsel of that sort of romance about them.
The killing of my friend’s father was looked upon as
a very clever exploit in itself, though a very unlucky
one. So after having scolded one another for some
time, one party telling the other they were served
right for not keeping a better look out, and the other
answering that they should have been sure who they
were going to attack before making the onset, they
all held a tang: or lamentation for the old warrior
who had just received his mittimus; and then killing
a prisoner, who they had brought in the canoes for
fresh provisions, they had a good feast; after which
they returned all together to their own country,
taking the body of their lamented relative along with
them. This happened many years before I came to
the country, and when my rangatira was one of the
most famous fighting men in his tribe.

This Maori rangatira, who I am describing, had

150 OLD NEW ZHLALAND.

passed his whole life, with but little intermission, in a
scene of battle, murder, and bloodthirsty atrocities of
the most terrific description, mixed with actions of
the most heroic courage, self-sacrifice, and chivalric
daring, as leaves one perfectly astounded to find them
the deeds of one and the same people—one day doing
acts which had they been performed in ancient Greece
would have immortalized the actors, and the next
committing barbarities too horrible for relation, and
almost incredible.

The effect of a life of this kind was observable,
plainly enough, in my friend. He was utterly devoid
of what weak mortals call “‘ compassion.” He seemed
to have no more feeling for the pain, tortures, or
death of others than a stone. Should one of his
family be dying or wounded, he merely felt it as the
loss of one fighting man. As for the death of a
woman or any non-combatant, he did not feel it at all,
though the person might have suffered horrid tortures;
indeed I have seen him scolding severely a fine young
man, his near relative, when actually expiring, for
being such a fool as to blow himself up by accident,
and deprive his family of a fighting man. The last
words the dying man heard were these : —‘“‘ It serves

you right. There you are, looking very like a burnt ~

stick! It serves you right—a burnt stick! Serves
you right!” It really was vexatious. A fine stout
young fellow to be wasted in that way. As for fear,
I saw one or two instances to prove he knew very
little about it; and, indeed, to be killed in battle,
seemed to him a natural death, and he was always

ee

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 151

erumbling that the young men thought of nothing
but trading: and whenever he proposed to them to
take him where he might have a final battle (he rir
wakamutunga), where he might escape dying of old
age, they always kept saying, “Wait till we. get
more muskets,” or ‘more gunpowder,” or more
something or another, “as if men could not be killed
without muskets!” He was not cruel either; he
was only unfeeling. He had been guilty, it is true,
in his time, of what we would call terrific atrocities
to his prisoners, which he calmly and calculatingly
perpetrated as utw or retaliation for similar barbari-
ties committed by them or their tribe. And here I
must retract the word guilty, which I see I have
written inadvertently, for according to the morals
and principles of the people of whom he was one, and
of the time to which he belonged, and the training he
had received, so far from being guilty, he did a
praiseworthy, glorious, and public-spirited action
when he opened the jugular vein of a bound captive
and sucked huge draughts of his blood. To say the
truth he was a very nice old man, and I liked him
very much. It would not, however, be advisable to
put him ina passion; not much good would be likely
to arise from it, as indeed I could show by one or
two very striking instances which came under my
notice, though to say the truth he was not easily put
out of temper. He had one great moral rule,—it
was indeed his rule of life,—he held that every man
had a right to do everything and anything he chose,
provided he was able and willing to stand the conse-

152 OLD NEW ZHALAND.

quences, though he thought some men fools for try-
Ing to do things which they could not carry out
pleasantly, and which ended in getting them baked.
I once hinted to him that, should every one reduce
these principles to practice, he himself might find it
awkward, particularly as he had so many mortal
enemies. To which he replied, with a look which
seemed to pity my ignorance, that every one did
practise this rule to the best of their abilities, but
that some were not so able as others; and that as for
his enemies, he should take care they never surprised
him; a surprise being, indeed, the only thing he
seemed to have any fear at all of. In truth he had
occasion to look out sharp; he never was known to
sleep more than three or four nights in the same
place, and often, when there were ill omens, he would
not sleep in a house at all, or two nights following in
one place, for a month together, and I never saw him
without both spear and tomahawk, and ready to
defend himself at a second’s notice, a state of prepa-
ration perfectly necessary, for though in his own
country and surrounded by his tribe, his death would
have been such a triumph for hundreds, not of dis-
tant enemies, but of people within a day’s journey,
that none could tell at what moment some stout
young fellow in search of utwu anda “ingoa toa” (a
warlike reputation) might rush upon him, determined
to have his head or leave his own. The old buck
himself had, indeed, performed several exploits of
this nature, the last of which occurred just at the
time I came into the country, but before I had the

OLD NEW ZHALAND. 153

advantage of his acquaintance. His tribe were at
war with some people at the distance of about a day’s
journey. One of their villages was on the border of
a dense forest. My rangatira, then a very old man,
started off alone, and without saying a word to any
one, took his way through the forest which extended
the whole way between his village and the enemy,
crept like a lizard into the enemy’s village, and then,
shouting his war cry, dashed amongst a number of
people he saw sitting together on the ground, and
who little expected such a salute. In a minute he
had run three men and one woman through the
body, received five dangerous spear-wounds himself,
and escaped to the forest, and finally got safe home
to his own country and people. Truly my old ran-
gatira was a man of a thousand,—a model rangatira.
This exploit, if possible, added to his reputation, and
every one said his mana would never decline. The
enemy had been panic-stricken, thinking a whole
tribe were upon them, and fled like a flock of sheep,
except the three men who were killed. They all
attacked my old chief at once, and were all disposed
of in less'than a minute, after, as I have said, giving
him five desperate wounds. The woman was just
“stuck,” as a matter of course, as she came in his
way.

The natives are unanimous in affirming that they
were much more numerous in former times than
they are now, and I am convinced that such was the
case, for the following reasons. The old hill forts
are many of them so large that an amount of labour

154 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

must have been expended in trenching, terracing,
and fencing them, and all without iron tools, which
increased the difficulty a hundred-fold, which must
have required a vastly greater population to accom-
plish than can be now found in the surrounding dis-
tricts. These forts were also of such an extent that,
taking into consideration the system of attack and
defence used necessarily in those times, they would
have been utterly untenable unless held by at least
ten times the number of men the whole surrounding
districts, for two or three days’ journey, can produce ;
and yet, when we remember that in those times of
constant war, being the two centuries preceding the
arrival of the Europeans, the natives always, as a
rule, slept in these hill forts with closed gates,
bridges over trenches removed, and ladders of ter-
races drawn up, we must come to the conclusion that
the inhabitants of the fort, though so numerous, were
merely the population of the country in the close
vicinity. Now from the top of one of these pointed,
trenched, and terraced hills, I have counted twenty
others, all of equally large dimensions, and all within
a distance, in every direction, of fifteen fo twenty
miles; and native tradition affirms that each of these
hills was the stronghold of a separate hapu or clan, -
bearing its distinctive name. There is also the most
unmistakeable evidence that vast tracts of country,
which have lain wild time out of mind, were once
fully cultivated. The ditches for draining the land
are still traceable, and large pits are to be seen in
hundreds, on the tops of the dry hills, all over the

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 155

northern part of the North Island, in which the
kumera were once stored; and these pits are, in the
ereatest number, found in the centre of great open
tracts of uncultivated country, where a rat in the
present day would hardly find subsistence. The old
drains, and the peculiar growth of the timber, mark
clearly the extent of these ancient cultivations. It is
also very observable that large tracts of very inferior
land have been in cultivation, which would lead to
the inference that either the population was pretty
nearly proportioned to the extent of available land,
or that the tracts of inferior land were cultivated
merely because they were not too far removed from
the fort; for the shape of the hill, and its capability
of defence and facility of fortification, was of more
consequence than the fertility of the surrounding
country. These kumera pits, being dug generally in
the stiff clay on the hill tops, have, in most cases,
retained their shape perfectly, and many seem as
fresh and new as if they had been dug but a few years.
They are oblong in shape, with the sides regularly
sloped. Many collections of these provision stores
have outlived Maori tradition, and the natives can
only conjecture who they belonged to. Out of the
centre of one of them which I have seen, there is now
growing a kauri tree one hundred and twenty feet
high, and out of another a large totara. The outline
of these pits is as perfect as the day they were dug,
and the sides have not fallen in in the slightest de-
gree, from which perhaps they have been preserved
by the absence of frost, as well as by a beautiful

156 OLD NEW ZHALAND.

coating of moss, by which they are everywhere
covered. The pit in which the kauri grew, had been
partially filled up by the scaling off of the bark of
the tree, which falling off in patches, as it is con-
stantly doing, had raised a mound of decaying bark
round the root of the tree.

Another evidence of a very large number of people
having once inhabited these hill forts is the number
of houses they contained. Every native house, it
appears, in former times as in the present, had a fire-
place composed of four flat stones or flags sunk on
their edges into the ground, so as to form an oblong
case or trunk, in which at night a fire to heat the
house was made. Now, in two of the largest hill
forts I have examined, though for ages no vestige of
a house had been seen, there remained the fire-places
—the four stones projecting like an oblong box
slightly over the ground—and from their position
and number denoting clearly that, large as the cir-
cumference of the huge volcanic hill was which formed
the fortress, the number of families inhabiting it
necessitated the strictest economy of room. The
houses had been arranged in streets, or double rows,
with a path between them, except in places where
there had been only room on a terrace for a single
row. The distances between the fire-places proved
that the houses in the rows must have been as close
together as it was possible to build them, and every
spot, from the foot to the hill top, not required and
specially planned for defensive purposes, had been
built on in this regular manner. Even the small

:

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 157

flat top, sixty yards long by forty wide,—the citadel,
—on which the greatest care and labour had been
bestowed to render it difficult of access, had been as
full of houses as it could hold, leaving a small space
all round the precipitous bank for the defenders to
stand on.

These little fire-places, and the scarped and terraced
conical hills, are the only marks the Maori of ancient
times have left of their existence. And I have rea-
sons for believing that this country has been inha-
bited from a more remote period by far than is
generally supposed. These reasons I found upon the
dialect of the Maori language spoken by the Maori of
New Zealand, as well as on many other circumstances.

We may easily imagine that a hill of this kind,
covered from bottom to top with houses thatched
and built of reeds, rushes, and raupo, would be a
mere mass of combustible matter, and such indeed
was the case. When an enemy attacked one of these
places a common practice was to shower red-hot
stones from slings into the place, which, sinking into
the dry thatch of the houses, would cause a general
conflagration. Should this once occur the place was
sure to be taken, and this mode of attack was much
feared; all hands not engaged at the outer defences,
and all women and non-combatants, were employed
guarding against this danger, and pouring water out
of calabashes on every smoke that appeared. The
natives also practised both mining and escalade in
attacking a hill fort.

The natives attribute their decrease in numbers,

158 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

before the arrival of the Europeans, to war and sick-
ness, disease possibly arising from the destruction of
food and the forced neglect of cultivation caused by
the constant and furious wars which devastated the
country for a long period before the arrival of the
Europeans, in such a manner that the natives at last
believed that a constant state of warfare was the
natural condition of life, and their sentiments, feelings,

and maxims became gradually formed on this belief.

Nothing was so valuable or respectable as strength
and courage, and to acquire property by war and
plunder was more honourable and also more desirable
than by labour. Cannibalism was glorious. The
island was a pandemonium.

A rugged wight, the worst of brutes, was man;
On his own wretched kind he ruthless prey’d.
The strongest then the weakest overran,
In every country mighty robbers sway’d,
And guile and ruffian force was all their trade.

Since the arrival of the Europeans the decrease of
the natives has also been rapid. In that part of the
country where I have had means of accurate obser-
vation, they have decreased in number since my
arrival rather more than one-third. I have, how-
ever, observed that this decrease has for the last ten
years been very considerably checked, though I do
not believe this improvement is general through the
country, or even permanent where I have observed it.

The first grand cause of the decrease of the natives
since the arrival of the Europeans is the musket.
The nature of the ancient Maori weapons prompted

Sere

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 159

them to seek out vantage ground, and to take up
positions on precipitous hill tops, and make those
high, dry, airy situations their regular fixed resi-
dences. Their ordinary course of life, when not
engaged in warfare, was regular, and not necessarily
unhealthy. Their labour, though constant in one
shape or other, and compelled by necessity, was not
too heavy. In the morning, but not early, they
descended from the hill pa to the cultivations in the
low ground; they went in a body, armed like men
going to battle, the spear or club in one hand, and
the agricultural instrument in the other. The women
followed. Long before night (it was counted unlucky
to work till dark) they returned to the hill with a
reversed order, the women now, and slaves, and lads,
bearing fuel and water for the night, in front; they
also bore probably heavy loads of kumera or other
provisions. In the time of year when the crops did
not call for their attention, when they were planted
and growing, then the whole tribe would remove to
some fortified hill, at the side of some river, or on the
coast, where they would pass months fishing, making
nets, clubs, spears, and implements of various descrip-
tions; the women, in all spare time, making mats for
clothing, or baskets to carry the crop of kumera in,
when fit to dig. There was very little idleness;
and to be called “ lazy” was a great reproach. It is
to be observed that for several months the crops
could be left thus unguarded with perfect safety, for
the Maori, as a general rule, never destroyed growing
crops or attacked their owners in a regular manner

160 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

until the crops were nearly at full perfection, so that
they might afford subsistence to the invaders, and
consequently the end of the summer all over the
country was a time of universal preparation for
battle, either offensive or defensive, the crops then
being near maturity.

Now when the natives became generally armed
with the musket they at once abandoned the hills,
and, to save themselves the great labour and incon-
venience occasioned by the necessity of continually
carrying provisions, fuel, and water to these precipi-
tous hill-castles—which would be also, as a matter of
necessity, at some inconvenient distance from at least
some part of the extensive cultivations—descended
to the low lands, and there, in the centre of the cul-
tivations, erected a new kind of fortification adapted
to the capabilities of the new weapon. This was their
destruction. There in mere swamps they built their
oven-like houses, where the water even in summer
sprung with the pressure of the foot, and where in
winter the houses were often completely flooded.
There, lying on the spongy soil, on beds of rushes
which rotted under them—in little, low dens of houses,
or kennels, heated like ovens at night and dripping
with damp in the day—full of noxious exhalations
from the damp soil, and impossible to ventilate—
they were cut off by disease in a manner absolutely
frightful. No advice would they take; they could
not see the enemy which killed them, and therefore
could not believe the Europeans who pointed out the
cause of their destruction.

4
:
4
‘

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 16]

This change of residence was universal and every-
where followed by the same consequences, more or
less marked; the strongest men were cut off and but
few children were reared. And even now, after the
dreadful experience they have had, and all the con-
tinual remonstrances of their pakeha friends, they
take but very little more precaution in choosing sites
for their houses than at first; and when a native
village or a native house happens to be in a dry,
healthy situation, it is often more the effect of acci-
dent than design.

Twenty years ago a hapu,in number just forty
persons, removed their kainga from a dry, healthy
position, to the edge of a raupo swamp. I happened
to be at the place a short time after the removal, and
with me there was a medical gentleman who was
travelling through the country. In creeping into
one of the houses (the chief’s) through the low door,
I was obliged to put both my hands to the ground;
they both sunk mto the swampy soil, making holes
which immediately filled with water. The chief and
his family were lying on the ground on rushes, and a
fire was burning, which made the little den, not in
the. highest place more than five feet high, feel like
an oven. I called the attention of my friend to the
state of this place called a “house.” He merely
said, ‘‘ men cannot live here.” Eight years from that
day the whole hapu were extinct; but, as I remem-
ber, two persons were shot for bewitching them and
causing their deaths.

Many other causes combined at the same time to

M

162 OLD NEW ZHALAND.

work the destruction of the natives. Next to the
change of residence from the high and healthy hill
forts to the low grounds, was the hardship, over-
labour, exposure, and half-starvation, to which they
submitted themselves—firstly, to procure these very
muskets which enabled them to make the fatal
change of residence, and afterwards to procure the
highly and justly valued iron implements of the
Europeans. When we reflect that a ton of cleaned
flax was the price paid for two muskets, and at an
earlier date for one musket, we can see at once the
dreadful exertion necessary to obtain it. But sup-
posing aman to get a musket for half a ton of flax,
another half ton would be required for ammunition ;
and in consequence, as every man in a native hapu,
of say a hundred men, was absolutely forced on pain
of death to procure a musket and ammunition at any
cost, and at the earliest possible moment (for if they
did not procure them extermination was their doom
by the hands of those of their countrymen who had),
the effect was that this small hapu, or clan, had to
manufacture, spurred by the penalty of death, in the
shortest possible time, one hundred tons of flax,
scraped by hand with a shell, bit by bit, morsel by
morsel, half-quarter of an ounce ata time. Now as.
the natives, when undisturbed and labouring regu-
larly at their cultivations, were never far removed
from necessity or scarcity of food, we may easily
imagine the distress and hardship caused by this
enormous imposition of extra labour. They were
obliged to neglect their crops in a very serious

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 163

degree, and for many months in the year were in a
half-starving condition, working hard all the time in
the flax swamps. The insufficient food, over exer-
tion, and unwholesome locality, killed them fast. As
for the young children, they almost all died; and
this state of things continued for many years: for it
was long after being supplied with arms and ammu-
nition before the natives could purchase, by similar
exertion, the various agricultural implements, and
other iron tools so necessary to them; and it must
always be remembered, if we wish to understand the
difficulties and over-labour the natives were subjected
to, that while undergoing this immense extra toil,
they were at the same time obliged to maintain
themselves by cultivating the ground with sharpened
sticks, not being able to afford to purchase iron im-
plements in any useful quantity, till first the great,
pressing, paramount want of muskets and gun-
powder had been supplied. Thus continual excite-
ment, over-work, and insufficient food, exposure, and
unhealthy places of residence, together with a
general breaking up of old habits of life, thinned
their numbers. European diseases also assisted, but
not to any very serious degree; till in the part of the
country in which, as I have before stated, I have had
means to observe with exactitude, the natives have
decreased in numbers over one-third since I first saw
them. That this rapid decrease has been checked in
some districts, [ am sure, and the cause is not a mys-
tery. The influx of Europeans has caused a compe-
tition in trading, which enables them to get the

164 OLD NEW ZHALAND.

highest value for the produce of their labour, and at
the same time opened to them a hundred new lines
of industry, and also afforded them other opportuni-
ties of becoming possessed of property. They have
not at all improved these advantages as they might
have done; but are, nevertheless, as it were in spite
of themselves, on the whole, richer —z.e., better
clothed, fed, and in some degree lodged, than in past
years; and I see the plough now running where I
once saw the rude pointed stick poking the ground.
I do not, however, believe that this improvement
exists In more than one or two districts in any re-
markable degree, nor do I think it will be permanent
where it does exist, insomuch as I have said that the
improvement is not the result of providence, economy,
or industry, but of a train of temporary circumstances
favourable to the natives; but which, if unimproved,
as they most probably will be, will end in no perma-
nent good result.

CHAPTER XIV.

Trading in the old times.—The native difficulty.—Virtue its
own reward.—Rule Britannia.—Death of my chief.—His dying
speech.—Rescue.—How the world goes round.

¢~ ROM the years 1822 to 1826, the vessels
trading for flax had, when at anchor,
boarding nettings up to the tops. All

rule, not more than five natives, on any
pretence, allowed on board at one time. Trading for
flax in those days was to be undertaken by a man
who had his wits about him; and an old flax trader
of those days, with his 150 ton schooner “ out of
Sydney,” cruising all round the coast of New Zea-
land, picking up his five tons at one port, ten at
another, twenty at another, and so on, had questions,
commercial, diplomatic, and military, to solve every
day, that would drive all the “ native department,”
with the minister at their head, clean out of their
senses. Talk to me of the “native difficulty ”—
pooh! I think it was in 1822 that an old friend of
mine bought, at Kawhia, a woman who was just
going to be baked. He gave a cartridge-box full of

166 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

cartridges for her, which was a great deal more than
she was really worth; but humanity does not stick
at trifles. He took her back to her friends at Tara-
naki, from whence she had been taken, and her
friends there gave him at once two tons of flax and
eighteen pigs, and asked him to remain a few days
longer till they should collect a still larger present in
return for his kindness; but, as he found out their
intention was to take the schooner, and knock him-
self and crew on the head, he made off in the night.
But he maintains to this day that “ virtue is its own
reward ’—“‘at least ’tis so at Taranaki.” Virtue,
however, must have been on a visit to some other
country, (she does go out sometimes,) when I saw
and heard a British subject, a slave to some natives
on the West Coast, begging hard for somebody to
buy him. The price asked was one musket, but the
only person on board the vessel possessing those
articles preferred to invest in a different commodity.
The consequence was, that the above-mentioned unit
of the great British nation lived, and (“Rule Bri-
tannia” to the contrary notwithstanding) died a slave;
but whether he was buried, deponent sayeth not.

My old rangatira at last began to show signs that
his time to leave this world of care was approaching. —
He had arrived at a great age, and a rapid and gene-
ral breaking up of his strength became plainly ob-
servable. He often grumbled that men should grow
old, and oftener that no great war broke out in
which he might make a final display, and die with
éclat. The last two years of his life were spent

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 167

almost entirely at my house, which, however, he
never entered. He would sit whole days on a
fallen puriri near the house, with his spear sticking
up beside him, and speaking to no one, but some-
times humming in a low droning tone some old
ditty which no one knew the meaning of but him-
self, and at night he would disappear to some of
the numerous nests or little sheds he had around
the place. In summer he would roll himself in
his blanket and sleep anywhere, but no one could
tell exactly where. In the hot days of summer,
when his blood I suppose got a little warm, he
would sometimes become talkative, and recount the
exploits of his youth. As he warmed to the sub-
ject he would seize his spear and go through all
the incidents of some famous combat, repeating every
thrust, blow, and parry as they actually occurred,
and going through as much exertion as if he was
really and truly fighting for his life. He used to go
through these pantomimic labours as a duty when-
ever he had an assemblage of the young men of the
tribe around him, to whom, as well as to myself, he
was most anxious to communicate that which he
_considered the most valuable of all knowledge, a
correct idea of the uses of the spear, a weapon he
really used in a most graceful and scientific manner ;
but he would ignore the fact that ‘‘ Young New Zea-
land” had laid down the weapon for ever, and already
matured a new system of warfare adapted to their
new weapons, and only listened to his lectures out
of respect to himself and not for his science. At

168 OLD NEW ZHALAND.

last this old lion was taken seriously ill and removed
permanently to the village, and one evening a smart
handsome lad, of about twelve years of age, came to
tell me that his twpuwna was dying, and had said he
would ‘‘ go” to-morrow, and had sent for me to see
him before he died. The boy also added that the
tribe were ka poto, or assembled, to the last man
around the dying chief. J must here mention that,
though this old rangatira was not the head of his
tribe, he had been for about half a century the re-
cognized war chief of almost all the sections or hapu
of a very numerous and warlike zz or tribe, who had
now assembled from all their distant villages and pas
to see him die. I could not, of course, neglect the
invitation, so at daylight next morning I started on
foot for the native village, which I, on my arrival
about mid-day, found crowded by a great assemblage
of natives. I was saluted by the usual haere maz!
and a volley of musketry, and I at once perceived
that, out of respect to my old owner, the whole tribe
from far and near, hundreds of whom I had never
seen, considered it necessary to make much of me,—
at least for that day,—and I found myself conse-
quently at once in the position of a ‘ personage.”
“Here comes the pakeha!—Ais pakeha!—make way
for the pakeha!—kill those dogs that are barking at
the pakeha!” Bang! bang! Here a double barrel
nearly blew my cap off by way of salute. I did for
a moment think my head was off. I, however,
being quite au fait in Maori etiquette by this time,
thanks to the instructions and example of my old

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 169

friend, fixed my eyes with a vacant expression looking
only straight before me, recognized nobody, and took
notice of nothing, not even the muskets fired under
my nose or close to my back at every step, and each,
from having four or five charges of powder, making a
report like acannon. On I stalked, looking neither
to the right or the left, with my spear walking-staff
in my hand, to where I saw a great crowd, and where
I of course knew the dying man was. I walked
straight on, not even pretending to see the crowd, as
was ‘‘correct”’ under the circumstances; I being
supposed to be entranced by the one absorbing
thought of seeing “mataora,” or once more in life
my rangatira. The crowd divided as I came up,
and closed again behind me as I stood in the front
rank before the old chief, motionless, and, as in duty
bound, trying to look the image of mute despair,
which I flatter myself I did to the satisfaction of all
parties. The old man I saw at once was at his last
hour. He had dwindled to a mere skeleton. No
food of any kind had been prepared for or offered to
him for three days; as he was dying it was of course
considered unnecessary. At his right side lay his
spear, tomahawk, and musket. (I never saw him
with the musket in his hand all the time I knew him.)
Over him was hanging his greenstone mere, and at
his left side, close, and touching him, sat a stout,
athletic savage, with a countenance disgustingly ex-
pressive of cunning and ferocity, and who, as he
stealthily marked me from the corner of his eye,
I recognized as one of those limbs of Satan, a Maori

170 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

tohunga. The old man was propped up in a reclining
position, his face towards the assembled tribe, who
were all there waiting to catch his last words. I
stood before him, and I thought I perceived he
recognized me. Still all was silence, and for a full
half hour we all stood there, waiting patiently for
the closing scene. Once or twice the tohunga said
to him in a very loud voice, ‘‘ The tribe are assembled,
you won't die silent?” At last, after about half an
hour, he became restless, his eyes rolled from side to
side, and he tried to speak, but failed. The circle
of men closed nearer, and there was evidence of
anxiety and expectation amongst them, but a dead
silence was maintained. At last, suddenly, without
any apparent effort, and in a manner which startled
me, the old man spoke clearly out, in the ringing
metallic tone of voice for which he had been formerly
so remarkable, particularly when excited. He spoke.
‘“‘ Hide my bones quickly where the enemy may not
find them: hide them at once.” He spoke again—
‘‘Oh my tribe, be brave! be brave that you may
live. Listen to the words of my pakeha; he will
untold the designs of his tribe.” This was in allusion
to a very general belief amongst the natives at the
time, that the Europeans designed sooner or later to
exterminate them and take the country, a thing the
old fellow had cross-questioned me about a thousand
times; and the only way I could find to ease his
mind was to tell him that if ever I heard any such
proposal I would let him know, protesting at the same
time that no such intention existed. This notion of

— rr

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 171

the natives has since that time done much harm, and
will do more, for it is not yet quite given up. He
continued—“ I give my mere to my pakeha,’”’—‘ my
two old wives will hang themselves,”—(here a howl
of assent from the two old women in the rear rank)
—*T am going; be brave, after lam gone.” Here
he began to rave; he fancied himself in some des-
perate battle, for he began to call to celebrated com-
rades who had been dead forty or fifty years. I
remember every word—‘‘ Charge!” shouted he—
“Charge! Wata, charge! Tara, charge! charge!”
Then after a short pause—‘ Rescue! rescue! to my
rescue! ahau! ahau! rescue!” The last ery for
‘‘ rescue” was in such a piercing tone of anguish and
utter desperation, that involuntarily I advanced a foot
and hand, as if starting to his assistance ; a movement,
as I found afterwards, not unnoticed by the super-
stitious tribe. At the same instant that he gave the
last despairing and most agonizing cry for “ rescue,”
I saw his eyes actually blaze, his square jaw locked,
he set his teeth, and rose nearly to a sitting position,
and then fell back dying. He only murmured—
“How sweet is man’s flesh,’ and then the gasping
breath and upturned eye announced the last mo-
ment. The tohunga now bending close to the
dying man’s ear, roared out “ Kai kotahi ki te ao!
Kia kotahi ki te ao! Kia kotaht ki te po!” The poor
savage was now, as I believe, past hearing, and
gasping his last. “ Kat kotahi ki te ao!”—shouted
the devil priest again in his ear, and shaking his
shoulder roughly with his hand—“ Kia kotahi ki te

172 OLD NEW ZHALAND.

ao!—Kai kotaht ki te po!” Then giving a significant
look to the surrounding hundreds of natives, a roar
of musketry burst forth. Kaz kotahi ki teao! Thus
in a din like pandemonium, guns firmg, women
screaming, and the accursed tohunga shouting in
his ear, died ‘‘ Lizard Skin,” as good a fighting man
as ever worshipped force or trusted in the spear.
His death on the whole was thought happy, for his
last words were full of good omen:—‘ How sweet is
man’s flesh.” |

Next morning the body had disappeared. This
was contrary to ordinary custom, but in accordance
with the request of the old warrior. No one, even
of his own tribe, knows where his body is concealed,
but the two men who carried it off in the night. All
I know is that it les in a cave, with the spear and
tomahawk beside it.

The two old wives were hanging by the neck from
a scaffold at a short distance, which had been made to
place potatoes on out of the reachofrats. The shrivelled
old creatures were quite dead. I was for a moment
forgetful of the “correct” thing, and called to an
old chief, who was near, to cut them down. He said,
in answer to my hurried call, “‘ by-and-bye; it is too
soon yet; they might recover.” “Oh,” said I, at once
recalled to my sense of propriety, ‘I thought they
had been hanging all night,” and thus escaped the
great risk of being thought a mere meddling pakeha.
I now perceived the old chief was employed making
a stretcher, or kauhoa, to carry the bodies on. At a
short distance also were five old creatures of women,

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 173

sitting in a row, crying, with their eyes fixed on the
hanging objects, and everything was evidently going
on selon le régles. I walked on. ‘ E tika ana,’ said
I, to myself. ‘It’s all right, I dare say.”

The two young wives had also made a desperate
attempt in the night to hang themselves, but had
been prevented by two young men, who, by some
unaccountable accident, had come upon them just as
they were stringing themselves up, and who, seeing
that they were not actually “ ordered for execution,”
by great exertion, and with the assistance of several
female relations, who they called to their assistance,
prevented them from killing themselves out of respect
for their old lord. Perhaps it was to revenge them-
selves for this meddling interference that these two
young women married the two young men before the
year was out, and in consequence of which, and as a
matter of course, they were robbed by the tribe
of everything they had in the world, (which was
not much,) except their arms. They also had to
fight some half dozen duels each with spears, in
which, however, no one was killed, and no more
blood drawn than could be well spared. All this
they went through with commendable resignation;
and so, due respect having been paid to the memory
of the old chief, and the appropriators of his widows
duly punished according to law, further proceedings
were stayed, and everything went on comfortably.
And so the world goes round.

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.

Sie

, USN the afternoon [ went home musing on
SK v3

S
e: G aN what I had heard and seen. ‘“ Surely,”
|

OY wer
> } 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,

ile

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 175

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 diffi-
culty 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, dif-
ferent from and independent of the ordinary na-
tural conditions of either, and capable of either
increase or diminution, both from known and un-
known 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

176 OLD NEW ZEALAND.

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 “ sim-
ples,” 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 super-
deel 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

OLD NEW ZEALAND. 177

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 superna-
turally ominous occurrence might be expected to
take place, such as are said to have happened before
the deaths of Julius Cesar, 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 7oa were thought
as much of in thew world, as any Greek or Roman
of old was in his; and, moreover, that it is my pri-
vate 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 en-
chanted 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.

N

178 OLD NEW ZHALAND.

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 what
manda,” a pig possessed of mana; wz 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 what 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 Zea-
land, 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

i

OLD NHW ZHALAND. 179

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 ona
good horse; he had a black hat and polished Wel-
lingtons; 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 com-
fort 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 con-
sequence 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 any-
thing is stolen from a:‘pakeha, he will get it back, #7
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.

180 OLD NEW ZHALAND.

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. NowTI 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 coun-
‘trymen, I shall conclude this book with good advice ;
and be sure you take notice; it is given to both par-
ties. 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.

ca
g

PREFACE.
oo. little tale is an endeavour to call back some shadows

from the past: a picture of things which have left no
record but this imperfect sketch. The old settlers of New
Zealand—my fellow pioneers—will, I hope, recognize the like-
ness. To those who have more recently sought these shores, I

hope it may be interesting. To all it is respectfully presented.

HISTORY OF THE WAR IN THE NORTH
OF NEW ZEALAND AGAINST
THE CHIEF HEKE.

(ANY years ago, Hongi Ika, the great
&) warrior chief of New Zealand, was
4(@ dying. His relations, friends, and
Se tribe were collected around him, and
he then spoke to them in these words: “ Children
and friends, pay attention to my last words. After
I am gone, be kind to the missionaries, be kind also
to the other Europeans; welcome them to the shore,
trade with them, protect them, and live with them as
one people; but if ever there should land on this
shore a people who wear red garments, who do no
work, who neither buy nor sell, and who always have
arms in their hands, then be aware that these are a
people called soldiers, a dangerous people, whose only
occupation is war. When you see them, make war

1 Hongi was shot through the body at Mangamuka, in Ho-
kianga, of which wound he died, after lingering some years,
The speech here given was not spoken on the day of his death,
but some time before, when he saw he could not recover.

184 HEEIS WAR IN - THE

against them. Then, O my children, be brave! then,
O friends, be strong! Be brave that you may not be
enslaved, and that your country may not become the
possession of strangers.” And having said these
words, he died.

After this, years passed away, and the pakeha
increased in numbers, and were spread over the
whole country, and traded with the Maori, and lived
with them, and the Maori were pleased with them,
for they got from them plenty of gunpowder, and
tomahawks, and blankets, and all the wealth of the
pakeha became theirs, and there was no fighting
between them, but all lived together as friends.

More years passed away, and then came a chief of
the pakeha who we heard was called a Governor.
We were very glad of his arrival, because we heard
he was a great chief, and we thought, he being a
great chief, would have more blankets and tobacco
and muskets than any of the other pakeha people,
and that he would often give us plenty of these things
for nothing. The reason we thought so was because
all the other pakeha often made us presents of things
of great value, besides what we got from them by
trading. Who would not have thought as we did?

The next thing we heard was, that the Governor
was travelling all over the country with a large piece
of paper, asking all the chiefs to write their names or
make marks on it. We heard, also, that the Nga-
puhi chiefs, who had made marks or written on that
paper, had been given tobacco, and flour, and sugar,
and many other things, for having done so.

NORTH OF NEW ZHALAND. 185

We all tried to find out the reason why the
Governor was so anxious to get us to make these
marks. Some of us thought the Governor wanted to
bewitch all the chiefs,’ but our pakeha friends laughed
at this, and told us that the people of Europe did not
know how to bewitch people. Some told us one
thing, some another. Some said the Governor only
wanted our consent to remain, to be a chief over the
pakeha people; others said he wanted to be chief
over both pakeha and Maori. We did not know
what to think, but were all anxious he might come to
us soon; for we were afraid that all his blankets,
and tobacco, and other things would be gone before
he came to our part of the country, and that he would
have nothing left to pay us for making our marks on
his paper.

Well, it was not long before the Governor came,
and with him came other pakeha chiefs, and also
people who could speak Maori; so we all gathered
together, chiefs and slaves, women and children, and
went to meet him; and when we met the Governor,
the speaker of Maori told us that if we put our names,

The Governor made some presents of no great value to
some of the natives who signed the Treaty of Waitangi, and a
report in consequence got about, as is related here, that he was
paying a high price for signatures. Many suppositions and
guesses were made by the ignorant natives of the part of the
country alluded to in the story, as to what could be the reason
he was so desirous to get these names written on his paper, and
many sugcested that he had some sinister design, probably that
of bewitching them.

186 HHEWVS WAH IN THH

or even made any sort of a mark, on that paper, the
Governor would then protect us, and prevent us from
being robbed of our cultivated land, and our timber
land, and everything else which belonged to us.
Some of the people were very much alarmed when
they heard this, for they thought that perhaps a great
war expedition was coming against us from some
distant country, to destroy us all; others said he was
only trying to frighten us. The speaker of Maori
then went on to tell us certain things, but the mean-
ing of what he said was so closely concealed we never
have found it out.t| One thing we understood well,
however; for he told us plainly that if we wrote on
the Governor’s paper, one of the consequences would
be that great numbers of pakeha would come to this
country to trade with us, that we should have abun-
dance of valuable goods, and that before long there
would be great towns, as large as Kororareka, in
every harbour in the whole island. We were very
glad to hear this; for we never could up to this time
get half muskets or gunpowder enough, or blankets,

1 When a native says anything for which he thinks he may
at some future time be called to account, he so wraps his ideas
up in figurative and ambiguous terms as to leave him perfectly

free, should he think fit, to give a directly contrary meaning to ~

that which is most obvious at the time he speaks. Some natives
are very clever at this, but it often happens that a fellow makes
such a bungle of the business as to leave no meaning at all of
any sort. This is what the narrator of the story means when
he says, “the meaning of what the speaker of Maori said was
closely concealed,” which is a polite Maori way of saying that
he was talking nonsense.

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 187

or tobacco, or axes, or anything. We also believed
what the speaker of Maori told us, because we saw
that our old pakeha friends who came with us to see
the Governor believed it.

After the speaker of Maori had ceased, then Te
Tao Nui and some other chiefs came forward and
wrote on the Governor’s paper; and Te Tao Nui
went up to the Governor, and took the Governor’s
hand in his and licked it! We did not much lke
this; we all thought it so undignified. We were very
much surprised that a chief such as Te Tao Nui
should do so; but Te Tao Nui is a man who knows a
great deal about the customs of the pakeha; he has
been to Port Jackson in a ship, and he, seeing our
surprise, told us that when the great pakeha chiefs go
to see the King or Queen of England they do the
same, so we saw then that it was a straight proceed-
ing. But after Te Tao Nui and other chiefs had made
marks and written on the Governor’s paper, the
Governor did not give them anything. We did not
like this, so some other chiefs went forward, and said
to the Governor, “Pay us first, and we will write
afterwards.” A chief from Omanaia said, ‘“ Put
money in my left hand, and I will write my name
with my right,’ and so he held out his hand to the
Governor for the money; but the Governor shook his
head and seemed displeased, and said he would not
pay them for writing on the paper.

Now, when all the people saw this they were very
much vexed, and began to say one to another, “It is
wasting our labour coming here to see this Governor,”

188 HEKE’S WAR IN THE

and the chiefs began to get up and make speeches.
One said, “ Come here, Governor; go back to Eng-
Jand ;” and another said, ‘ I am Governor in my own
country, there shall be no other ;” and Paapahia said,
‘“ Remain here and be Governor of this island, and I
will go to England and be King of England, and if
the people of England accept me for their King it will
be quite just; otherwise you do not remain here.”
Then many other chiefs began to speak, and there was
a great noise and confusion, and the people began to
go away, and the paper was lying there, but there was
no one to write on it. The Governor looked vexed,
and his face was very red. At this time some pakehas
went amongst the crowd, and said to them, ‘‘ You
are foolish; the Governor intends to pay you when all
the writing is done, but it is not proper that he should
promise to do so; it would be said you only wrote
your names for pay; this, according to our ideas,
would be a very wrong thing.” When we heard this
we all began to write as fast as we could, for we were
all very hungry with listening and talking so long,
and we wanted to go to get something to eat, and we
were also in a hurry to see what the Governor was
going to give us; and all the slaves wanted to write
their names, so that the Governor might think they ~
were chiefs, and pay them; but the chiefs would not
let them, for they wanted all the payment for them-
selves. I and all my family made our marks, and we
then went to get something to eat; but we found our
food not half done, for the women and slaves who
should have looked after the cooking were all mad

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 189

about the Governor, so when I saw that the food was
not sufficiently done, I was aware that something bad
would come of this business.’

Next morning the things came with which the
Governor intended to pay us for writing our names,
but there was not much tobacco, and only few blan-
kets ;? and when they were divided some of the chiefs
had nothing, others got only a few figs of tobacco,
some one blanket, others two. I got for myself and
all my sons, and my two brothers, and my three
wives, only two blankets. I thought it was too little,
and was going to return them, but my brother per-
suaded me to keep them; so we got into our canoe to
go home, and on the way home we began to say,
‘Who shall have the blankets?” And so we began
to quarrel about them. One of my brothers then
said, ‘“‘ Let us cut them in pieces, and give every one
a piece.” I saw there was going to be a dispute
about them, and said, “‘ Let us send them back.” So
we went ashore at the house of a pakeha, and got a
pen and some paper, and my son, who could write,
wrote a letter for us all to the Governor, telling him
to take back the blankets, and to cut our names out

1 This is a common native superstition. The natives believe
in omens of a thousand different kinds, and amongst others
think it a very bad omen if, on an occasion when any business
of importance is on hand, the food happens to be served under-
done ; or before a battle it is a particularly bad omen.

2 These presents were given to the natives, and, in their
matter-of-fact manner, understood to be payment for signing the
treaty.

190 HEKH’S WAR IN THE

of the paper, and then my two brothers and my sons
went back and found the Governor in a boat about to
go away. He would not take back the blankets, but
he took the letter. I do not know to this day whether
he took our names out of the paper. It is, however,
no matter; what is there in a few black marks? Who
cares anything about them?

Well, after this, the Governor died; he was be-
witched, as I have heard, by a tohunga at the South,
where he had gone to get names to his paper; for this
was his chief delight, to get plenty of names and
marks on his paper. He may not have been be-
witched, as I have heard, but he certainly died, and
the paper with all the names was either buried with
him, or else his relations may have kept it to lament
over, and as a remembrance of him. I don’t know.
You, who are a pakeha, know best what became of it;
but if it is gone to England, it will not be right to let
it be kept in any place where food is cooked, or where
there are pots or kettles, because there are so many
chiefs’ names in it; it is a very sacred piece of paper ;
it is very good if it has been buried with the
Governor.*

After the first Governor came the second Governor,
but the towns and numerous pakeha traders we ex-
pected did not come. We heard of a town at Waita-
mata having been built,? and others farther South;
but in our part of the country there was no new

—— oe

1 The Treaty of Waitangi.
® Auckland, the capital of New Zealand.

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 191

towns, and the pakeha did not increase in numbers,
but, on the contrary, began to go away to the town at
Waitamata, to be near their chief the Governor, who
lived there, and many of us had no one left to sell
anything to as formerly. Tobacco began to be scarce
and dear; the ships began to leave off coming to
Tokerau, Hokianga, and Mangonui. We inquired the
reason of this, but the few pakeha traders left amongst
us told us different stories. Some said that the
reason tobacco was scarce and dear was, because the
Governor would not let it be brought on shore until
he was paid a large price for it, besides what was
paid to the people of the ship, who were the right
owners of it. This we at first did not believe, because
you all said you were not slaves, not one of you, but
all free men. Others said that the reason ships did
not come as frequently as formerly, was because the
Governor made them pay for coming to anchor in the
ports. Some said all the evil was by reason of the
flagstaff which the Governor had caused to be erected
at Maiki, above Kororareka, as a rahui, and that as
long as it remained there things would be no better;
others again told us the flagstaff was put there to
show the ships the way into the harbour; others, that
it was intended to keep them out; and others said
that it was put up as a sign that this island had been
taken by the Queen of England, and that the nobility
and independence of the Maori was no more. But
this one thing at least was true, we had less tobacco
and fewer blankets and other European goods than
formerly, and we saw that the first Governor had not

Bi

192 HEKE’S WAR IN THE

spoken the truth, for he told us we should have a
great deal more. The hearts of the Maori were sad,
and our old pakeha friends looked melancholy, because
so few ships came to bring them goods to trade with.
At last we began to think the flagstaff must have
something to do with it, and so Heke went and cut it
down.

When the flagstaff was cut down, there was a great
deal of talk about it, and we expected there would be
fighting; but it all ended quietly. The Governor,
however, left off taking money from the people,’ and
tobacco became cheap, and ships began to come as
before, and all our old pakeha friends were glad, be-
cause they had ‘plenty of goods to sell us, and so we
all thought Heke was a man of great understanding.
But the Governor put up the flagstaff again, and when
Heke heard this he came and cut it down again; so
this was twice that he cut it down.

Now, when the Governor heard that Heke had cut
down the flagstaff a second time, he became very
angry, because he thought he could never get any
more money from the people, or the ships,* so he sent

1 After the flagstaff had been cut down, the customs-duties
were repealed, and, in consequence, tobacco and other articles on
which duties had been levied became cheaper. This fully con-
vinced the natives that there was some mysterious connection
between the dearness of different goods and the existence of the
flagstaff, which they now thought was the source of all evils, and
which will account for their determined persistence in cutting it
down so often, at all risks.

2 This was really the belief of the natives at the time; I have
heard it said not once but fifty times. To tell the contrary was

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 193

to England, and to Port Jackson, and everywhere, for
soldiers to come to guard the flagstaff, and to fight
with Heke.

It was not long before the soldiers came, and the
flagstaff was put up again; it was made larger and
stronger than before, and pieces of iron were fastened
to it, to prevent its being cut down easily, and a
house was built under it for the soldiers, and the
Governor told those soldiers to remain there always
to guard that flagstaff. There were other soldiers at
Kororareka and other places. I don’t know how
many, but a great many. This was the first time
that Heke began to think of the last words of Hongi
Ika, his relative, when he died at Mawhe. Heke
began to think much on these words, for Heke was
now a chief amongst the Ngapuhi, and he thought to
stand in the place of Hongi, as, indeed, he had a right
to do.

Now, these soldiers had red garments; they did not
work, or buy and sell, like the other pakeha people;
they practised every day with their weapons, and
some of them were constantly watching as if they ex-
pected to be attacked every moment. They were a
very suspicious people, and they had stiff, hard things
round their necks to keep their heads up, lest they
should forget, and look too much downwards, and

perfectly useless; the flagstaff, and nothing but the flagstaff,
was “the cause of all the evil’—and there were not wanting
ill-disposed Europeans who encouraged this belief, as I think
with the purpose to bring on a war.

O

194 HEKEH’S WAR IN THE

not keep their eyes continually rolling about in search
of an enemy.

Great, indeed, was the fear of the Maori when they
heard of these soldiers, for all the pakeha agreed in
saying that they would attack any one their chief
ordered them to attack, no matter whether there was
any just cause or not; that they would fight furiously
till the last man was killed, and that nothing could
make them run away. Fear came like a cold fog on
all the Ngapuhi, and no chief but Heke had any
courage left. But Heke called together his people,
and spoke to them saying, “‘I will fight these soldiers,
I will cut down the flagstaff, I will fulfil the last
words of Hongi Ika. Be not afraid of these soldiers,
‘all men are men.’* The soldiers are not gods; lead
will kill them; and if we are beaten at last, we shall
be beaten by a brave and noble people, and need not
be ashamed.”

So Heke sent runners to all the divisions of the
Ngapuhi, saying, ‘“ Come, stand at my back; the red
garment is on the shore. Let us fight for our country.
Remember the last words of Hongi Ika—Kez hea
koutou kia toa.”

But the chiefs of the Ngapuhi hapu said amongst
themselves, ‘‘ How long will the fire of the Maori burn ~
before it is extinguished?”

1 This is a native saying or proverb, meaning that in fact one
man is as good as another, or that the best or bravest man is but
a man, and therefore not to be too much feared. The speech is
a literal verbatim translation.

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 195

So the Ngapuhi chiefs would not join Heke for fear
of the soldiers, but said, ‘‘ We will wait till a battle
has been fought, and if he is successful, then we will
join him.” So Heke, therefore, went with his own
family and people, and those of his elder relation
Kawiti, and the Kapotae, and some others, altogether
about 400 men. He went to fight with the soldiers
at Kororareka, and to cut down his old enemy the
flagstaff.

Heke and Kawiti having arrived at Tokerau, and
having fixed upon the day of attack, they agreed that
Kawitishould attack the town of Kororareka, to draw
off the attention of the soldiers who guarded the flag-
staff on the hill of Maiki, so that Heke should have an
opportunity to cut it down, for Heke had said that he
would cut down the flagstaff, and he was resolved to
make his word true. When they had formed this
plan, and night was come, the priests of the war party
threw darts to divine the event.* They threw one for
Heke, and one for the soldiers, and one for the flag-
staff: and the dart for Heke went straight, and fair,
and fortunate; but the dart for the soldiers turned to

1 Before a war or any other important matter, the natives
used to have recourse to divination, by means of little miniature
darts made of rushes or reeds, or often of the leaf of the cooper’s
flag (raupo). This was very much believed in, but of course
the chiefs and priests or tohunga (such of them as did not de-
ceive themselves) could make the result favourable or otherwise
as they liked. There is an allusion to a custom of this kind
(divining by darts) in the Bible.

196 HERES WAR IN THLE

one side, and fell with the wrong side up; so did that
for the flagstaff. When this was told the people they
were very glad, and had no longer any fear. Then
Kawiti, who is himself a tohunga, threw a rakau for
his own path—he threw one for himself and people,
and one for the soldiers, and one for the town. The
dart for Kawiti went straight and fair, but it turned
wrong side up, which is the omen of death; and so
also did the dart for the soldiers go fair and straight,
but also turned wrong side up. And when Kawiti
saw this, he said, “It is good. Here have I two darts
ominous of success, and bravery, and death—our
enemy will prove very strong and brave, they will
suffer much from us, and so will we from them. I
am not displeased, for this is war and not play.” Then
Heke and Kawiti stood up in the night, and spoke
long and with great spirit to their men, to give them
courage; and when they had done speaking, Kawiti
remained where he was near the sea, not far from
the town; but Heke went inland, and before morn-
ing he lay with his men in a hollow close to the flag-
staff.

Heke lay on the ground with his war party—close
at hand were the sleeping soldiers. Amongst those

soldiers there was not one tohunga, not a man at all

experienced in omens, or they must have had some
warning that great danger and defeat was near; but
there they lay sleeping between the open jaws of
war, and knew of no danger. This is the only
foolishness I see about the pakeha—they are quite

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 197

ignorant and inexperienced in omens, and, indeed,
care nothing at all about them.’

In the morning, before it was light, Kawiti rushed
upon Kororareka. The young men did not look for
the light of this world; their only thought was who
should kill the first man, and elevate his name. But
the soldiers met them in the path, and the fight
began. Pumuka then gained a name; he killed the
first man of the battle, but had not long to rejoice,
for he himself fell a matazka for the pakeha.* Then
the Maori charged to revenge Pumuka; the soldiers
met them; the sailors charged sword in hand; a
keen breeze of war was blowing then on Kororareka!
The best men of both sides were in front; the sword
met the tomahawk, and many fell; but of all the
braves (toa) there, the chief of the sailors was the
bravest; no man could stand up before his sword,
and had he not been struck by a shot, the Maori
would have been defeated—four men like him would
have killed Kawiti and all his war party. This is
what I have been told by Kawiti’s people who were

_ 1 Tt astonished the natives greatly that the soldiers paid no
attention to omens, and also to see them every five minutes
doing something or another monstrously “unlucky.”

* The first man killed in a battle is called the mataika. To
kill the mataika is thought a great distinction, and young men
will risk themselves to the utmost to obtain it. Many quarrels
arise sometimes after a fight, in consequence of different indivi-
duals claiming the honour of having killed the first man. The
writer knows a man who in different battles has killed eleven
mataika.

s

198 HEEES “WAR IN THR

in the fight. I did not see it myself, but was at
every other fight in the war.

When Kawiti attacked Kororareka, the soldiers at
the flagstaff on the top of Maiki heard the firing, and
left the flagstaff, and went straggling about the hill-
side, trying to see what was going on below. They
did not think of Heke or his words when he said he
would cut down the flagstaff, neither did they re-
member the orders of the Governor. They were very
foolish; for while they were trying to see the fight
between Kawiti and the soldiers and sailors, and
thinking, perhaps, that the Maori did not know how
to conduct an ambush, Heke started from the ground,
and before they could turn round the flagstaff and
their fort was taken. Some of them were killed,
others ran away, and then the axes went to work,
and the flagstaff was cut down. So this was the
third time it fell, and there it les now.

During this time, the fighting was still going on at
Kororareka; but at last the Maori drew back, and
the pakeha remained in the town. The Maori were
not beaten, neither were the soldiers. Pumuka had
been killed, and many others of Kawiti’s people were
killed and wounded; several, also, of the pakeha had
been killed, and their great toa, the chief of the
sailors, was almost dead. So the words of Kawiti
proved true: both he and his enemy had done
bravely, and had equal success, and both had suf-
fered much.

In the afternoon the Maori began to perceive that
the pakeha were leaving the town, and going on

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 199

board the ships, so they returned to the town and
began to plunder, and the people of the town plun-
dered also, so both parties quietly plundered the
town of Kororareka, and did not quarrel with one
another. At last, all the town people and soldiers
went on board the ships, and then the ship of war
fired at the Maori people who were plundering in the
town. The noise of the firing of the ship guns was
very great, and some of Kawiti’s people were near
being hit by the lumps ofiron. This was not right,
for the fight was over, and the people were only
quietly plundering the town which had been left for
them, and which they had given fair payment for;
but, I suppose, the sailors thought their chief was
dying, and fired a volley (wazpu) for his sake. So
the sailors may have an argument in their favour;
but the Maori did not at the time think of this, so
in revenge they burnt Kororareka, and there was
nothing left but ashes; and this was the beginning
of the war.

Well, you pakeha are a noble-minded people; it
was very generous of you to give up Kororareka to
be plundered and burnt for wtw for the Maori. If
you had been beaten you could not have helped it;
but as you were not beaten, I say it was very noble
of you to give up the town. You are always giving
us something, so you gave Kawiti and Heke a town
full of blankets, and tobacco, and money, and all
sorts of property, and rum! It was very good of
you. [ wish I had been there.

When Kororareka was burnt, and all the Euro-

200 HEKE’S WAR IN THE

peans had sailed to the town at Waitamata, which we
now began to hear was called Auckland, then Heke
went to stop at Ahuahu, and the news of the battle
was heard all over the country, and then many men
came to join Heke, but no whole hapu came, for most
of the Ngapuhi chiefs said, ‘‘ Now tens of thousands
of soldiers will come to fight with Heke, and he will
be utterly destroyed.” But when all Heke’s people
were together they were about 700 men.

Now, when Thomas Walker Nene heard that the
war had actually begun, and that Kororareka had
fallen, he called together his family and all his friends,
and said he would fight against Heke, and seek
revenge for his friends the pakeha people. Walker
had been always a friend and protector to the Euro-
peans; and also Hongi Ika, Heke’s relation, had
killed in former times Te Tihi, at Hokianga, and
swallowed his eyes, and Te Tihi was a matua (elder
relation) to Walker.

And Te Tao Nui came to join Walker, and brought
with him all his family and relations, many fighting
men; only one man of his family did not come—that
man went to help Heke. Te Tao Nui had always,
like Walker, been a good friend to the Europeans,
and he was also an ancient enemy of Hongi Ika.

And the tribe of Ngati Pou came to help Walker.
Formerly they had been a great tribe, but Hongi
Ika had driven them from their country and slain
most of their warriors; but they in return wounded
Hongi, and he died of that wound some years after-
wards. They came to help Walker, in search of

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 201

revenge against Hongi Ika, for Heke and Hongi are
the same. This tribe of Ngati Pou brought forty
men to help Walker, which was all left alive by
Hongi, but they fought well, for their hatred to
_Hongi was great; they fought through the whole
war, and never were absent from any fight. The
first man killed in the war between Walker and
Heke was killed by a Ngati Pou, and the first man
who fell on our side was a Ngati Pou, and the last
man who fell in the war was also a Ngati Pou; their
chief, Hakaraia, was wounded, and several others of
the forty men were killed.

And all the young men of the Hikutu came to
help Walker; they came to practise war, and elevate
their names; but their handsome and brave young
chief, Hauraki, fell at Waikare, for such is the ap-
pearance of war; and many young men came from
different tribes (hapu) to jom Walker, and to perfect
themselves in the practice of war.

And I, your friend, went also with my two younger
brothers, my four sons, and my daughter’s husband,
and nine cousins (tema keke), and three slaves—
twenty men of us, all tino tangata, who had seen war.*
I went because when the ancestors of Heke fought
against mine, the ancestors of Walker came to help

1 This is a very good example of the manner in which a native
chief raises men for a war party; they are all his relations with
their different connections, and it is this which causes the natives
to be so careful to remember all who are, however remotely, re-
lated to them. Ina word, to be “a man of many cousins”’ is to
be a great chief.

202 HEKE’S WAR IN THH

my forefathers, because they were related to each
other; so I and Walker are relations; but I don’t
know exactly what the relationship is, for eleven
generations have passed since that ancient war; but
Walker and I are aware that we are related, and
always come to each other’s help in war.

When Walker had got all his men together, they
were in number about 500, and he went with them
to Okaihau and built a pa, and Heke was at Te
Ahuahu with his men. Te Ahuahv is not far from
Okaihau, and there was fighting between them every
day. Several of Walker’s relations were killed, and
the brother of Te Tao Nui was also killed, and his
son badly wounded; but in every fight Heke lost
most men, and had the worst of the battle. So Heke
sent a messenger to Walker, saying, “ If you go on
this way, when the soldiers return there will be no
one to fight them. Who will there be to fight with
you, and who to fight the red garment?” But
Walker said, in answer, ‘‘I will fight on till I arrive
at the end.”

Then the messenger answered Walker, saying,
‘“‘ Behold the soothsayers foretell your death.”

Then arose quickly Karere Horo, our priest, who
answered in a loud voice, saying, ‘‘ Your soothsayers
speak falsely. What sin has Walker committed that
he should die in this war? I myself who now address
you shall die, and many others, but Walker shall live.”

Then Heke’s messenger, having saluted the people,
took his gun and departed.

Up to this time, no news had been heard from the

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 203

Governor at Auckland, and a pakeha came to the
camp at Okaihau, and said to Walker’s people, ‘‘This
is a bad thing you are doing, coming here to fight
with Heke. The Governor when he hears of “it will
be angry, and so will the Queen. You are only
wasting your powder, and getting killed for nothing.
The Governor will not give you any more gunpowder,
and you will get no pay. Moreover, you are not
fighting at all for the pakeha, or the Queen, you are
fighting to revenge Te Tihi.” Then another pakeha
who was in the camp, an old friend of Walker, arose
and spoke to the people, and said, “‘ Pay no attention
to what has been said by this man. Both the Go-
vernor and the Queen will be well pleased to hear of
your opposing Heke, and so will all the pakeha people.
You will be ever after this looked on as true friends,
and the Governor will give you plenty of gunpowder
to replace what you have expended. Neither is this
a war for Te Tihi, but for Kororareka; but if you
remember Te Tihi also, how can you help it?” When
we heard this speech we were encouraged, for we had
begun to doubt whether we were doing right when
we heard the speech of the first pakeha.

On this same night the moon was eaten into by a
star (eclipsed), and the light of the moon was quite
obscured, and we all thought this an omen of great
disaster to one party or the other in the battle to take
place next morning. The fight, however, in the
morning was no great matter; of Heke’s people there
were three killed and twenty wounded; and eleven
of our men were wounded, but none killed.

204 HEKE’S WAR IN THE

Walker’s old pakeha friends gave him gunpowder,
and rifles, and other things, to enable him to fight
Heke; and some of them came and stayed at the
camp, and fought amongst his men, to show him that
he was right in what he was doing, for Walker had
not yet had any word from the Governor, and was
only fighting on his own thought.

Shortly after this, a letter came from the Governor,
and with it the Governor sent gunpowder, and lead,
and blankets, and flour, and sugar, and tobacco; so
we saw then clearly that we were doing right. But
there was only one letter for both Walker and Te
Tao Nui; so Te Tao Nui was angry at this, for he

thought there should have been a letter entirely for
mal and he said he would leave the camp with
all his men. He had more men, at that time, than
Walker; but, however, he remained, and helped
Walker to the last. After this, news came fre-
quently from Auckland, and before long we heard
that the soldiers were coming. ’

When Heke’s people heard that the soldiers were
coming, most of them left him, and there remained
but 200 men. Then Heke left Te Ahuahu, and came
and built a pa not far from Taumata Tutu, on the

clear ground by the lake; for he said he would fight.

the soldiers on the spot where the last words of
Hongi Ika had been spoken. The name of this pa of
Heke’s was Te Kahika. |
Now, when this new fort of Heke’s was finished,
the spirit of the Ngakahi entered into the atua wera,
who is the greatest tohunga in all the country of the

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 205

Ngapuhi. So the Ngakahi spoke in the night to
Heke-and his people, by the mouth of the atua wera,
‘“‘ Be brave, and strong, and patient. Fear not the
soldiers, they will not be able to take this fort—
neither be you afraid of all those different kinds of
big guns you have heard so much talk of. I will
turn aside the shot, and they shall do you no harm;
but this pa and its defenders must be made sacred
(tapu). You must particularly observe all the sacred
rites and customs of your ancestors; if you neglect
this in the smallest particular, evil will befall you,
and I also shall desert you. You who pray to the
God of the missionaries, continue to do so, and in
your praying see you make no mistakes. Fight and
pray. Touch not the spoils of the slain, abstain
from human flesh, lest the European God should be
angry, and be careful not to offend the Maori gods
It is good to have more than one God to trust to.
This war party must be strictly sacred. Be brave,
be strong, be patient.” *

So Heke waited there at his fort at Mawhe, near
Taumata Tutu, for the coming of the soldiers; and
before long they arrived at Walker’s camp at Okai-
hau, which was but a short distance from where
Heke was. When these soldiers arrived they were
very much fatigued, and quite without provisions,

1 This is word for word a literal translation of the speech of
the atwa wera to Heke’s men. He was, however, supposed only
to speak the words of the Ngakahi by whom he was at the
moment inspired.

206 HEKE’S WAR IN THE

and not at all fit to go to fight. They had been two
nights on the road, one of which nights they lay out
in the rain, and they had but a small quantity of
ammunition. They had come by a long, bad road,
up and down hill, though there was a good road open
to them; and they were quite worn out, and not fit
to fight at all. What could be the reason that the
pakeha who knew the country did not tell the soldiers —
to come up the Keri Keri in boats, and then along
the cart road to the turn-off to Okaihau? If they
had done this, they could have brought big guns in
the boats, and provisions, and put. them in carts at
the Keri Keri, and come along the cart road till they
were not far from Walker’s camp. If they had done
this, the big guns would have knocked down the pa,
for it was a very weak one, and it would have been
taken, and the war would have ended; for it was
because this very weak pa was not taken that the
Maori kept on fighting, and caused so many men
afterwards to be killed on both sides. Heke certainly
had many friends amongst the Europeans, as why
should he not?

But the soldiers had with them a light gun, called
a rocket, and this gun had a great name: it was said
that it would go into the pa, and. twist and turn
about in pursuit of the people until it had killed them
every one. When we heard this we were sorry for
Heke and his people, and were in great fear for our-
selves lest it should turn round upon us also.

When the soldiers had rested one night at Okaihau,
they prepared to attack Heke’s pa; but early in the

“y

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 207

morning, when they were getting something to eat,
we observed many of them eating standing up; this
gave us a good deal of uneasiness, for it has an un-
lucky look to see warriors before going to battle
eating their food standing. They should sit down
and eat quietly, as if nothing was going to happen
out of common; but, as I have said before, the
soldiers are very inexperienced in these matters.
When they had done eating, they formed to march to
attack Heke. What a fine-looking people these
soldiers are! Fine, tall, handsome people; they all
look like chiefs; and their advance is like the advance
of a flight of curlew in the air, so orderly and straight.
And along with the soldiers came the sailors; they
are of a different family, and not at all related to the

soldiers,’ but they are a brave people, and they came

1 That the sailors were quite a different hapu, though belong-
ing to the wi of England, and in no way “related” to the
soldiers, I have heard often stated by the natives, as well as by
the narrator of this story. Neither will we wonder at their
having jumped at this conclusion, after having compared “Jack,”
let loose for a run on shore, with the orderly soldiers. I will
here take occasion to state that I shall not hold myself account-
able for the many mistakes and misapprehensions of my old
friend the Ngapuhi chief, when he speaks of us, our manners,
customs, and motives of action; when he merely recounts the
events and incidents of the war, he is to be fully depended on,
being both correct and minutely particular in his relation, after
the native manner of telling a story, to omit nothing. I have
had, indeed, to leave out a whole volume of minute particulars,
such as this for instance: where a pakeha would simply say,
“we started in the morning after breakfast,” &c., the native
would say, “in the morning the ovens were heated, and the food

208 HEEKE’S WAR IN. VHE

to seek revenge for the relations they had lost in the
fight at Kororareka. They had different clothes
from the soldiers, and short guns, and long heavy
swords; they were a people who talked and laughed
more than the soldiers, and they flourished their guns
about as they advanced, and ate tobacco.

So the soldiers, sailors, and other Europeans ad-
vanced to the attack of Heke’s pa, and with them

was put in and covered up; when it was cooked it was taken
out, and we eat it, and finished eating, then we got up and
started,” &c. In the course of the narration I have translated,
I have had to listen to the above formula about fifty times; the
lighting of a pipe and the smoking it, or the seeing a wild pig
(describing size and colour, &.), is never omitted, no matter if
it is five seconds before commencing a battle. This is the true
native way of telling a story, and it is even now a wonder to
them to see how soon a Huropean tells the story of a journey, or
voyage, or any event whatever. If a native goes on a journey
of three days’ duration, during which nothing whatever of any
consequence may have occurred, it will take him at least one
whole day to tell all about it, and he is greatly annoyed at the
impatient pakeha who wants to get the upshot of the whole
story by impertinently saying, “ Did you get what you went for?”
_ To tell that too soon would be out of all rule; every foot of the
way must be gone over with every incident, however trivial,
before the end is arrived at. They are beginning now to find
that in talking to Europeans they must leave out one half at
least of a story to save time, but the old men can’t help making
the most of a chance of talking. To cut a story short seems to
them a waste of words by not speaking them, while we think it a
decided waste of words to speak them. In old times the natives
had so few subjects for conversation that they made the most of
what they had, which accounts for their verbosity in trifling
matters.

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 209

came also Walker and his men; but before we had
gone far, we observed the soldiers carrying on their
shoulders certain things made of cloth and wood;
these things were rolled up, and we did not know
the use of them, so we asked what they were, and
were told they were kauhoa on which to carry the
dead or wounded! This was the worst of all; there
were those soldiers going to battle, and actually
carrying on their shoulders things to put themselves
on when they were dead! So we began to say one
to another, “ Those soldiers walking there are all
dead men. It only wants a few guns to be fired,
and they will be all killed.” So some of the chiefs
told some of the chiefs of the soldiers what a dread-
fully unlucky thing they were doing, but they all
laughed, and said that they came there to fight, and
that whenever people fought some one was sure to
be killed or wounded, and that it was right to have
something to carry them on. But our people said
it was time enough to think of carrying a man when
he could not stand, and that by what they were
doing they were calling for death and destruction;
and they tried hard to get the soldiers to throw away
these things, but the soldiers would not listen to
them. So we all said, ‘‘ This is not a war party here
marching on this plain, but a mate (a funeral proces-
sion); so all the Maori left the soldiers, and went
and sat on the top of the hill called Taumata Kaka-
ramu, except about forty men, Walker’s relations,
who would not leave him. We felt sorry for the
soldiers; but we said, “ Let them fight their own
P

2

210 HEKE’S WAR IN THE

battle to-day, and if they are successful we will help
them in every other fight.” But no one could believe
they would be successful.

At last the soldiers and sailors got before Heke’s
pa; the main body of the soldiers remained opposite
to it, at the side next to Walker’s camp—the rest,
about one hundred men, sailors and soldiers, went
round by the shore of the lake, which was on the
right of the pa, and so got behind it; and on
that side there was but one slight fence, and no
pekerangt.. The soldiers had told us in the morning
that they would rush on both sides of the pa at once,
and that it would be taken in a moment, and that
then they would come home to breakfast.

So now the soldiers were in front of the pa, and
also behind it; and on the right was the lake, and on
the left was Walker with about forty men, and be-
hind Walker there was a wood—he was between the
wood and the pa.

Then the soldiers who had the rocket gun went a

1 Heke’s pa at the lake, the first we ever attacked, was the
weakest ever built by the natives in the war. Had it not been
for Kawiti’s appearance just at the moment the storming party
were about to advance, and thus making a diversion, it would
most certainly have been taken, and as certain all its defenders
killed or taken prisoners; for if the soldiers had entered then,
the friendly natives, who were outside in great numbers, would
have prevented any escaping. As it turned out, however, the
place was not taken, and this gave the natives courage to con-
tinue the war, in the course of which they acquired so much
confidence, that now they think less of fighting Huropeans, and
are less afraid of them, than of their own countrymen.

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 211

little to the left front of the pa, and set the gun upon
its legs, and pointed it straight at the pa. Then all
the people on the top of Taumata Kakaramu fixed
their eyes on this gun. We watched it closely, and
held our breath, and had great fear for the people in
the pa—for they were, although against us, all Nga-
puhi, the same zw? as ourselves, and many of them
our near relations—and we never expected to see
them more by reason of this gun, we had heard so
much of it. At last,a great smoke was seen to issue
from one end of the gun, and the rocket came out of
the other. At first it did not go very fast, but it had
not gone far before it began to flame, and roar, and
dart straight towards the pa. It had a supernatural
appearance, and rushed upon the pa like a falling
star; but just as it was about to enter the pa it
swerved from its course, touched the ground outside,
and then rose and flew away over the pa, without
doing any harm, and no one could tell where that
first rocket went to, for it was the Ngakahi, the
familiar spirit of the atua wera, who had blown upon
it with his breath and turned it away, according to
his word when he spoke by the mouth of the tohunga ;
for up to this time Heke and his people had kept
strictly all the sacred customs, and infringed none of
them. So the Ngakahi remained guarding them from
all danger.

When we saw that the first rocket had gone by
the pa and done no harm, we all gave a great sigh,
and our minds were eased; a second rocket was
fired, and a third, and so till they were all gone, but

212 HEKE’S WAR IN THH

not one did any harm, for the Ngakahi had turned
them all away—not one entered the pa.

Now, before the first rocket was fired, Heke came
out of the front gate of the pa to watch the effect of
the rocket, and he stood outside praying a Maori
prayer, and holding with one hand to a post of the
fence. Then the first rocket was fired; it came very
near him, and passed away without doing any harm.
Then another was fired, and missed also; so when
Heke saw this, he cried out in a loud voice, ‘‘ What
prize can be won by such a gun?”’ and this has be-
come a saying amongst us from that day; for when-
ever we hear a man boasting of what he can do, we
think of the rocket, and cry, ‘‘ What prize can be
won by such a gun ?”

When the first rocket was fired it frightened all
the dogs in the pa, and they ran barking away over
the plain; and also one slave ran out of the pa. He
was very much frightened, and he ran away by a
path which went between the hundred soldiers and
sailors who were behind the-pa, and Walker’s people,
who were at the left side of it; and this slave never
stopped running till he came to a place called Kai
Namu, where Kawiti, who had marched all night to
relieve Heke, had just arrived. And this slave
ran up to Kawiti and his people, and began to cry

1 «7 aha te kat e pahurei aia.” My translation is not very
literal; a literal translation would not give the sense to the
reader not acquainted with the Maori language; my free trans-
lation gives it exactly.

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND, 213

out, “ Oh, the soldiers have a frightful gun; it
comes roaring and flaming.’ Here Kawiti stopped
him, and said, ‘“‘ I know all about all sorts of guns;

-all guns will kill, and all guns will also miss; this is

the nature (ahua) of guns; but if you say one word
more, I will split your head with my tomahawk.”
So the slave became more afraid of Kawiti than he
was of the rocket, and he ran away back to Heke,
and told him that Kawiti with help was close at hand.

When all the rockets had been fired, then the hun-
dred men, soldiers and sailors, who were at the back
of the pa, arose out of an old Maori pare pare, where
they had been sheltered, and giving a great shout,
turned to rush against the pa. Then Heke shouted
to his men, ‘‘ Now let every man defend the spot he
stands on, and think of no other; and I, on my side,
will look to the great fish which lies extended on our
front.”* And as Heke was saying this, the soldiers

1 The natives often call a line or column of mena fish, and
this term is just as well understood as our “column,” “com-
pany,” “battalion,” &c. I will here say that though the native
language is, as might be supposed, extremely deficient in terms
of art or science in general, yet it is quite copious in terms re-
lating to the art of war. There is a Maori word for almost
every infantry movement and formation. I have also been very
much surprised to find that a native can, in terms well under-
stood, and without any hesitation, give a description of a fortifi-
cation of a very complicated and scientific kind, having set
technical terms for every part of the whole—“ curtain, bastion,
trench, hollow way, traverse, outworks, citadel,” &c. &c., being
all well-known Maori words, which every boy knows the full
meaning of.

214 HEKE’S WAR IN THH

and sailors had begun to move towards the pa, when
suddenly Kawiti with one hundred and forty men ap-
peared close upon their right, and fired upon them.
Then the soldiers turned quickly to the right and
attacked Kawiti; they were close to each other, and
some fought hand to hand. The soldiers, then, were
pressed back, and forced to give way before the rush
of Kawiti and his men; but soon they rallied to the
call of their chiefs, and charged with the bayonet, and
then a close fight ensued, in which twenty of Kawiti’s
_ men were slain, and many wounded. Several of them
were chiefs, and among them was one of Kawiti’s
sons, being the second son he had lost in the war; the
other fell at Kororareka. [Kawiti’s men then retreated, —
and the soldiers chased them as far as the path in the
hollow, which leads to Ahuahu, and there the last
Maori was killed by the foremost soldier. There is a
stone placed there where that Maori fell, and close to
that stone by the side of the path the soldier is also
buried, for a shot from the pa struck him, and he fell
there. He was a great toa, that soldier; in this fight
whenever he pointed his gun a man fell, and he ran so
fast in pursuit that there was no escape from him; but
he fell there—for such is the appearance of war. The
musket is a bad weapon, the worst of all weapons; for
let a man be as brave as he may, he cannot stand up
before it long. Great chiefs are killed from a distance
by no one knows who, and the strength of a warrior
is useless against it. |

As the soldiers chased Kawiti, the pa fired on them
from the left, so that they had Kawiti in front and —

“
>
’
|
yt
a
+
‘ke
:
oa

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 215

the pa on the left, both firing, and therefore lost many
men; but having beaten Kawiti off, they returned
and took shelter in the Maori breastwork, and began
again to fire at the pa. So they fired, and the pa re-
turned the fire, and the main body of the soldiers
who were at the front of the pa fired. Lead whistled
through the air in all directions, the whole country
seemed on fire, and brave men worked their work.
Then Tupori, a chief who was in the pa with Heke,
saw that Kawiti had elevated his name, for he had
fought the soldiers hand to hand twice—once at
Kororareka, and once on this day; and seeing this,
Tupori wished also to do something to make his name
heard; he therefore cried out for only twenty men to
follow him, and he would charge the soldiers. Then
twenty men rushed out of the pa with Tupori; they
ran straight up the hill to the breastwork, the soldiers
firing on them all the time, but without hitting one
man. So Tupori and his twenty men came quite up
to the breastwork, and stood upon the top of the
bank, and fired their double-barrel guns in the sol-
diers’ faces, and drove them out of the breastwork.
The soldiers retreated a short distance, and Tupori
and his people began collecting the bundles of car-
tridges which the soldiers had left behind; and while
they were doing this, the soldiers suddenly came
rushing upon them. Their charge was very grand,
and terrible to look at. They came rushing on in
creat anger, shouting and cursing at the Maori. So
Tupori and his men ran away to the pa, and as they
ran the soldiers fired at their backs, and killed two

216 HEKE’S WAR IN THE

men, and wounded Tupori in the leg. The rest got
safe into the pa, and took Tupori and the two dead
men along with them. Great is the courage of
Tupori! he has made his name heard as that of a toa.
But it was not right for the soldiers to curse the
Maori, for up to this time nothing wrong had been
done on either side, and so the Maori were much
surprised to hear the soldiers cursing and swearing at
them.

After this the soldiers fired at the pa all day, but
only killed three men, besides the two men killed in
the charge of Tupori; these five men were all killed
belonging to the pa that day. When it was near
night, the soldiers went back to Walker’s camp at
Okaihau, taking with them their wounded, and also
two or three dead; but about ten dead were left be-
hind at Taumata Tutu, where they fell in the fight
with Kawiti.

So Heke remained in possession of the battle plain
(te papa), and his pa was not taken, and he buried
the dead of the soldiers. But one soldier who had
been wounded, and left behind by the side of the lake,
was found next morning by two slaves, and they pre-
tended they were friends, and got his gun from him,
ind then they took him to the lake and held his head
under water till he was dead.

Next morning after the battle the soldiers returned
to the Keri Keri, and Walker went with his people to
help them to carry the wounded. And Hauraki, the
young chief of the Hikutu, went also with thirteen of
his people to assist in carrying the wounded soldiers;

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 217

but the rest of his tribe, being one hundred men, re-
mained behind at Okaihau, for it was not expected
there would be any more fighting for some days. But
when the soldiers and Walker’s people came to the
Keri Keri, the Maori chiefs of Walker’s party talked
of attacking the Kapotai at Waikare, in the Bay of
Islands, because they were allies of Kawiti; so they
went and told their minds to the chiefs of the sol-
diers, who agreed to do so, for they were angry at not
having been able to take Heke’s pa at Taumata Tutu.

So when the soldiers and Walker’s people came to
the Bay of Islands, they each separated a party to
attack the Kapotai. They went up the Waikare river
in the night in canoes and boats, with great precau-
tion, hoping to surprise the Kapotai, and so to revenge
their dead who had fallen at Taumata Tutu; but
before they got near to the pa, the wild ducks in the
river started up and flew over the pa, which alarmed
the Kapotai, and caused them to suspect that an
enemy was coming up the river, so they took arms
and watched for the approach of the war party. And
soon the soldiers were near, but it was not yet day-
light. Then the men of the Kapotai called out, “If
you are Maori warriors who come in the night, come
on, we will give you battle; but if you are soldiers,
here is our pa, we give it you.” They soon discovered
the soldiers, and then they went out at the back of
the pa, and left it for the soldiers to plunder, as pay-
ment for Kororareka, which was very right. So the
soldiers and Walker’s Maori plundered the pa of the
Kapotai, and killed all the pigs.

218 HEKE’S WAR IN THE

After the Kapotai pa had been plundered and burnt,
Walker and his men went in pursuit of the Kapotai,
who had retreated into the forest, but the soldiers re-
mained behind on the clear ground near the pa.
Walker, Mohi, and Repa went into the woods with
three hundred men, followed the Kapotai, and over-
took them. When the Kapotai perceived they were
followed, their anger was very great, so they turned,
and fought with great courage against Walker.
Walker was not able to beat them, so they remained
a long time fighting in the forest. But Hauraki, the
young Hikutu chief, had, with his thirteen men, taken
another path, and he met the young chief of the
Kopatai, who had with him sixty men, and they were
both young men and fighting for a name, so a despe-
rate fight commenced. Hauraki and his thirteen men
thought not of the light of the sun or the number of
the enemy; their only thought was of war, and to
elevate their names. It was a close fight, and when-
ever the rifle of Hauraki was heard a man fell, and
soon he had killed or wounded several of the Kapotai,
who began to fall back. Then Hauraki cried out to
the retreating Kapotai, “ Fly away on the wings of
the wood-pigeon, and feed on the berries of the wood,
for I have taken your land.” Then a certain slave of.
the Kapotai said, ‘‘That is Hauraki, a very noble
born man. He is a chief of Te Hikutu, and of Te
Rarawa, and of Te Ngati Kuri.” Now when Hari
the young Kapotai chief heard this, he cried aloud to
Hauraki, saying, “ Swim you away on the backs of

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 219

the fish of the sea,’ there is no land for you here.”
Then these two young warriors drew nearer to each
other. Hauraki had just loaded his rifle, but the caps
which he had were too small, and he was a long time
trying to put on the cap. While he was doing this,
Hari fired at him, and the ball struck him on the
breast and passed out at his back; but so great was
his strength and courage that he did not fall, but took
another cap and fixed it, and then fired at the
Kapotai chief, and the ball struck him on the side under
the arm-pit, and went out at the other arm-pit. So
Hari staggered and felldead. When Hauraki saw this,
he said, “I die not unrevenged,” and then sank gentlyto -
the ground. His people then seeing this, two of them led
him away towards the rear. The Kapotai also carried
away their chief, and then, enraged at his death,
rushed upon the Hikutu, who were now only eight in
number, the rest having been killed or wounded.
These eight were tno tangata (practised warriors),
but were too few in number, and had lost their
chief; so when the Kapotai rushed upon them they
lost heart and fled, and the Kapotai chased them, and
soon the foremost of the flying Hikutu overtook
Hauraki and the two men who were leading him off.
Then Hauraki said, ‘‘ Do not remain with me to die,
but hide me in the fern and escape yourselves, and go
to my relation Walker, and tell him to muster all his
people, and come and carry me off.” So they all

1 Tn allusion to the fact of the war party having come by water.

220 HEKE’S WAR IN THH

pressed their noses to the nose of Hauraki, one after
another. And tears fell fast, and the balls from the
guns of the Kapotai whistled round their heads, so
while some returned the fire of the enemy, others hid
Hauraki in the long fern. When this was done, they
all fled, and escaped with great difficulty; for while
they were hiding Hauraki the Kapotai had surrounded
them, and they would never have escaped at all but
for the great courage of Kaipo and Te Pake,
Hauraki’s cousins, who broke through the Kapotai,
and opened a way for the rest.

Now, when Hauraki’s eight men got on the clear
ground, they found that the soldiers were getting
into the boats to go away, and Walker, Mohi, and
Repa had just come out of the forest from fighting
with the Kapotai, and Hauraki’s cousins ran to
Walker, and said “ Our friend’? is left behind
wounded in the forest, and likely to be taken by the
Kapotai.” Then Walker was very much dismayed
when he heard this, and he and Mohi ran to the
chiefs of the soldiers and desired them to remain for
a short time till he should rescue Hauraki, but the
soldiers could not understand what Walker meant,
for the speaker of Maori (the interpreter to the force)
had already gone away in one of the boats, and there

1 The natives when speaking to each other seldom mention
their chief except as “our friend,” or, if he be an old man, as
“our leader.” Speaking to Europeans, however, they often say
our rangatira, that having become the only word in use among
the Europeans to signify the chief of a tribe, though it may also
mean many other ranks, according as it is applied.

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 221

was a great confusion, every one trying to get away,
and Walker’s men were also getting into their canoes
and going away, and boats and canoes were running
foul of each other, and the creek was choked with
them. Then came the Kapotai in great force with
their allies out of the forest, and commenced firing
on the departing tawa from a distance of about two
hundred fathoms, so the soldiers and Walker got
away and returned to Kororareka, and left Hauraki
lying alone in the forest, for their bellies were full of
fighting. So he lay there till midnight, and the
night was cold and wet, and he kept continually
thinking what a disgrace it would be to his family if
he should be taken alive.* And as he lay thus, he
saw” the spirit of the greatest warrior of all his an-
cestors, who said to him, “ Arise! Shall my de-
scendant be taken alive?” Then Hauraki said, “* I
am a mere man, not like unto my ancestors, half god

1 That weakness is crime with the natives is a fact, and in
consequence the disgrace of being taken prisoner of war degrades
a native as much as with us it would degrade a man to be con-
victed of felony. I have heard two natives quarrelling when
one called the other “slave,” because his great-grandfather had
been once made prisoner of war. The other could not deny the
traditional fact, and looked amazingly chop-fallen. He, however,
tried to soften the blow by stating that even if his ancestor had
been made prisoner, it was by a section of his own tribe, and
consequently by his own relations he was defeated. Thus en-
deavouring to make a “ family affair” of it.

2 Poor Hauraki was no doubt delirious from the effects of his
wound, and no doubt thought he saw the’ vision he recounted
when his people found him.

222 HEKE’S WAR IN THE

and half man.”? Then the spirit said, “ In the mind

is the strength of the body. Arise!” So Hauraki
arose, and travelled a long way in the night till he
found a small canoe by the river side; then he pulled
down the river towards the Bay of Islands till the
canoe upset; then he swam on shore, and when he
got to the shore he was almost dead; but near to
where he landed was the house of a pakeha, and the
mother of this pakeha was Hauraki’s cousin, so that
pakeha took him and concealed him in the house, and
took care.of him, and before the middle of the day a
party of Walker’s men arrived therein search of him.
So they took him to the Bay of Islands, and the doctors
of the soldiers did what they could to cure him, but
without success. So his tribe, who had arrived at
Okaihau, carried him home to his own place at
Hokianga, where he died.

When Hauraki died, and his body lay at Wirinake
to be seen for the last time by his relations, there
was a great gathering of the Rarawa and Ngapuhi,

1 One of the ancestors of Hauraki, according to a tradition of
the Rarawa, hearing, even in the Reinga (the Maori Hades), of
the warlike renown of one of his sons, became jealous of his
fame, and returned to this world. Emerging from amongst the |
waves at Ahipara, on the west coast, where his son lived, he
challenged him to single combat. At the first onset the son had
the worst. Then the father said, ‘Had you been equal to your
ancestors I would have remained here as your companion in
arms; but you are degenerate and a mere man. I return to
the Reinga, to be with the heroes of the olden time.” He then
disappeared in the waves.

—
ny

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 223

to fulfil the last rights due to a chief. And when
the pihe had been sung,’ then the chiefs arose one
after another to speak in praise of the dead. This
was the speech of Te Anu, he who is known as having
been in his youth the best spearman of all the Nega-
puhi tribes. Bounding too and fro before the corpse,
with his famous spear in hand, he spoke as follows:
‘Farewell, Hauraki! go, taking with you your kind-
ness and hospitality, your generosity and valour, and
leave none behind who can fill your place. Your
death was noble; you revenged yourself with your
own hand; you saved yourself without the help of
any man. Your life was short; but so it is with
heroes. Farewell, O Hauraki, farewell.” At this
time it was night, and the sister and also the
young wife of Hauraki went in the dark and sat
beside the river. They sat weeping silently, and
spinning a cord wherewith to strangle themselves.
The flax was wet with their tears. And as they did
this the moon arose. So when the sister of Hauraki
saw the rising moon, she broke silence, and lamented

1 The pihe is a funeral chant sung standing before the dead.
It is a very curious composition, and of great antiquity, having
been composed long before the natives came to this country.
Part of the language is obsolete. It has allusions which point
in a remarkable manner to the origin of the natives, and from
whence they have come. They do not themselves understand
these allusions, but they are clear enough to any person who
has taken the trouble to trace the race from which they are de-
rived through the Pacific Islands, far into north latitude, next
into Asia, and to observe the gradual modifications of language
and tradition occasioned by time and change of abode.

224 HEKEH’S WAR IN THE

aloud, and this was her lament—the part I remember
of it :—
It is well with thee,O moon! You return from death,
Spreading your light on the little waves. Men say,
“‘ Behold the moon re-appears ;”’
But the dead of this world return no more.
Grief and pain spring up in my heart as from a fountain.
I hasten to death for relief.
Oh, that I might eat those numerous soothsayers
Who could not foretell his death.
Oh, that I might eat the Governor,
For his was the war!

At this time men came who were in search of
these women, and prevented the sister of Hauraki
from killing herself at that time. They watched her
for several days, but she died of grief. But the wife
of Hauraki consented to live that she might rear her
son, so that he might fight with the Kapotai on a
future day. So she called his name Maiki, which is
the name of the hill on which stood the flagstaff, the
cutting down of which was the cause of the war. He
was, therefore, called by this name, that he might
always be reminded of his father’s death. |

The lament of the sister of Hauraki was sung by
all the divisions of all the Ngapuhi, from the west

coast to Tokerau. And when Walker heard it he -

was displeased, and said, ‘‘ It is wrong to sing about
eating the Governor, for soon people who do not
know the song well will make mistakes, and sing,
‘Oh, that I might eat Heke,’ which would be the
worst of all. As for the priests or soothsayers, it
is no matter; they are all a set of fools.” So now

i —

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 225

when people sing that lament, they only say, ‘“ Oh,
that I might eat the numerous priests” (tin? to-
hunga).

So Hauraki was taken to Te Ramaroa, a cave in
the mountains, behind Wirinake, where his ancestors
are buried, and then three hundred men of Te Hikutu,
Natikuri, Te Rarawa, and Walker’s people armed, and
entered the country of the Kapotai, to fire powder in
remembrance of Hauraki* (paura mamae.) They de-
stroyed the cultivations, and got much plunder; but
the Kapotai retired to the forest, and would not fight,
for they knew this was a war party of the tribe of
Hauraki, who came bearing the weapons of grief
(patu mamae), and, therefore, they would not fight.
So the taua came to the spot where Hauraki had fallen,
and there fired many volleys of musketry in honour
of the dead, and then returned unmolested to. their
own country. The behaviour of the Kapotai in this
matter was correct. We all know that it was not
fear that prevented them from attacking us; they
respected the grief of the people and relations of
Hauraki, and made way before them, which was a
noble thought (whakaaro rangatira).

1 Tt is a native custom, when any chief of importance has
been killed in fair fight, for his friends to form a party and
enter even the enemy’s country, should he have fallen there, and
fire some volleys in his honour on the spot where he fell. This
they call paura mamae—powder of pain or grief. They, of
course, do it at the risk of being attacked, but the natives often
allow the custom to be fulfilled without molesting the party,
although a party of this kind always plunder and ravage all
before them.

Q

226 HHKE’S WAR IN THE
When Heke heard of the death of Hauraki, he

said, ‘‘ Now, if I am slain in this war, it matters
not, for there is no greater Ngapuhi Chief than Hau-
raki.” What Heke said was true; but he said it
to please Te Hikutu, for Heke is a man of many
thoughts.

At this same time, Te Tao Nui, who was at Okai-
hau, heard that most of Heke’s men had gone from
Te Ahuahu to Ohaeawae to kill cattle for food; for by
this time Heke had abandoned his pa, near Taumaia
Tutu, which the soldiers had attacked, and gone to
another fort of his at Te Ahuahu, to be near the
cultivations. So Te Tao Nui took sixty men, and went
on a dark rainy night and took the pa at the Ahuahu
by surprise, and the people in it only fired two shots
and fled. So Te Tao Nui remained in possession of
Heke’s fort at the Ahuahu, and all Heke’s provision
fell into his hands, and also the road to Ohaeawae
was opened, for this fort was on the path. Then
Walker abandoned his camp at Okaihau and joined Te
Tao Nui in Heke’s pa, and as they found there plenty
of provisions, they determined to remain there till the
soldiers should return again from Auckland.

But Heke was very much enraged to see his fort

and provisions thus snatched from him, and he deter-.

mined to retake it before the soldiers should return
from Auckland to help Walker. So he sent messen-
gers to all parts of the country where he had friends,
and to the old chiefs who were still alive who had
been companions of the great Hongi in the old wars.

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 227

And they came, and with them came Te Kahakaha,
he who had been Hongi’s chosen friend. He had
seen more battles than any man now alive, and was a
very brave and experienced leader. He came to
assist Heke, and to show him how his fathers had
fought.

When Heke’s war party had assembled, they were,
in number, about eight hundred men; and, after
having rested a few days at Ohaeawae, they marched
before daylight to attack Walker and Te Tao Nui at
Te Ahuahu, and to retake Heke’s pa. Walker, Tao
Nui, Moses, and Wi Repa, with his two brothers,
were the principal chiefs of Walker’s party at this
time, and they had with them only about three hun-
dred men, for many of Walker’s friends had returned
to Hokianga, to fetch pork and other provisions, for
they did not expect to be attacked so soon.

Now in the morning before daylight, an old slave
woman went out from the pa of Walker to pick up
sticks for firewood. And there was a thick fog lying
close to the ground; and before the old woman had
gone far she saw a black line of something coming
out of a cloud of fog, and as she was wondering what
this might be, she suddenly perceived that it was a
taua of armed men, and they had got within fifty
fathoms of the pa,’ so she cried aloud the cry of
alarm—Te Whakaarikt e! Te Whakaariki e!—and

a a

1 The natives estimate distances by fathoms and tens of
fathoms. <A kume is ten fathoms.

228 HEKE’S WAR IN -THE

instantly the people in the pa were alarmed, started
from sleep, and with their arms in their hands rushed
hurriedly to defend the gates. Then Walker called
out to Te Tao Nui, “ Remain you here and defend
our pa, and I will go out and fight.” Then Walker
and his people rushed against the enemy. And when
they were doing this, another party of the enemy
appeared at the opposite side of the pa. Of this
party the old chief Te Kahakaha was the leader.
Then, when Te Tao Nui saw this division and their
numbers, which were great, he said—‘t Now we have
the enemy in full view; there are no more of them
in concealment.” So he opened the gates on his side
of the pa, and rushed out with his people, and called
out to charge. So Walker charged at one side of the
pa, and Tao Nui and his people on the other. Walker
being opposed to Heke, and Tao Nui to Te Kaha-
kaha, the fight began, and this was the greatest
battle in the war. The best men of both parties
were there, and Heke was very desirous to destroy
Walker in one great fight before the soldiers should
return; and Walker, on his side, wished to show that
he could fight Heke without the aid of the soldiers.
So now Walker charged Heke, and Heke fired like
thunder against Walker. I, your friend, was there!
and as we rushed on, Karere Horo was killed (he was
our mad priest); and Taketu was killed, and Te Turi,
and Hangarau, and about nine others; and Takare
had both his eyes shot out, and Wi Repa and his
brother, and Hakaraia, the chief of the Ngati Pou,
and a ‘great many others, were wounded. By the

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 229

time all these people were killed or wounded, we
were close up to Heke’s people, and began to fire.
Heke’s men being so near, and standing too close
together, we did not miss them; we had revenge for
our friends who had fallen. We pressed Heke hard.
Not one of us remembered the light of this world,
nor thought of life. Then the enemy began to fall
back, and we followed them close till we came to a
hill side, where they turned and charged us. But
we fell back a little then, and got behind the stone
wall of a kumera field, and fired at them from behind
the low wall, and drove them back, having killed and
wounded several. They then returned to the hill-
side, and began firing at us from about fifty fathoms’
distance; but we were sheltered by the low stone
wall. Then we heard Heke shouting out to charge
us again, and so down they came upon us again.
They greatly outnumbered us, and the sound of their
feet as they rushed on was like the noise of a water-
fall. We fully expected this time they would finish
us, but Walker cried out, “Stand firm! let them
come close; waste no powder.” So we stood firm,
and took aim over the stone fence, and let them come
so close that the smoke of our guns would pass by
their foremost men. Then we fired, and some of our
toa jumped over the wall and ran at them with the
tomahawk, upon which they fled away to the hill-
side again, leaving their dead and wounded in our
hands. Then some of our young men, being hot
with the fight, cried out to eat them raw at once;
but this was a foolish proposal, for although we were

230 HUKEH’S WAR IN THE

fighting against Heke, we were all Ngapuhi together,
and more or less related to each other. Had we been
fighting Waikato or Ngatiawa of the south, it would
have been quite correct. So Walker and the other
chiefs would not allow it.

While this was going on on Walker’s side, Te Tao
Nui and his family were fighting against the division
of Te Kahakaha and the Wharepapa at the other
side of the pa; but Te Kahakaha knew by the sound
of the firing that Heke had lost ground and was
falling back, so he fell back also slowly, intending to
join the right of his division to Heke’s left, so as to
fill up the opening which had been made by Heke
falling back, and then to renew the battle. But, in
falling back, his men lost heart, and Te Tao Nui
pressed him hard; so, to encourage his men, he
advanced to the front, calling loudly, “‘ Whakahokai!”
and, as he ran forward, his men followed. He was
quite naked, and only armed with a light spear. He
came on lightly, like a young man, seeking a man
for his spear; and he rushed upon one of the warriors
of the Ngati Pou, but before he got close enough to
strike, a shot struck him on the breast, and came out
at his back, which turned him quite round. Then
another shot struck him on the back, and went out
at his breast. Then he sank to the ground, saying—
“ Fight bravely, O my family and friends! for this
is my last battle.” So he lay quiet there, but did
not immediately die, for he lingered to see once more
the young man Heke, who was the representative of
Hongi, his old companion in many wars.

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 231

When Te Kahakaha had fallen, the battle would
have been quickly lost but for the Wharepapa, the
old chief of the Ihutai. He was a brave old warrior,
and had also fought in the wars of Hongi Ika. He
came forward laughing, and calling on his tribe to
stand firm, for he wanted to save the body of Te
Kahakaha. So the Ihutai stood firm, and for a time
the fight became stationary in that place.

At this moment a boy came running to Heke,
where he stood opposed to Walker on the extreme
right of the battle. The boy ran up to Heke and
cried, ‘‘ The old man has fallen.” Then Heke said,
““What old man?” The boy answered, “Te Kaha-
kaha.” Then Heke said, “Is he quite dead ?” and
the boy answered again, and said, “* He is quite dead,
and the people are falling back, and his body will be
taken by the enemy.” When Heke heard this his
heart rolled about in the hollow of his breast. He
threw away his cloak and gun, and ran naked and
unarmed all along the front of the battle until he
came to the place where the old man was lying.
And here he met many men who were running away,
and he quickly drove them back to the fight, for they
were terrified by his look—his appearance was hardly
that of aman. Then he came to where the old man
lay, and having knelt down, pressed his nose to the
nose of the dying man, and said, ‘‘ Father, are you
slain?” And the old man said, “‘Son, I am slain; but
in whose battle should I die if not in yours? It is
good that I should die thus.” Then Heke ran
amongst the people and called out to charge; but

232 HEKE’S WAR IN THE

many had fled. The tribe of [hutai alone remained,
and some few others. They, however, charged
desperately, and drove back Te Tao Nui a short
distance. Then Heke tore a cartridge-box from the
body of a dead man, and cried out to the Ihutai to
hold back the enemy a short time while he should
get away the body of the old man. Then he ran
away to where he had seen Te Atua Wera standing
on the path trying to rally those who were flying,
and to collect them on that spot to fight again. This
Atua Wera, you already have heard, is the wisest
priest and prophet of all the Ngapuhi, and he stood
there in the path stopping the flying people with
his club. But who can bind a flowing river? Tall
men with long tattooed faces ran by like a stream,
and were deaf to his call, but he had about twenty
men who stood firm. Then Heke came running up
and cried out, ‘Advance at once and carry off
the old man while it can be done.” Then Te
Atua Wera said, ‘‘Give me a gun and some cart-
ridges; I have only a club.” Then Heke held out
the cartridge-box, and said, “Take a gun from one
of the people,” and being mad with haste, and rage,
and grief, he began to buckle the cartridge-box round
the waist of the priest. But Te Atua Wera perceived _
that there was blood on the cartridge-box, so he
started back and said, ‘‘ Where did you get this ?”
Then Heke cried out, ‘‘ Where should I get it? is
not this war?” So then the priest saw that Heke
himself, the chief of the war, had been the first him-
self to transgress the sacred rules, and had touched

i

NORTH OF NEW ZHALAND. 233

the bloody spoils of the slain. So he said to Heke,
‘‘The Maori Atua are arrayed against us, the spirits
of the dead are now angry; we are lost; and you,
Heke, are now no longer invulnerable.’ Go not to the
front, or you will meet with misfortune. Leave the
old man where he is, it cannot now be helped; ” and
having said this, Te Atua Wera took the cartridge-
box on the end of his club, and threw it away, club
and all, into the high fern.” Then Heke roared out,
“What care I for either men or spirits? I fear not.
Let the fellow in heaven look to it. Have I not
prayed to him for years? It is for him to look to
me this day.’ I will carry off the old man alone.”

1 The priest had promised Heke that he should be himself
personally invulnerable so long as the old superstitious war
customs were observed, but which Heke had in this instance
broken.

2 This whole scene between Heke and Te Atua Wera is de-
scribed exactly as it occurred. I have heard it described by
several eye-witnesses, one of whom was the Atua Wera himself,
and they all gave the same account. The native priests pre-
scribe many rules and observances to the people, and prophecy
good fortune, provided none of these rules be broken, well know-
ing that some of them will to a certainty be broken by the care-
less and incorrigible Maori. In case of the failure of any of
their predictions, they have the excuse that some sacred rule
had been broken. In this particular instance the Atua Wera,
seeing the batile going against Heke, took advantage of his
having handled the bloody cartridge-box; the people having
been forbidden to touch anything having the blood of the enemy
on it, until certain ceremonies of purification had been performed
after the battle, to render plunder or spoil lawfully tangible.

3 Heke had been for years a Christian, according to the Maori
notion of Christianity, which was then, if not now, a mere jumble

234 HERES WAn IN THE

And Heke’s eyes rolled towards heaven, and he
ground his teeth. Then he ran forward to carry off
Te Kahakaha, but ten of the men who were with
Te Atua Wera followed him, for they were ashamed
to see the chief go alone and unarmed to carry off
his ancient friend, but Te Atua Wera remained where
he was.

All this which I have told took but little time, for
in battle when men’s eyes shine there is no listless-
ness. But by this time Heke’s men to the right were
quite defeated by Walker, and running away; but
Waker pursued them slowly and with caution, for
the ground was covered with brushwood, and rocks,
and high fern, and the enemy though defeated were

of superstition and native barbarism. Here Heke says, that
because he prayed to the “fellow in heaven”—by which he
means that at stated periods he had for some years made use of
certain words which were supposed to gain the favour of “the
European God”—that in consequence that God should favour
him now if he was able. The word karakia which Heke made
use of does not mean prayer as we understand that word. Ka-
rakia properly signifies a formula of words or incantation, which
words are supposed to contain a power, and to have a positive
effect on the spirit to whom they are addressed, totally irrespec-
tive of the conduct or actions, good or bad, of the person using
them. ‘The fact is that the Maori has, perhaps, the lowest reli-
gious character of any human being ; his mental formation seems
to have the minimum of religious tendency. The idea of a
supreme being has never occurred to him, and the word which
the missionaries use for God (Atua) means indifferently, a dead
body, a sickness, a ghost, or a malevolent spirit. Maui, the
Atua, who they say fished up the island from the sea, is sup-
posed to have died long ago by some, and all agree that he no
longer exists.

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 235

still more numerous than we were, and we followed
slowly lest we might fall into an ambush.

So Te Atua Wera sat on a stone beside the path
~ waiting for the return of Heke, and soon he saw that
the battle was lost, for people came running past in
great numbers, and among them came the men who
had gone with Heke, and they brought with them
the body of the old man, Te Kahakaha, which Heke
had gone with them to bring away. The fire of Te
Tao Nui now began to come closer, and the bullets
were cutting down the fern all round them, and the
Atua cried out to the bearers of the body to inquire
for Heke, and they said he was close behind them.
So Te Atua waited some time longer, but Heke did
not come, and the enemy were getting near, and his
mind was disturbed, for he had a presentiment of
evil. At this moment Hoao, a very noted Ngapuhi
warrior, came jumping over the fern, and seeing the
Atua Wera, he shouted, “ Turn—face the enemy,
for Heke has fallen, and unless quickly rescued will
be taken.” Te Atua said, ‘‘ Where is he?” The
man said, ‘‘ Here in the hollow, where I have hid him
in the high fern, but could not carry him off myself.”
Te Tao Nui had now got close, and some of his men
had actually passed where Heke lay, but had not
discovered him. So now Te Atua Wera saw it was
his time to do his part, so he called out ‘ Come, fol-
low me to die for Pokaia.t. Three men started for-

1 In the agitation caused by hearing that Heke had fallen, the
Atua Wera called Heke by the name of Pokaia. This was the

256)" HEKE’S WAR IN THE

ward at this call; they ran to where Hekewas, and bore
him off. In doing so they were more than once
surrounded by the enemy, but the fern and brush-
wood were so thick that they got off unperceived.
The fern and brushwood would not, however, have
saved them had it not been for the Atua Wera, who,
by his continual karakia (incantations) rendered the
bearers of Heke invisible to the enemy. The three
men who carried off Heke were all from Hokianga;
they were all elderly men, and practised warriors.
Their names were Ta Pura, Hoao, and Te Ngawe.

So Heke lost in this battle many of his best old
war chiefs, he was himself badly wounded and
defeated, and escaped with difficulty to the fort at
Ohaeawae, to which place he was chased by Walker
and Te Tao Nui. These misfortunes would not
have happened had not Heke been so thoughtless as
to handle the bloody spoils of the dead, before the
proper ceremonies had rendered them common. But
there is nothing in this world so deaf to reason or so
disobedient as a warrior—when he is enraged he only
listens to his own courage, and, being led away by
it, dies.

After this battle Heke remained some time at

Ohaeawae, and Walker stayed at Te Ahuahu, the

name of Heke’s father, a celebrated cannibal warrior and des-
perate savage. His closing scene took place in the country of
the Ngatiwhatua, where, having gone in a war expedition, he
and his 800 men were killed and eaten, almost to a man, by the
Ngatiwhatua, who in their turn were all but exterminated by
Hongi Ika in revenge for Pokaia.

j
Z
x

—' _

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 237

fort which Te Tao Nui had taken. Walker buried
Heke’s dead which had been left on the field, and
there was a great lamentation at both forts, for the
number of killed on both sides was great.

Heke, and Kawiti, who had again joined him, now
enlarged, and strengthened, and completely finished
the pa at Ohaeawae, where they were stopping. It
was originally but small, and belonged to Pene Taui,
but they now completely finished it, and made it a
perfect Maori fort in everyrespect. Theinside fence
was made of a very hard wood which does not splinter
much; the posts of this fence were about one fathom
in the ground, and the fence over ground was about
four fathoms high. The posts were stout, and some
of them would require thirty men with ropes to raise
them. Inside this fence was the trench in which the
men stood to fire; their faces only reached the level
of the ground outside the fort. The loop-holes,
through which the men fired, were also only level
with the ground outside, so that in firing the men
were very slightly exposed. Outside of all was the
pekerangi, which is a lighter sort of fence put up to
deaden the force of shot before it strikes the inner
one, and also intended to delay a storming party, so
that while they would be pulling it down, the men
behind the inner fence might have time to shoot
them. This pekerangi was nearly as high as the
inner fence, and stood little more than half a fathom
outside of it; it was made of a strong framework,
and was padded thickly with green flax to deaden the
force of shot. It was also elevated about a foot from

238 HEKE’S WAR IN THE

the ground, so that the men behind the inner fence,
standing in the ditch, could shoot through the loop-
holes in the inner fence under this outside fence; also
at different distances along the kawe (curtain) there
were kok (flanking) angles, capable of containing
many men, so that a storming party would be ex-
posed to a fire both in front and flank, and in these
angles were put large ship guns. The men inside,
in the inner trench, were also protected from a
flanking fire by pakeaka (traverses), which crossed the
trench at intervals; also inside the place were many
excavations under ground covered over with large
logs of timber, and over the timber earth. In these
pits the men could sleep safe from the shot of the
big guns of the soldiers. There were also high
platforms at the corners of the mner fence, from
whence could be seen all that an enemy might be
doing outside.

When this fort was completely finished and pro-
visioned, the priests (tohunga) took, according to
ancient custom, the chips of the posts, and with them
performed the usual ceremonies, and when they had
done so they declared that this would be a fortunate
fortress; so it was made sacred (tapu,) as were all
the men who were to defend it. |

This fortress being now quite finished and ready
for war, the soldiers came from Auckland to attack
it, and also came the sailors and Pakeha Maori
(Militia). They landed at the Bay of Islands,
came up the Keri Keri in boats, and from thence to
the Waimate along the cart road. They brought

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 259

with them two very small brass guns, and two very
short iron ones (mortars). The short iron guns
looked like potato pots, and we laughed at them, and
thought of Heke’s saying of ‘‘ What prize can be
won bysuch a gun?” We however, notwithstanding
our laughing, thought they must have some use, or
the soldiers would not have brought them.

At last, after remaining several days at the Wai-
mate, the tawa advanced against Ohaeawae. The
soldiers, sailors, and other pakeha might be in num-
ber about eight hundred, and we Maori were four
hundred. The enemy did not attempt to oppose our
advance, which was very good; for the soldiers were
so heavy loaded with cloths, and tied up with belts,
_and had such heavy cartridge-boxes and also little
water casks, hanging to their sides, and packs on
their backs, besides the musket and bayonet, that we
all said that if we Maori were loaded in that way, we
should neither be able to fight nor to run away.
Great is the patience of the soldiers!

At this time Heke was very ill, and expected to
die from his wound which he had received at the
great fight at Te Whatuteri. So his people took
him away to his own place at Tautora, and Te Atua
Wera and sixty men remained there with him.
Many, also, of the men who had been at the fight
with Walker at Te Whatuteri had returned home, so
there remained at the pa at Ohaeawae only Kawiti,
Pene Taui, and one hundred men.

So the soldiers encamped before the pa at the
distance of about two hundred fathoms. There was

24.0 HEKE’S WAR IN THE

a little hill on their right, rather advanced towards
the pa. Walker took possession of this hill, and
encamped upon it with about sixty men. This hill
overlooked both the pa and the camp of the soldiers,
and from it everything could be seen that was going
on. The rest of the Maori encamped at a short dis-
tance behind the soldiers; and on the left of the
soldiers, and a little advanced, were placed the four
little big guns, two of brass and two of iron.

So now both parties being face to face and close to
each other, they were very watchful. Some of the
soldiers stood all night watching between the camp
and the pa, and the people in the pa watched also,
and the watch-cry resounded among the hills. This
was the cry of the pa: ‘Come on, soldiers, for re-
venge; come on! Stiff your dead are lying on
Taumata tutu. Come on! Come on!”* Then in
answer was heard the watch-cry of Walker: “‘ Come
on, O Ngapuhi, for your revenge, come on! We
have slain you in heaps on the battle-field. Come
on! Come on!” So passed the first night before
Ohaeawae.

Next morning the four little big guns began to
fire at the pa, but they did no damage. Some of
the shots stuck fast in the large posts, but did not
go through; others went between the posts, making
a mark on each side, but leaving the posts standing
as strong as ever. As for the men in the pa, they

1 « Whai mai e te hoia, ki tetahi utu maua akato wharoro ana
koe, kei Taumata tutu—whai mai! whai mai!—The watch-cry.

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 241

‘were all in the trenches, and the shots which came
through the fence went over their heads, and did
them no harm. After the guns had fired a few
times, the people in the pa began firing at them with
muskets, and soon killed one sailor, and wounded
some others. So the men left the guns for the rest
of that day, but in the night they took them away,
and placed two of them on the hill where Walker had
encamped, and the other two on the level ground
between that hill and the soldiers’ camp. They also
made banks of earth to shelter them, so that the men
who fired them were safer than they had been the
day before, when they had only a little green flax to
cover them, which was of no use.

Next day the guns began to fire again, and con-
tinued until night; and also a great number of sol-
diers, sailors, and Maori scattered themselves about the
pa, and fired at it with muskets, but could do no
harm; and this went on for several days, but the
fences of the pa remained standing, and not much
injured. I think, however, that although the guns
were smaller than they should have been, if they had
been continually fired at one place, an opening in the
fence would have been made at last; but instead of
doing this, when they had been fired for half a day
at one part of the fence, then the soldiers would
begin firing at some other part of the pa, and then
the people would come out of the trenches and repair
any damage which had been done at the place at
which the guns had been fired at first. We Maori
did not think the soldiers did wisely in this respect,

R

242 HEKE’S WAR IN THE

but they may have had some reason for it which
we could not understand, for we don’t know much
about big guns; as was also seen at Ohaeawae, for
there were four big guns in the pa, larger than those
of the soldiers, and they were fired at us very often,
but they never hit any one. My idea is, that big
guns are no use to knock down a pa, unless they are
very big indeed. But the Maori say that in future
wars they will build forts where it will be hard, and
take a long time, to bring big guns; and when the
soldiers after much pains get them there, they will
leave the pa at once, and go somewhere else where it
will take a long time to follow them, and so on till
the soldiers are tired of dragging big guns about the
country, after which both parties will be armed with
muskets only, and the Maori can use these arms as
well as the soldiers. This is what I have heard say,
and I think it a very correct thought.

So the firing of big guns and muskets went on day
after day, but no opening was made in the face of
the pa; but the chief of the soldiers* did not care
much for this, for he wanted every day to send his
men to rush up to the pa, to pull down the fence with
their hands, or pull it down with ropes, and so get

in. But Walker and the other chiefs always pre-

vented this, as they knew that all the soldiers would
be killed before they could get in in this way.
Every one of the Maori were of this opinion, and
also some of our old pakeha friends who were with

1 Colonel Despard.

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 243

us, and who knew the appearance of the Maori in
war. Nevertheless, the chief of the soldiers wished
every day to send his men to rush up to the pa; and
so, at last, we heard so much of this that we began
to be very melancholy, and Walker told me that he
felt sick in the stomach when the chief of the soldiers
spoke to him about it, it seemed so great a waste of
men’s lives. We all became, as I have said, very
melancholy, for we all began to see that it would be
done at last, and we grieved, therefore, for our friends
the soldiers, who we knew would be all killed. But
what vexed us most was, that so fine a war party as
ours should be beaten by such a small number of
people as were in the pa, only because the chief of the
soldiers was a foolish, inexperienced person.*

At last the chief of the soldiers thought of sending
for a very large gun from a ship of war at the Bay
of Islands, which would be large enough to break
down the fence. If he had done this at first an open-
ing would soon have been made, and the fort taken
without many men being killed; but as it was, this
gun when it came was of no use, for the chief of the
soldiers did not wait till it had broken down the
fence, but attempted to take the pa without this
having been done.

This gun was placed at the foot of the hill where

1 The pa at Ohaeawae was attacked against the advice of the
friendly native chiefs, who well knew its strength, and the cer-
tain repulse to be expected. They called Colonel Despard any-
thing but a soldier, and the term “ foolish and inexperienced” is
the mildest they applied to him.

24.4 HEKE’S WAR IN THE

Walker had his camp, and it was not fired many
times before it became apparent that should it keep
on firing till next evening, a large opening would be
made in the fence; so we began to think that the
chief of the soldiers would have patience, and wait till
this should be done.

Now on this same day, when this big gun began to
fire, thirty men came out of the pa unperceived, and
coming through a wood in the rear of Walker’s camp,
at a time when Walker and most of his men were
absent, they rushed in and plundered it, killing one
soldier who was there, and also one Maori, and
wounded also a pakeha, the son of a missionary.
They pulled down Walker’s flag and took it away,
and having fired a volley at the camp of the soldiers,
ran off to their pa, leaving one man killed, who was
killed by Tara Patiki, and not by the soldiers, as [I
have heard say. I am sure of this, for I saw Tara
Patiki shoot him. They were close upon us before
we saw them, and we had great difficulty to escape,
but we both jumped into the fern, and ran down the
hill as hard as we could. I fired my gun right into
the middle of them, but as only one man was killed,
I suppose my shot missed.

When the soldiers saw that Walker’s pa was taken,

they came out of their camp, and charged up the
hill; but when they came to the top, they found that
the enemy were gone, and had taken away everything
valuable they could find; they found the soldier who
had been killed. He had been sent there by the
chief of the soldiers to take care of one of the little

.
2
fi
3
i
&
;
i

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 245

big guns which had been removed up to that place,
so he was killed there; but I have heard that the
chief of the soldiers when he wrote his letter to
Auckland, to tell the Governor about this matter,
said that this soldier was killed in charging up the
hill; but this is not true, for I and many others got
to the top of the hill before the soldiers, and when
we got there the enemy were gone, and the dead
soldier was lying there where he had been killed,
close to the small big gun. |
This affair, however, made the chief of the soldiers
quite mad, so that same evening he ordered all his
men to rush upon the pa and pull it down with ropes,
or climb over it with ladders, or any way they could;
he also sent to Walker to tell him what he was about
to do. Walker spoke against it, as he had done
before, and advised to wait one day more, till the big
eun had made an opening for the soldiers to rush
through quickly; otherwise, he said they would be
all killed, and not get in atall. But the chief of the
soldiers would not wait. So when Walker saw the
attack would be made he offered to attack also at
another face of the pa, and also twenty young men,
cousins of Hauraki, the young chief of Te Hikutu,
who was killed at Waikare, came and asked leave to
go with the soldiers; but the chief of the soldiers
would not let them go; neither would he consent to
Walker’s making an attack, lest meeting the soldiers
in the pa, his men might be mistaken for the enemy.
When we saw that the attack was determined upon,
and just going to take place, we were all in a great

246 HEKH’S WAR IN THE

state of agitation, and knew not what to think. Most
said all the soldiers would be killed; but then we
thought, on the other hand, that perhaps these
European warriors could do things above the under-
standing of us Maori, and so perhaps they might
take the pa. But all thought the chief of the soldiers
very wrong to attempt the thing before an opening
had been made for the soldiers to enter by. Also,
Toby (Lieutenant Philpots), who was chief of the
sailors, and a very brave gentleman, had walked close
up to the fence of the pa, and along it, and, after
having examined it, he returned, and told the chief
of the soldiers that the place could not be taken
by storm, unless it was first breached. When Lieu-
tenant Philpots went up to the pa, the people were
firing at every one who showed himself, and at first
they fired at him; but he walked straight on, not
caring about the shots which were fired at him. So,
when the people in the pa saw that it was Philpots
who had done this, they ceased firing at him, and told
him to go back, as they did not wish to hurt him.
So having examined the fence closely, he returned,
but the soldier chief did not mind what he said, and
was angry, and spoke rudely to him for having given
his opinion on the matter.

So now the chief of the soldiers mustered his men ~

and divided them into parties. One party he stationed

on the hill which was Walker’s camp, and with all

the rest he went to the attack. And first came a
small party with a young chief leading them; these
were all toa who had consented to die, so that those

Se a ee ee Te ee ee ee ee ee

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 247

who followed might succeed. After them came a
party of about eighty men, and after these came the
main body of the soldiers; and with them also ad-
vanced the sailors, and the pakeha Maori, carrying
ladders. The sailors advanced without their chief,
for as yet he (Philpots) remained to fire some last
shots from the big gun. But there was with them
a young chief called Pena (Mr. Spain). So the whole
attack moved on. We soon saw with great surprise
that the soldiers were not going to attack that part
of the pa which for so many days had been battered
by the big guns, and where there might have been
some small chance of their getting in, for in that
direction the fence had been damaged in some degree,
particularly by the large ship gun. The soldiers,
however, advanced as they had been ordered against
that part of the pa which had been built stronger
than, any other, and which had not been fired at at
all by the big guns. The reason why this part of
the pa was the strongest was, because it was the part
which had been originally built by Pene Taui as a pa
for himself. He had begun it at the beginning of the
war, and built it at his leisure, and made it very
strong. And also that part of the pa was the nearest
to the forest; so all the largest and heaviest timber,
which was difficult to move, was put there. But
when Heke and Kawiti fell back to Ohaeawae, this
original pa was found too small to hold their people ;
so they enlarged it very much; but, being in a great
hurry, expecting the soldiers back from Auckland,
they could not take time to make the new part so

248 HEKE’S WAR IN THE

strong as that which had been first built by Taui;
but, nevertheless, by working hard day and night,
they made it very strong.

So the soldiers marched on silently and in good
order, in full view of the pa, till they came opposite
to the part they were about to attack, and then they
halted in a little hollow to prepare for the great rush.
But all this was done quietly, and in an orderly
manner. ‘The chiefs did not make speeches, or jump,
or stamp about as we Maori do to encourage the
men, but all was quiet, and silent, and orderly, as if
nothing uncommon was about to take place. I took
great notice of this, and did not know what to think;
for, when we Maori have determined to do a despe-
rate thing like this, we are all like mad men, and
make a great clamour, rushing towards the world of
darkness (¢e po) with great noise and fury.

While the soldiers were advancing, Walker and all
the people went and took up a position behind the
pa, so that in case the soldiers got in, the retreat of
the enemy would be cut off, in case they attempted
to escape in that direction.

Now the defenders of the pa perceived that the
time of battle was come, and all went to their sta-
tions, and the chiefs stood up and made speeches,
each to his own family. This was the speech of
Haupokeha

‘‘ Have great patience this day, O chil-
dren and friends; we have said ‘ Let us fight the
soldiers,’ and behold the rage of the soldier is at
hand; be brave and enduring this day; be victo-
rious; the parent who maintains us is the land—

> =

-* Se

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 249

die for the land!—die for the land!” Other
chiefs spoke to the people, and some of the
young men left the trenches, and called to the old
men to lead them out to fight the soldiers in the
open plain before the pa; but Haupokeha, in great
anger, said, “‘ No; this shall not be done: return to
your stations, and you shall see the enemy walk
alive into the oven: they are coming only to their
own destruction.” At this moment the bugle
sounded, and the soldiers came charging on, shouting
after the manner of European warriors, and those
who were on Walker’s hill shouted also; and we
Maori behind the pa shouted also; and the whole
valley resounded with the anger of the pakeha!
Soon the soldiers were within twenty fathoms of the
fort; and then the fire darted from under the
pekerangi; the noise of guns was heard, and the
foremost soldiers fell headlong to the ground. But
the soldiers are very brave: they charged right on,
and came up to the pekerangi, which is the outer
fence, and began to tear it to pieces with their hands.
Then Philpots, when he saw the sailors charge, left
the big gun and ran across the plain, and joined
them; and he, being a toa, shouted to his men to be
resolute, and destroy the fence; and then, with one
pull, the sailors brought down about five fathoms of
the pekerangi; and then they were before the true
fence, which being made of whole trees placed up-
right and fixed deeply in the ground, could not be
pulled down at all. All this time the fire from
inside through the loopholes continued unceasingly,

250 HEKE’S WAR IN THE

at the distance of one arm’s length from where the
soldiers were standing, and also a heavy fire came
from a flanking angle at a distance of ten fathoms;
and in this angle there was a big gun; it was heavily
loaded with powder, and for shot there was put into
it a long bullock chain, and this was fired into the
midst of the soldiers, doing great damage. So the
soldiers fell there, one on the other, in great num-
bers; but not one thought of running away. And
Philpots did all a man could do to break down the
inside fence, but it could not be done at all; so he
ran along this fence till he saw a small opening
which had been made to fire a big gun through, and
he tried to get through this opening, at the same
time calling to his men to follow. Then the people
in the pa saw him, and about ten men fired at him,
but all missed, and he almost got into the midst of
the place, still calling on his men to follow, when a
young lad fired at him, and killed him dead at once.
So he lay there dead with his sword in his hand,
like a toa as he was; but the noise and smoke,
shouting and confusion, were so great as to prevent
his men from perceiving that he was killed, and
bearing off his body, for such is the appearance of

war. Also, a chief of the soldiers was killed ~ j

(Captain Grant), and another died of his wounds,
and there was a long line of dead and wounded men
lying along the outside of the fence, and soon all
would have been killed, but the chief of the soldiers,
seeing this, sounded a call on the tetere (bugle) for
them to retreat. And then, but not before, the

NORTH OF NEW ZHALAND. 251

soldiers began to run back, taking with them most
of the wounded; but about forty dead were left
behind, under the wall of the pa. This battle did
not take up near so long a time as I am telling of it,
and in it about one hundred and ten Europeans were
killed or wounded.

Great is the courage of the soldiers! They will
walk quietly at the command of their chiefs to
certain death; there is no people to be compared to
them; but they were obliged to retreat. The
number of men in the fort was about one hundred
and seventy, and the part attacked was defended by
the hapu of Pene Taui, in number just forty men.
So the war runners ran through all the north,
saying—“ One wing of England is broken, and
hangs dangling on the ground.”

Before saying any more of this fight, I must tell
you of two slaves—one called Peter, who belonged
to Kaetoke, and the other called Tarata, who belongs
to Ti Kahuka. Many years ago Tarata went to
England in a large ship, and having gone ashore to
see what he could see, he lost his way in the great
town called London. So, in the night, the police
found him wandering about, and took him prisoner,
and put him in the whareherehere (watch-house), for
they thought he had stolen a bundle of clothes

<which he was carrying. In the morning they
brought him before the chief and accused him, but
Tarata had not been able to learn to speak English,
so he could not defend himself, or say from whence
he came; so he thought he was going to be killed,

252 HEKE’S WARIN THH

and began to cry. Just then a ship captain came
into the house, and seeing Tarata he knew he was a
Maori, and spoke to him in Maori, and told him not
to be afraid, and then he turned to the chief of the
police and made a speech to him, and to all the
people who were assembled there to see Tarata
killed, as he believed; but when the ship captain had
done speaking, the chief of the police was no longer
angry, and said, ‘‘ Poor fellow, poor fellow ;” and then
all the people present gave each a small piece of
money to Tarata. Some gave sixpence, some a
shilling, and some a few coppers; the chief of the
police gave Tarata five shillings. When all the
money was together there was more than ever
Tarata had seen before, so he was very glad
indeed ; and a policeman went with him and
showed him the way to his ship, and took care of -
him, lest he should be robbed of his money. After
this Tarata returned to New Zealand, and many ~
years after he came with his chief to the war to help
Walker. So at Ohaeawae, when he saw the soldiers
going to the attack, he thought of the goodness of
the people of England, and so he said, “I will go
and die along with these soldiers.” Then, when
Peter, the slave of Kaetoke, heard this, he said, “ I
also am a pakeha; I have been reared since a child
by the Europeans; they have made me a man, and
all the flesh on my bones belongs to them.” So these
two slaves ran quickly and took their place with the
wakaka (forlorn-hope, or leading party) of the soldiers,
but when the chief of that party saw them, he ordered

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 253

them to return; but they persisted in going on, so
the soldier ran at them and cut at them with his
sword, and his soldiers were shouting and running
on. So the two slaves stood to one side, but would
not return, and when the soldiers had passed, they
followed them up to the fence of the pa, and stood
there firing into it till the soldiers fell back, and
afterwards, when the soldiers retreated, they carried
off one wounded soldier who had been left behind.

After the fight, the chief of the soldiers sent some
people with a white flag to the pa, to ask permission
to take away the dead soldiers who lay beside the
fence. They were told that they might come and
take them next day. Soon after the flag had returned
it was night, and then many near friends of Heke
came from Kaikohe and entered the pa, for they had
heard that the soldiers had been beaten off, and this
gave them courage to come, which they had _ not
before, and then late in the night they joining with
the men of the pa danced the war dance which is ap-
propriate to victory, and sang the song of triumph as
they danced, and the song sounded among the hills in
the night like thunder. This was the song—

E tama te uaua, O youth of sinewy force,

K taima te maroro, O men of martial strength,
Ina hoki ra te tohu ! Behold the sign of power!

O te uaua. In my hand I hold the scalp,
Kei taku ringa,emauana. Of the Kawau Tatakiha.

Te upoko.

O te Kawau Tatakiha!

And often in the night the watch-cry of the pa was

254: HEKE’S WAR IN THE

heard, and this was the cry of the pa—* Come on!
come on! soldiers, for revenge, come on! Stiff lie
your dead by the fence of my pa—come on, come
on!” And also a great shouting and screaming was
heard, which the soldiers thought was'the cry of one
of their men being tortured; but the noise was the
voice of a priest who was then possessed of a spirit.
But, nevertheless, the body of one soldier was burned
that night, for as the people were mending the fence
by torchlight there was a dead soldier lying near, and
they put a torch of kauri resin on the body to light
their work, which burnt the body very much, and
caused the report to be spread afterwards, when the
body was found by the soldiers, that the man had
been tortured; but this was not true, for the man was
dead before the fire was thrown on the body.

During the night a report arose amongst the Maori
of Walker’s camp—I don’t know how or from what
cause—that the soldiers were about to decamp under
cover of darkness, and that the chief of the soldiers
had proposed to shoot all his wounded men to pre-
vent them falling alive into the hands of the enemy.
When we heard this we got into a state of commo-
tion and great alarm, and did not know what to do.

I ran off to a hut where an old pakeha friend of mine ~

slept, and having aroused him, I told him what I had
heard, and asked him if such things ever had been
done by his countrymen, and also what he thought
would be best for us to do. My friend said nothing
for some time, but lit his pipe and smoked a little, and
at last he said, “‘Such a thing has never yet been

iq

—-

PO ee ee eT TT ene

NORTH OF NEW ZHALAND. 25

Or

done by English soldiers, and be assured will not be
done to-night; but, nevertheless, go you to all your
relations and those who will listen to your words, and
make them watch with their arms in their hands till
daylight. I will do the same with my friends, for,
perhaps, the soldiers might go to-night to take away
the wounded to the Waimate and then return: who
knows? And in the morning, perhaps, the enemy
may think they are gone away entirely, and may
come out of the pa; so, in that case, you and I will
elevate our names by fighting them ourselves, without
the soldiers.’ So I and my pakeha friend watched
all night with the people, until the sun rose. But
the soldiers did not go away that night, so I suppose
the report was false, but it alarmed us much at the
time, and some of us were very near running away
that night.’

When the morning came, a party went to bring
away the bodies of the dead. The people of the pa
had drawn them to a distance from the fence, and
left them to be taken away, so they were taken and
buried near the camp; and when this was done, the
soldiers began to fire on the pa, and the war began
again. But the body of the soldier chief who had
been killed was not given up, for much of the flesh
had been cut off. This was done by the advice of the
tohunga, so that the soldiers having been dried for

1 This report actually was really spread in the camp the night
after the attack. It struck the natives with consternation, and
there are those who still believe that there was some foundation
for it, and that a retreat had been talked of.

256 HEKE’S WAR IN THH

food they might lose their mana (prestige, good for-
tune), and be in consequence less feared.

And the scalp had been taken from the head of
Philpots to be used by the tohunga in divination to
discover the event of the war. This was not done
from revenge or ill-will to him, but because, as he
was a toa and a chief, his scalp was more desirable for
this purpose than that of an ordinary person.

So the foliage of the battle-field was taken to the
Atua Wera that he might perform the usual cere-
monies, and cause the people to be fortunate in
the war.’

When the people in the pa saw that, although the
soldiers had lost so many men, they were not dis-
mayed, and seeing also that the inner fence was
beginning to give way before the fire of the big gun,
they made up their minds to leave the pa in the
night, so that the soldiers should not have an oppor-
tunity to revenge themselves. So in the night they
all left, and went to Kaikohe, without it having been
perceived that they were gone.

However, before they had been gone very long,
Walker’s people began to suspect what had taken

1 Amongst other superstitious native customs, when a battle —

has been fought, the victorious party send to their priest, no
matter how far he may be off, a collection of the herbage actually
growing on the field of battle; he takes it and performs with it
certain ceremonies, and sends back the messenger with his ad-
vice, &c., &c. This is called sending the rahu rahu of the battle
field. Rahu rahu is the name of the fern which is the most
common plant in the North Island.

ae ae

:

:

;

.

i

.
‘
“i
"
.

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 257

place, for the dogs in the deserted pa were howling,
and the watch-cry was no longer heard. So a man
called Tamahue entered it cautiously, and found it
deserted. He crept on softly, and in entering a house
he put his hand on a woman who had been left behind
asleep, so he kept quiet to see if the sleeping person
would awake; and he began to believe that the
people had not left the pa, and was about to kill the
sleeping person for utu for himself, for he did not
expect to escape alive, there being so many pits and
trenches which he could not see in the dark. He,
however, thought it would be best first to examine
the other houses. This he did, and perceived that
the place was deserted, for all the other houses were
empty. The only weapon Tamahue had was a toma-
hawk, for he had lost his left arm at a great battle at
Hokianga some years before, and was therefore unable
to useagun. So he returned to the sleeping person,
and jumped upon her, and raised his hand to strike,
for he did not know it was a woman who was sleeping
there, but thought it was a warrior. But though he
had but one arm he did not call to his brother, who
was close outside the pa, for he intended to strike the
first blow in the inside of this fortress himself. You
must know that we Maori think this a great thing,
even though the blow be struck only against a post
or a stone. But Tamahue being naked, as all good
warriors should be when on a dangerous adventure,
his bare knees pressed against the breast of the sleep-
ing person, and then he perceived it was a woman, so
he struck his tomahawk into the ground only, and
s

258 HOKE’S WAR IN THLE

having taken her prisoner, he called his brother, and
they returned to the camp, and gave information that
the pa was deserted.

Then all at once there arose a. great confusion.
All the Maori and most of the soldiers ran off to the
pa in the dark, and they tumbled by tens into the pits
and trenches, which were in the inside of the place.
The soldiers ran about searching for plunder, and
quarrellng with the Maori for ducks and geese.
There was a great noise, every one shouting at once,
and as much uproar as if the place had been taken by
storm; and so this was how Ohaeawae was taken.

In the morning the soldiers dug up the dead of
the enemy, nine in number, being in search of the
body of the soldier chief who had been killed in the
attack. They found the body and also that of the
soldier which had been burned; and besides the nine
bodies of the enemy’s men which the soldiers dug
up, there was also found the body of a woman lying
in the pa, which made ten the people of the pa
had lost.

While the soldiers were doing this, all the Maori
went in pursuit of the enemy as far as Kaikohe; and
when they got there a certain pakeha met them, and
spoke angrily to the chiefs for pursuing Heke’s

people, and told us that our souls would be roasted —

in the other world for making war on Sunday—for
it was on Sunday this happened. So the chiefs
thought that perhaps it might be unlucky to fight on
the ratapu; they, therefore, only set fire to Heke’s
house at Kaikohe, and returned to the camp at

|

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 259

Ohaeawae. But before the war was over, we all
found that the soldiers did not mind Sunday at all
when any harm could be done on it; but when
there was nothing else to do they always went to
prayers.

After this the soldiers burned the pa, and went
back to the Waimate, where they built a fort, and
stayed some time, and there they buried Philpots;
and we Maori still remember Philpots, for he was a
generous, brave, and good-natured man. But now
years have gone by, and his ship has sailed away—
no one knows where—and he is left by his people;
but sometimes a pakeha traveller may be seen
standing by his grave. But the Europeans do not
lament so loudly as we do; they have perhaps the
same thought as some of us, who say that the best
lamentation for a toa is a blow struck against the
enemy.

While the soldiers were staying at Waimate,
Kawiti left Kaikohe, and went to his own place at
the Ruapekapeka, and fortified it, making it very
strong; but Hexe remained at Tautora, not yet
cured of his wound. There was a pa near Waimate,
belonging to Te Aratua, and the soldiers went to
attack it; but when Te Aratua heard they were
coming, he left it, and so the soldiers took it, and
burned it, without any opposition.

Some time after this the soldiers left Waimate, and
went to the Bay of Islands, where others joined
them. The sailors came also in the ships of war,
and with them came also the pakeha Maori; and

260 HEKE’S WAR IN THLE

there was a great gathering, for the soldiers had
heard that the fort of Kawiti at the Ruapekapeka
was completely finished and ready for war, and
therefore they prepared ‘to attack it. Walker also,
and the other chiefs with their people, joined the
soldiers as before; and when we were all together
we formed a grand war party—the greatest that had
been seen during the war. The soldiers forgot
nothing this time. They brought with them all
their arms of every kind. They brought long and
short big guns, and rockets, and guns the shot of
which bursts with a great noise. Nothing was left
behind. We were glad of this, for we wished to see
the full strength of the soldiers put forth, that we
might see what the utmost of their power was.’

So this great war party left the Bay of Islands,
and went up the river to attack Kawiti at the Ruape-
kapeka. They went in boats and canoes, and having
arrived at the pa of Tamati Pukututu, they landed
the guns, and powder, and provisions, and began
making a road to the Ruapekapeka. And after many
days, the road being completed, the tawa advanced,
and encamped before the Ruapekapeka.

During the first two days there was not much

done, but when all had been got ready, the soldiers ©

began to fire in earnest—rockets, mortars, ship guns,

1 The friendly natives never lost sight of the possibility that
they themselves might some day have to fight us. They there-
fore scrutinized closely all our military proceedings, and were
anxious to see us do our very best, or rather, our worst, so that
they might know what they would have to contend against.

. ’ ; 5 ‘
ae ye ee ee ne ee re

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 261

long brass guns—all burst out firing at once. We
were almost deaf with the noise, and the air was full
of cannon balls. The fence of the pa began to disap-
pear like a bank of fog before the morning breeze.
So now we saw that the soldiers had at last found
out how to knock down a pa. But before the fence
was completely broken down, the chief of the soldiers
ordered his men to rush up to the pa as they had
done before at Ohaeawae. The soldiers were about
to do so, for they are a very obedient people, when
Moses, with much difficulty, persuaded the chief of
the soldiers not to let them go, by telling him that he
was only going to waste all his men’s lives, and
advising him to wait till the fence was entirely gone
before he made the attack. We all disliked this
soldier very much, and saw that he was a very foolish,
inexperienced person, and also that he cared nothing
for the lives of his soldiers; but we thought it a great
pity to waste such fine well-grown men as the soldiers
were, without any chance of revenge.

So the guns fired away, and after a few days the
fence was completely down in many places, for the
shot came like a shower of hail; but not many were
killed in the pa, for they had plenty of houses under
ground which the shot could not reach; but they
were out of all patience, by reason of the pot guns
(mortars). These guns had shot which were hollow
exactly like a calabash, and they were full of gun-
powder, and they came tumbling into the pa, one
after another, and they would hardly be on the
ground before they would burst with a great noise;

262 HUKE’S WARK IN THE

and no sooner would one burst than another would
burst; and so they came one after another so fast that
the people in the pa could get no rest, and were
getting quite deaf. These guns, however, never
killed any one. They are a very vexatious invention
for making people deaf, and preventing them from
getting any sleep. One good thing about them is,
that, whenever one of the shots does not burst, a
considerable number of charges of powder for a
musket can be got out of it; and whenever one
dropped close to any of the men in the pa, he would
pull out the weckz (fuse), and then get out the powder.
A good deal of powder was procured in this way.
The pot guns are to make people deaf, and keep
them from sleeping; the rockets are to kill people
and burn their houses. A rocket knocked off the
head of a woman in the pa, but did not hurt a child
she had on her back at the time. Another took off
the head of a young man of the Kapotai; another
took out the stomach of a slave called Hi; he be-
longed to the Wharepapa chief of the Ihutai. This
slave lived till night, crying for some one to shoot
him, and then died. One man was killed by a
cannon ball which came through the fence and

knocked his leg off as easily as if it had been a boiled —

potato. The man was a warrior of the Ngati Kahu-
nunu, from the south; when he saw his leg was off
above the. knee, he cried out, ‘‘ Look here, the iron
has run away with my leg; what playful creatures
these cannon balls are!” When he said this, he fell
back and died, smiling, as brave warriors do.

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7
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4
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4
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5
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NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 263

There was not many killed in the pa, for the people
kept under ground; neither did the soldiers lose
many men, for they kept at a distance, and let the
big guns and rockets do all the work. One evening
a strong party rushed out of the pa and attacked
Walker’s men, and a pretty smart fight ensued.
Now, this party were for the most part of the Kapotai
tribe, who had killed Hauraki at Waikare, and among
Walker’s men were several young men, cousins of
Hauraki, who had come to seek revenge; and these
young men fought with great spirit, and one of them
killed Ripiro, a Kapotai, and took his name.* Some
others of the Kapotai were killed, and others wounded,
but none of Walker’s men were killed, and only a few
wounded. Amongst the wounded, however, was
that brave warrior Wi Repa, who had three fingers of
his left hand shot off, being the second time he had
been wounded during the war.

By this time the fences of the pa were broken
down very much, but the people waited patiently, in
expectation that the soldiers would come on to the
attack, for they thought that, though the soldiers
would take the place, they would be able to kill many
of them, and then escape into the forest behind the
pa. But the guns and rockets kept firing on, and the
people began to be quite tired of hearing the shells
bursting all about them continually, when Heke, who

1 Jt is a common practice when a native has killed a man of
any note in battle, for the party who killed the other to com-
-memorate the exploit by taking the name of the dead man.

264 HEKE’S WAR IN THE

had recovered from his wound, arrived with seventy
men. As soon as Heke had observed the state of the
pa, and how things were, he said, “‘ You are foolish
to remain in this pa to be pounded by cannon balls.
Let us leave it. Let the soldiers have it, and we
will retire into the forest and draw them after us,
where they cannot bring the big guns. The soldiers
cannot fight amongst the kareao; they will be as
easily killed amongst the canes as if they were wood-
pigeons.” So all the people left the pa except
Kawiti, who lingered behind with a few men, being
unwilling to leave his fort without fighting at least
one battle for it.

The next day after Heke’s arrival was Sunday.
Most of the soldiers had gone to prayers; many of
Heke’s people were at prayers also, and no one was in
the pa but Kawiti, and a few men who were in the
trenches asleep, not expecting to be attacked that
day. But William Walker Turau (Walker’s brother)
thought he perceived that the pa was not well
manned, so he crept carefully up to the place and
looked in, and saw no one; but Kawiti with eleven
men were sleeping in the trenches. Turau then
waved his hand to Walker, who was waiting for a
signal, and then stepped noiselessly into the fort.
Then Walker and Tao Nui with both their tribes
came rushing on. The soldiers seeing this left
prayers, and with the sailors came rushing into the
pa in a great crowd—sailors, soldiers, and Maori all
mixed up without any order whatever. When the
pa was entered the soldiers set up a great shout,

‘5
— se ee ee eS Ss ee ee ee

_—— ee

oS ee ee OG en ee eT ee ee ee

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 265

which awakening Kawiti, he started up with his
eleven men, and saw his pa was taken. How could
it be helped? So he and his men fired a volley, and
then loaded again, and fired a second volley, which
was as much as he could do. Then they ran away
and joined Heke at the rear of the pa, where he .
called aloud to the Ngapuhi to fight, and not allow
his pa to be taken without a battle.’

Then the Ngapuhi returned to attack their own
pa, which was full of soldiers, and creeping up behind
rocks and trees they began to fire, and called out in
English, “‘ Never mind the soldiers! Never mind
the soldiers!” They did this hoping to enrage the
soldiers, and cause them to leave the pa, and follow
them into the forest; but most of the soldiers re-
mained in the pa firing through loopholes, for the
back of the pa which was now attacked by the Nga-
-puhi was yet entire, not having been so much broken
down by the big guns as the front side had been. A
few sailors and soldiers, however, went out at a little
gate at the back of the pa, but were no sooner out

1 Kawiti seeing that all the other forts had made so good a
defence wished not to abandon his without standing an assault.
Heke, however, who was the best general, saw the place would
soon become quite untenable from the fire of the artillery, and
advised an immediate retreat to the border of the forest; he,
however, had great difficulty to get Kawiti, who had a good
deal of the bulldog in him, to retreat. The old chief, however,
did fire a volley in the inside of the place when the soldiers
entered, which he considered saved his honour, as it could not
be said he left his fort without fighting.

266 HEKE’S WA. IN. THE

than they were shot by the people behind the trees.
At last some forty or fifty soldiers got out, and a
fight began outside. But Heke and the main body
of his men remained at a distance beside the thick
forest, in hopes that the party who were fighting the
soldiers would soon fall back, and so lead the soldiers
to follow them into the forest, where Heke had his
ambush prepared for them. But these people did
not retire as they should have done, for a report was
heard that Kawiti had been killed or taken, and this
enraged them so much that they would not retreat,
and they remained there trying to retake the pa. But
they lost many men, for hundreds were firing at them
from loopholes in the pa, besides the soldiers who
were close to them outside. Many soldiers were
killed or wounded who might have escaped being
hurt if they had got behind trees; but these men did
not care about covering themselves when they might
have done so. The Maori at one time charged, and
there was among them a young half-caste; he had in
his hand a broad, sharp tomahawk with a long
handle, and he rushed upon asailor, and using both
hands he struck him on the neck, and the head fell
over the man’s shoulders nearly cut off. This was
the only man killed by stroke of hand in this fight.
At last Heke sent a man to tell the people to fall
back; but they said they would not do so, but would
all die there, for Kawiti had been taken. Then the
messenger told them that Kawiti was safe and well
with Heke, and that he had just seen him; so when
they heard this they fell back at once, but the soldiers

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 267

did not follow, being restrained by their different
chiefs. So the fight ended, and the Ruapekapeka
was taken, and this was the last fight of the war.

There were killed in this fight of Heke’s people
twenty-three men, and Heke wrote their names in a
book, and also the names of all others who had fallen
in the war.

How many men the soldiers had killed in the
fight I do not know, but I don’t think they lost quite
so many as the Maori, for most of them were firing
through the loopholes of the pa and out of the
trenches, and so were well sheltered. One soldier, as
I have heard say, was shot by another, because he
was going to run away. I don’t think it right to do
this. When a man feels afraid who is ordinarily of
good courage, it is a sign that he will be killed, and
he ought to be allowed to go away. It is bad to
disregard omens. When a man feels courageous let
him fight, and he will be fortunate.

Next day, Heke, Kawiti, and all the people began
to consult as to what should be done; for the fort
was taken, and they had no provisions, and there
was none at any of their other places—all having
been consumed or wasted during the war, and but
little had been planted. And the people told the
chiefs that they could not live on fern root and fight
the soldiers at the same time. They began to say to
the chiefs, ‘‘ Can shadows carry muskets?” They
were much perplexed, and some proposed to break
up into small parties, and go and live with different
tribes who had not taken part in the war, but

268 HEKE’S WAR IN THE

amongst whom they had friends or distant relations.
After talking over this plan for some time it was
found it would not do, for already some chiefs of
distant tribes had said they would give up any one
who came to them to the Governor, rather than bring
a war against themselves. At last it was proposed
to write to the Governor to ask him to make peace.
So the letter was written and sent, but no one ex-
pected the Governor would make peace so quickly.
He, however, consented at once to make peace, and
so peace was made, and Heke’s people were very glad
indeed. But the chiefs who had been on the side of
the soldiers were very sorry, for had the war been
continued a little longer, Heke’s people would have
been starved and scattered, and Walker’s people could
have taken their land in various places; and, also,
after they had been obliged to scatter about the
country to obtain subsistence, many would have been
taken prisoners, and they never would have had
courage to fight again.

When Heke saw that peace was sure to be made,
he went away to Tautoro, and said he did not want
peace to be made, but that if the Governor came to
him and asked for peace he would consent. Heke is

a man of many thoughts. So Heke kept at a distance |

at his own place, and never made peace with the
Governor or Walker, until Walker at last came to
him, and then Heke said that as Walker had come to
him there should be peace, but that until the Go-
venor came also and asked for peace, he would not
consider it fully made.

een eS Ue Py oe een a

‘
‘

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 269

Well, no one thought that the Governor would go
to see Heke, for we think that whoever goes first to
the other, is the party who asks for peace. But the
Governor did go to see Heke, and shook hands with
him, but Heke has never gone to see the Governor;
and now the war is over, and Heke is the greatest
man in this Island, and will be Kine by-and-by. All
the Europeans are afraid of him, and give him any-
thing he asks for, or if they refuse he takes it, and no
one dare say anything to him.

Great is the courage of the Maori people! You
have now heard how they made war against the
noble people of England, and were not quite exter-
minated, as many expected they would be. But
Heke, their chief, is a very knowing man; he is
learned even in European knowledge. I will tell
you how he has become possessed of this knowledge,
which enabled him to make war successfully against
the soldiers. He has a European friend who has
been a very great warrior —a very experienced
warrior indeed. It was he who overcame the great
soldier of France, Buonaparte, and afterwards in a
great sea-fight he defeated and killed the great war-
chief of England, Wellington.. Besides, he gained
many other battles by sea and land, and he wrote all
his wars in two books. Now, he lent Heke the first
of these books to show him how to fight with the
soldiers, which is the reason he has been so successful,
but if he had had the second book he would have
taken Auckland, and been King of New Zealand long
ago; but he will get it by-and-by. I never saw this

270 HEKDS WAL" iN Pas

book, and Heke never shows it to any one, for he
wants to keep all the knowledge to himself. Now,
what are you laughing at? It is no use to tell me
that Wellington is alive yet. Heke’s pakeha killed
him long ago—before you were born, perhaps. You
are only a young man; what do you know about it?
The Wellington you mean is some other Wellington;
but the great soldier Wellington, of England, was
killed long ago by Heke’s pakeha. The Governor is
not near so great a man as this friend of Heke’s, and
is afraid of him.*

This has been a great talk. What payment are
you going to give me? Give me that bottle of rum.
I am so thirsty with talking. Doi’t shake your
head; I must haveit. Oh, how sweet rum is! There
is nothing in the whole world so good. I know a
pakeha, who says, if I will get him a big pot, and
some old gun-barrels, he will show me how to make
rum out of corn. Don’t take that bottle away.
Come, give it me. You are a chief. Give me the

' Hundreds of natives believed firmly in this absurd story
before and during the war. In the present day (1861), when
these notes are written, “ Young New Zealand” would only
laugh at it. But formerly this and other equally ridiculous tales

were not only believed but had very serious effects. Heke was -

not the author of the story, but he found it to his hand, added
the “‘ books” to it, and turned it to his account. His “ pakeha
friend” is still extant, as well as the other “ pakeha” who en-
deavoured to prevent Walker’s people from taking our part in
the war, but they are not by any means such “ great men” as in
the days when it was believed that one of them was the con-
queror of both Wellington and Buonaparte!

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 271

bottle. You are not afraid of the law. I ama great
chief; J am not afraid of the law. I will make
plenty of rum, and sell it to the pakeha, and get all
their money, and I will have a house, and tables, and
chairs, and all those sort of things for people to look
at; and when the Governor comes to see me, I will
scatter money all about the floor, so that when the
Governor sees how much more money I have than he
has, he will be quite ashamed, and think himself not
near so great a chief as I am. I will have fifty
pakeha servants, and they shall all work for me one
day, and I will make them drunk the next for pay-
ment, and the next day they shall work, and the next
get drunk, and there shall not be a watch-house in
the whole land.’

The bottle is empty, get me another. Do now.
You are my friend. Give me the key! I will get it
myself. You won’t! I will break open the door. I
will tell the magistrate you have been giving me rum.

1 This convivial scene with my friend the chief is no fiction,
but a faithful relation, like everything else in this book, of what
actually was said and done. It certainly does not come into the
‘“‘ History of the War,” but is inserted just to give some idea of
the state of things in the country districts, and the terms on
which tho country settlers manage to exist with their native
“friends.” The chief’s speculation in the distilling line is faith-
fully given word for word, as he explained it to me. But it
has never come to anything, for although he actually got the
*‘ pakeha” to come to his place for the purpose of making “rum”
out of corn, when he got him there he plucked him to such an
extent, not leaving him even a blanket on his bed, that he ran
for it, and the distillery in consequence came to naught.

272 HEKH’S WAR IN THH

You are a slave. You are all slaves. Your grand-
fathers have all been put in the watch-house. You
are afraid of the magistrate, the magistrate is afraid
of the Governor, and the Governor is afraid of Heke.
You want to rob us of our country, and to hang us
up like dried sharks. You can’t. You are not able.
You are cowards. You are a coward! Kapai Heke !*
(Here exit Ngapuhi chief head-foremost on to the
grass-plat before the door, and so ends the history of
the war with Heke.)

CONCLUSION.

Next morning my friend the chief got up, and
shook himself into shape, and begged a shirt and a
pound of tobacco, neither of which I dare refuse him,
and he then took himself off quietly. I have not
seen him since, but received a letter from him the
other day, beginning with, ‘‘ Great is my love to you,”
and ordering me to send him by bearer one red

1 Kapai Heke! tantamount to Vive Heke! Jn vino veritas—in
his cups this stout defender of the pakeha lets out that he in
reality is an admirer of Heke, and in another war would pro- ~
bably join him, being, as all the natives are, without any excep-
tion, distrustful of the European, and suspecting we intend
eventually to rob them of their country. I think their chief
reason for this belief is that they themselves would treat us in
that way were they able, they being all plunderers and maran-
ders, both by nature and practice, and so “measure our corn in
their own bushel.”

NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND. 273

blanket, and one cloth cap with a gold band, as he is
going to Auckland to see the Governor, who he hopes
to “talk” a horse and twenty pounds from, on the
strength of his services during the war. Perhaps
when he comes back he may tell me all about his
journey, and what he said to the Governor, and what
the Governor said to him, all of which I will write
down in English, as I have this “ great talk,” which
is all I am ever likely to get for my cap and blanket.
It is to be hoped the story will be worth the cost.

PNR

Since the above was written, I am sorry to say that
my old friend has departed this life. He was, with
his brother, shot dead some years ago in a scufile
about a piece of land. In justice to the memory of
my old and respected friend I am bound to say, that,
according to the very best native authorities, his title

1 I am happy to be able to announce to the whole world that
my friend the Ngapuhi chief has been to Auckland and returned
safe bapk, having been extremely well received by the Governor.
I have also to inform my friends that the chief has told me the
whole story of his journey, leaving out nothing ; he has told me
every word he said to the Governor, and every word the Gover-
nor said to hin, all of which I have written in a book for the
instruction and improvement of future ages, together with a
plan of attack, whereby Auckland would, as he thinks, be taken,
sacked, and burned, which this friend of mine made just to wile
away the time when not engaged in paying his court to the
Governor. I shall, however, reserve this last history till I see
what fortune this my wakaka may have.

7

074 HEKE’S WAR IN NEW ZEALAND.

to the land was perfectly clear and good. A sense of
impartiality, however, forces me also to declare that
the title of my other friend who shot him, is also as
clear as the sun at noon; there can be no doubt of
this. Both have clear undoubted pedigrees, which
prove them directly descended from the “original
proprietor.” The only point of any consequence
which made against my friend’s title, was the circum-
stance of his having been shot dead. ‘This has
“made clear,” as I am bound to confess, the title of
the other party, which now remains without a flaw.
The only thing I see against them is the fact that,
during the last seven years, their numbers have been
much decreased by sickness, while it so happens that
the sons of my old friend, and also his brother’s sons,
have large families of stout, healthy-looking boys.
Good native casuists, on whom I can place every
reliance, tell me that posstely this may somehow or
other affect the title of the others. I don’t know
clearly how, for though I have studied “native
tenure” for thirty years, I find I have even yet
made but small progress. Indeed, I have lately
begun to suspect that the subject is altogether of too
complicated a nature for a European understanding.
The only safe maxim I can give on native tenure,
after all my study, is as follows:—Every native who
is in actual possession of land, must be held to have a
good title till some one else shows a better, by kicking
him off the premises.
PaxreHA Maori.

GLOSSARY.

Pace 2.

negative answer to an inquiry, in which case
the words mean that the thing inquired for is
not, or in fact is nowhere.

Pace 3.

Mana—As the meaning of this word is explained in the course of the
narrative, it is only necessary to say that in the sense in which it
is used here, it means dominion or authority.

Tangi—A. dirge, or song of lamentation for the dead. It was the
custom for the mourners, when singing the tangi, to cut them-
selves severely on the face, breast, and arms, with sharp flints
and shells, in token of their grief. This custom is still practised,
though in a mitigated form. In past times, the mourners cut
themselves dreadfully, and covered themselves with blood from
head to feet. See a description of a tangi further on.

Pace 3.

Pakeha—An Englishman ; a foreigner.

Pacer 10.

Tupara—A double gun; an article, in the old times, valued by the
natives above all other earthly riches.

276 GLOSSARY.

Pace 11.

Hahunga—A hahunga was a funeral ceremony, at which the natives
usually assembled in great numbers, and during which “ baked
meats” were disposed of with far less economy than Hamlet
gives us to suppose was observed “ in Denmark.”

Kainga—A native town, or village: their principal head-quarters.

Pace 12,

Haere mai! §¢.—Sufficiently explained as the native call of wel-
come. It is literally an invitation to advance.

Pace 15.

Tutua—aA low, worthless, and, above all, a poor, fellow—a “ nobody.”

Pace 16,
A pakeha tutua—A mean, poor European.

E aha te pai?—What is the good (or use) of him? Said in con-
tempt.
Pace 17.

Rangatira—A chief, a gentleman, a warrior. Rangatira pakeha—
A foreigner who is a gentleman (not a tutua, or nobody, as de-
scribed above), a rich foreigner.

Pace 18,
Taonga—Goods ; property.
Pace 21.

Mere ponamu—aA native weapon made of a rare green stone, and
much valued by the natives.

Pace 22.
Taniwha—A sea monster; more fuliy described further on.

Utu—Revenge, or satisfaction ; also payment,

Page 26.

Tino tangata—A “ good man,” in the language of the prize-ring ; a
warrior ; or literally, a very, or perfect man.

eee eee ee

GLOSSARY. 277

Pace 36.

Taua—A war party ; or war expedition.

Pace 46.

Tena koutou; or, Tenara ko koutou—The Maori form of salutation,
equivalent to our ‘“‘ How do you do?”

Pace +9.

Na! Na! mate rawa!—This is the battle ery by which a warrior
proclaims, exultingly and tauntingly, the death of one of the

enemy.
Pace 62.

Torere.—An unfathomable cave, or pit, in the rocky mountains, where
the bones of the dead, after remaining a certain time in the first
burying place, are removed to and thrown in, and so finally dis-
posed of.

Pace 80.

Eaha mau—What’s that to you?

Pace 130.
Jacky Poto.—Short Jack; or Stumpy Jack.

PaeeE 131.

Tu ngarahu.—this is a muster, or review, made to ascertain the
numbers and condition of a native force; generally made before
the starting of an expedition. It is, also, often held as a military
spectacle, or exhibition, of the force of a tribe when they happen
to be visited by strangers of importance: the war dance is gone
through on these occasions, and speeches declaratory of war, or
welcome, as the case may be, made to the visitors. The “ review
of the Taniwha,” witnessed by the Ngati Kuri, was possibly a
herd of sea lions, or sea elephants ; animals scarcely ever seen
on the coast of that part of New Zealand, and, therefore, from
their strange and hideous appearance, at once set down as an
army of Taniwha. One man only was, at the defeat of the Ngati
Kuri, on Motiti, rescued to tell the tale.

278 | GLOSSARY.

Pace 132.

Bare Motiti—The island of Motiti is often called “ Motitt wahie kore,”
as descriptive of the want of timber, or bareness of the island.
A more fiercely contested battle, perhaps, was never fought than a
that on Motiti, in which the Ngati Kuri were destroyed.

Pace 149.

Ki au te mataika—I have the mataika. The first man killed in a
battle was called the mataika. To kill the mataika, or first
man, was counted a very high honour, and the most extraordinary |
exertions were made to obtain it. The writer once saw a young
warrior, when rushing with his tribe against the enemy, rendered

-_—~

almost frantic by perceiving that another section of the tribe
would, in spite of all his efforts, be engaged first, and gain the
honour of killing the mataika. In this emergency he, as he
rushed on, cut down with a furious blow of his tomahawk, a sap-
ling which stood in his way, and gave the ery which claims the
mataika. After the battle, the circumstances of this question in
Maori chivalry having been fully considered by the elder warriors,
it was decided that the sapling tree should, in this case, be held
to be the true mataika, and that the young man who cut it

a ee ee

down should always claim, without question, to have killed, or as y
- the natives say “ caught,” the matacka of that battle. :

Pace 152.

Toa—A warrior of preéminent courage ; a hero.

Pace 171.

Kia Kotahi ki te ao! Kia kotahi ki te po !—A close translation would
not give the meaning to the English reader. By these words
the dying person is conjured to cling to life, but as they are
never spoken until the person to whom they are addressed is
actually expiring, they seemed to me to contain a horrid mockery,
though to the native they no doubt appear the promptings of an
affectionate and anxious solicitude. They are also supposed to
contain a certain mystical meaning.

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