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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + + +Title: 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 + +Author: A Pakeha Maori + +Release Date: April 3, 2012 [EBook #39361] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD NEW ZEALAND *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Christine P. Travers and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1>OLD NEW ZEALAND,<br> +<span class="smaller">A TALE OF THE GOOD OLD TIMES;</span><br> +<span class="small">AND</span><br> +A HISTORY OF THE WAR IN THE<br> + NORTH AGAINST THE CHIEF HEKE,<br> +<span class="smaller">IN THE YEAR 1845.</span></h1> + +<p class="p2 center">TOLD BY AN OLD CHIEF OF THE NGAPUHI TRIBE.</p> + +<p class="center">BY A PAKEHA MAORI.</p> + +<p class="p2 center"><span class="small">WITH AN INTRODUCTION</span><br> + BY THE EARL OF PEMBROKE.</p> + +<a id="img001" name="img001"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img001.jpg" width="150" height="159" alt="Editor's logo." title=""> +</div> + +<p class="p4 center small">LONDON:<br> + RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON,<br> + Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen,<br> + NEW BURLINGTON STREET.<br> + 1876.</p> + +<p class="p4 center small">CHISWICK PRESS: C. WHITTINGHAM, TOOKS COURT,<br> + CHANCERY LANE.</p> + +<a id="img002" name="img002"></a> +<div class="figcenterch"> +<img src="images/img002.jpg" width="500" height="90" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a id="pagev" name="pagev"></a>(p. v)</span> CONTENTS.</h2> + +<div class="toc"> +<p> <span class="ralign10">Page</span></p> + +<p>Introduction +<span class="ralign10"><a href="#pageix">ix</a></span></p> + +<p>Preface to the Original Edition +<span class="ralign10"><a href="#pagexxiii">xxiii</a></span></p> + +<p class="p2 center smcap">Chapter I.</p> + +<p>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 + dissertation on "Courage" — A few words on Dress — The + Chief's Soliloquy — The Maori Cry of Welcome +<span class="ralign10"><a href="#page1">1</a></span></p> + +<p class="p2 center smcap">Chapter II.</p> + +<p>The Market Price of a Pakeha — The value of a Pakeha "as + such" — Maori Hospitality in the Good Old Times — A Respectable + Friend — Maori Mermaids — My Notions of the value + of Gold — How I got on Shore +<span class="ralign10"><a href="#page14">14</a></span></p> + +<p class="p2 center smcap">Chapter III.</p> + +<p>A Wrestling Match — Beef against Melons — The Victor + gains a loss — "Our Chief" — His Speech — His <i>status</i> 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 — Loose + <span class="pagenum"><a id="pagevi" name="pagevi"></a>(p. vi)</span> Notions about Heads — Tears of Blood — Brotherly Love — Capital + Felony — Peace +<span class="ralign10"><a href="#page24">24</a></span></p> + +<p class="p2 center smcap">Chapter IV.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="ralign10"><a href="#page52">52</a></span></p> + +<p class="p2 center smcap">Chapter V.</p> + +<p>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 Commissioners — The + Triumphs of Eloquence — Magna Charta +<span class="ralign10"><a href="#page60">60</a></span></p> + +<p class="p2 center smcap">Chapter VI.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="ralign10"><a href="#page67">67</a></span></p> + +<p class="p2 center smcap">Chapter VII.</p> + +<p>Excitement caused by first Contact with Europeans — 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 +<span class="ralign10"><a href="#page81">81</a></span></p> + +<p class="p2 center smcap">Chapter VIII.</p> + +<p>The Muru falling into Disuse — Why — Examples of the + Tapu — The Personal Tapu — Evading the Tapu — The Undertaker's + Tapu — How I got Tabooed — Frightful Difficulties — How + I got out of them — The War Tapu — Maori War Customs +<span class="ralign10"><a href="#page92">92</a></span></p> + +<p class="p2 center smcap">Chapter IX.</p> + +<p>The Tapu Tohunga — The Maori Oracle — Responses of the + Oracle — Priestcraft +<span class="ralign10"><a href="#page116">116</a></span></p> + +<p class="p2 center smcap"><span class="pagenum"><a id="pagevii" name="pagevii"></a>(p. vii)</span> Chapter X.</p> + +<p>The Priest evokes a Spirit — The Consequences — A Maori + Tragedy — The "Tohunga" again +<span class="ralign10"><a href="#page122">122</a></span></p> + +<p class="p2 center smcap">Chapter XI.</p> + +<p>The Local Tapu — The Taniwha — The Battle on Motiti — Death + of Tiki Whenua — Reflections — Brutus, Marcus Antonius, + and Tiki Whenua — Suicide +<span class="ralign10"><a href="#page129">129</a></span></p> + +<p class="p2 center smcap">Chapter XII.</p> + +<p>The Tapa — Instances of — The Storming of Mokoia — Pomare — Hongi + Ika — Tareha — Honour amongst Thieves +<span class="ralign10"><a href="#page137">137</a></span></p> + +<p class="p2 center smcap">Chapter XIII.</p> + +<p>"My Rangatira" — The respective Duties of the Pakeha and + his Rangatira — Public Opinion — A "Pakeha Kino" — Description + 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 +<span class="ralign10"><a href="#page140">140</a></span></p> + +<p class="p2 center smcap">Chapter XIV.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="ralign10"><a href="#page165">165</a></span></p> + +<p class="p2 center smcap">Chapter XV.</p> + +<p>Mana — Young New Zealand — The Law of England — "Pop + goes the weasel" — Right if we have Might — God save the + Queen — Good Advice +<span class="ralign10"><a href="#page174">174</a></span></p> + +<p class="p2"><span class="smcap">History of the War in the North of New Zealand + against the Chief Heke</span> +<span class="ralign10"><a href="#page181">181</a></span></p> +</div> + +<a id="img003" name="img003"></a> +<div class="figcenterch"> +<img src="images/img003.jpg" width="500" height="126" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a id="pageix" name="pageix"></a>(p. ix)</span> INTRODUCTION.</h2> + +<p>In the good old times of Conquest and Colonization (I like to be +particular about my dates and places), the civilized 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 themselves 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.</p> + +<p>I do not exactly know when this sort of native policy was first +practised, but I know that it has <span class="pagenum"><a id="pagex" name="pagex"></a>(p. x)</span> lasted, with modifications, +even to our day, and is to be seen in full working order in more than +one part of the globe.</p> + +<p>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 civilized and +savage races.</p> + +<p>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 preserved, +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,<a id="footnotetag1" name="footnotetag1"></a><a href="#footnote1" title="Go to footnote 1"><span class="smaller">[1]</span></a> who having satisfied +the more pressing demands <span class="pagenum"><a id="pagexi" name="pagexi"></a>(p. xi)</span> of their appetite upon the field of +their exploit, had shown the sacred light of civilization that was +burning within them by <i>potting the remainder of the corpses in tins</i> +and 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 unhung.<a id="footnotetag2" name="footnotetag2"></a><a href="#footnote2" title="Go to footnote 2"><span class="smaller">[2]</span></a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="pagexii" name="pagexii"></a>(p. xii)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 enlightened 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="pagexiii" name="pagexiii"></a>(p. xiii)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>I do not wish to dwell upon the dangerous extravagances 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 was a 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.</p> + +<p>It is quite evident that to give it a chance of success it must have +been founded on a thorough understanding of the native character. It +is no use making signs to a 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.</p> + +<p>Narrow-minded Enthusiasm, Ignorance, and Carelessness all contributed +their quota to the mischief, and their favourite blunder consisted in +jumping at conclusions concerning native character from certain +<span class="pagenum"><a id="pagexiv" name="pagexiv"></a>(p. xiv)</span> 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 <i>vice versâ</i>, or that qualities which marked the presence +of certain other qualities in the Englishman 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.</p> + +<p>When we observed a band of native converts singing 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 Englishmen were +entirely absent.<a id="footnotetag3" name="footnotetag3"></a><a href="#footnote3" title="Go to footnote 3"><span class="smaller">[3]</span></a> When Christianity <span class="pagenum"><a id="pagexv" name="pagexv"></a>(p. xv)</span> spread through the +tribes with amazing rapidity, we rejoiced over their capability for +accepting the doctrines of high and pure religion, never perceiving +<span class="pagenum"><a id="pagexvi" name="pagexvi"></a>(p. xvi)</span> that they accepted it simply because they thought from our +superiority in ships, arms, tools, and material prosperity in general, +that the "Mana" (<i>i.e.</i>, 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 Englishman, blind to the fact that the chief +simply liked fighting as we might like eating or sleeping, and +<span class="pagenum"><a id="pagexvii" name="pagexvii"></a>(p. xvii)</span> furnished his enemy with arms and ammunition just as we +might furnish one's cook with money to buy meat with.<a id="footnotetag4" name="footnotetag4"></a><a href="#footnote4" title="Go to footnote 4"><span class="smaller">[4]</span></a></p> + +<p>By radical misconceptions, such as these, we <span class="pagenum"><a id="pagexviii" name="pagexviii"></a>(p. xviii)</span> 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 understand, and with +practical examples that he interpreted 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 goodwill 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 striking comment upon a policy that aimed at conciliation, +forbearance, and patient improvement of the Maori.</p> + +<p>"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 +<span class="pagenum"><a id="pagexix" name="pagexix"></a>(p. xix)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 an end. 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.</p> + +<p>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 +impressed 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a id="pagexx" name="pagexx"></a>(p. xx)</span> 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; so that (if that public wishes, as I +believe it does, to manage the races with whom England comes in +contact, 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 knowledge of the customs, character, and +opinions of the races in question.</p> + +<p>If these two little books should suggest to any careless Englishman +that foreigners of dark complexion are not all like either those white +men who seem to have got into brown or black skins by mistake, whom +one reads about in anti-slavery books and some missionary reports, or +those equally tiresome black dummies whom one reads about in another +sort of book who have no marked characteristic 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 amusement than instruction that they +will be amply repaid by their perusal.</p> + +<p>I hope the Pakeha Maori will pardon my impertinence in giving a +personal sketch of him to his English readers on the plea that his +writing would not be complete without one.</p> + +<p>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. <span class="pagenum"><a id="pagexxi" name="pagexxi"></a>(p. xxi)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>In manner and conversation he was the very opposite of what one would +expect of a man who had lived since his boyhood among savages. With a +real 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.</p> + +<p class="right10 smcap">Pembroke.</p> + +<a id="img004" name="img004"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img004.jpg" width="100" height="107" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<a id="img005" name="img005"></a> +<div class="figcenterch"> +<img src="images/img005.jpg" width="500" height="126" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a id="pagexxiii" name="pagexxiii"></a>(p. xxiii)</span> PREFACE TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION.</h2> + +<p>To the English reader, and to most of those who have arrived in New +Zealand 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 fiction. The different scenes and +incidents are given exactly as they occurred, and all the persons +described are real persons.</p> + +<p>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 unlike a civilised people or British +subjects.</p> + +<p>The writer has therefore thought it might be <span class="pagenum"><a id="pagexxiv" name="pagexxiv"></a>(p. xxiv)</span> 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.</p> + +<a id="img006" name="img006"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img006.jpg" width="70" height="100" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<a id="img007" name="img007"></a> +<div class="figcenterch"> +<img src="images/img007.jpg" width="500" height="68" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<h1>OLD NEW ZEALAND;<br> +<span class="smaller">A TALE OF THE GOOD OLD TIMES.<br> +BY A PAKEHA MAORI.</span></h1> + +<p class="poem30"><span class="min33em">"</span>Of Anthropophagi, and men whose heads<br> + Do grow <span class="smcap">BETWEEN</span> their shoulders."</p> + +<a id="img008" name="img008"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img008.jpg" width="100" height="30" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<a id="img009" name="img009"></a> +<div class="figcenterch"> +<img src="images/img009.jpg" width="500" height="129" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<p class="p4 center"><span class="pagenum"><a id="page1" name="page1"></a>(p. 1)</span> OLD NEW ZEALAND.</p> + +<h2>Chapter I.</h2> + +<p class="resume">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 + dissertation on "courage." — A few words on dress. — The + chief's soliloquy. — The Maori cry of welcome.</p> + +<p>Ah! 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 somehow. 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page2" name="page2"></a>(p. 2)</span> 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 I? 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. I am a melancholy man. I feel somehow +as if I had got older. I am no use 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 <span class="smcap">HEA</span>.</p> + +<p>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 I 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page3" name="page3"></a>(p. 3)</span> +on Maori land. It <i>was</i> Maori land then; but alas! what is it now? +Success to you, O King of Waikato. May your <i>mana</i> 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 trampling on your +landmarks. He mocks the war-song; but should <i>I</i> see your fall, at +least one Pakeha Maori shall raise the <i>tangi</i>; and with flint and +shell as of old shall the women lament you.</p> + +<p>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, I am surprised to find, was easier to +<i>do</i> than to describe.</p> + +<p>The little schooner neared the land, and as we came closer and closer, +I began in a most unaccountable 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.</p> + +<p>The ship sailed on, and I went below and loaded <span class="pagenum"><a id="page4" name="page4"></a>(p. 4)</span> 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 <i>bienséance</i>. They lived in a half +savage state, or to speak correctly, in a savage and-a-half state, +being greater savages by far than the natives themselves.</p> + +<p>I must, however, turn back a little, for I perceive I am not on shore +yet.</p> + +<p>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 impressions on seeing the mass of shouting, +gesticulating, tattooed fellows, who were exhibiting before us, and +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page5" name="page5"></a>(p. 5)</span> 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 <i>rangatira</i>, if I had plenty of <i>taonga</i> (goods) on board, and other +particulars; 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 sincerity.) 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 <i>pakeha</i> 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 understood 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page6" name="page6"></a>(p. 6)</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>terrâ firmâ</i>, 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 +cannot 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page7" name="page7"></a>(p. 7)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>The boat of my friend Mr. —— being about to return 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.</p> + +<p>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 +perseverance. 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—"The better part of +valour is discretion." Now, that being the case, what in the name of +Achilles, Hector, and Colonel Gold (<i>he</i>, I mean <i>Achilles</i>, 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 perhaps, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page8" name="page8"></a>(p. 8)</span> 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 <i>éclât</i> 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 appearance 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page9" name="page9"></a>(p. 9)</span> 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 <i>per diem</i>, 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 +appearances—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.</p> + +<p>For the honour and glory of the British nation, of which I considered +myself in some degree a representative 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—I 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 retired, in +consequence of the enlightenment he at different 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 natives," <span class="pagenum"><a id="page10" name="page10"></a>(p. 10)</span> and cause +awe and respect for myself individually 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 attention 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 person? 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 +combined 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>tupara</i> he has ever seen, and his speculations +run something very like this:—"A good gun, a first-rate gun; I +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page11" name="page11"></a>(p. 11)</span> must have this; I must <i>tapu</i> 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 <i>hahunga</i>; 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 <i>kainga</i>, 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 selling +them before I knew he had them. It's just the same as thieving, and I +won't stand it. He sold 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 Ngatiwaki are getting +too many muskets—those three make sixty-four they have got besides +two <i>tupara</i>. Certainly we have a great many more, and the Ngatiwaki +are our relations, but then there was Kohu, we killed, and Patu, we +stole his wife. There is no saying <span class="pagenum"><a id="page12" name="page12"></a>(p. 12)</span> what these Ngatiwaki may +do if they should get plenty of muskets; they are game enough for +anything. 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>pakeha rangatira</i> as well as a <i>rangatira pakeha</i> (two very different +things), who has lots of tomahawks, and fish-hooks, and blankets, and +a <i>tupara</i>, and is even suspected to be the owner of a great many +"pots" of gunpowder! "He is going to stop with the tribe, he is going +to trade, he is going to be a pakeha <i>for us</i>." These last conclusions +were, however, 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,—"<i>Haere mai! haere mai! hoe mai! hoe mai! +haere mai, e-te-pa-ke-ha, haere mai!</i>" mats, hands, and certain ragged +petticoats put into requisition for that occasion, all at the same +time waving in the air in sign of welcome. Then a pause. Then, as the +boat came nearer, another burst of <i>haere mai!</i> 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page13" name="page13"></a>(p. 13)</span> 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 "<i>haere mai</i>" might not be the Maori for +"dilly, dilly, come and be killed." There was, however, no help for it +now; we were close to the shore, and so, putting on the most +unconcerned countenance possible, I prepared to make my <i>entrée</i> into +Maori land in a proper and dignified manner.</p> + +<a id="img010" name="img010"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img010.jpg" width="90" height="98" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<a id="img011" name="img011"></a> +<div class="figcenterch"> +<img src="images/img011.jpg" width="500" height="92" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a id="page14" name="page14"></a>(p. 14)</span> Chapter II.</h2> + +<p class="resume">The market price of a Pakeha. — The value of a Pakeha "as such." + — Maori hospitality in the good old times. — A respectable + friend. — Maori mermaids. — My notions of the value of gold. — + How I got on shore.</p> + +<p>Here I must remark that in those days the value of a pakeha to a tribe +was enormous. For want of pakehas to trade with, and from whom to +procure gunpowder and muskets, many tribes or sections of tribes were +about this time exterminated or nearly so by their more fortunate +neighbours who got pakehas before them, and who consequently became +armed with muskets first. A pakeha trader was therefore of a value say +about twenty times his own weight in muskets. This, according to my +notes made at the time, I find to have represented a value in New +Zealand something about what we mean in England when we talk of the +sum total of the national debt. A book-keeper, or a second-rate +pakeha, not a trader, might be valued at say his weight in tomahawks; +an enormous sum also. The poorest labouring pakeha, though he might +have no property, would earn something—his value to the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page15" name="page15"></a>(p. 15)</span> +chief and tribe with whom he lived might be estimated at say his +weight in fish-hooks, or about a hundred thousand pounds or so; value +estimated by eagerness to obtain the article.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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. Two men of this description (runaway 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 <i>tutua</i>, a nobody, a fellow not worth a spike nail; no one knew +him; he had no relations, no goods, no expectations, no anything: +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page16" name="page16"></a>(p. 16)</span> what could be made of him? Of what use on earth was he except +to eat? And, indeed, not much good even for that—they say he was not +good meat. But good well-to-do pakehas, traders, ship captains, +labourers, or employers of labour, these were to be honoured, +cherished, caressed, protected, and plucked. Plucked judiciously, (the +Maori is a clever fellow in his way,) so that the feathers might grow +again. But as for poor, mean, mere, <i>Pakeha tutua,—e aha te pai?</i></p> + +<p>Before going any farther I beg to state that I hope the English reader +or the new-comer, who does not understand Maori morality—especially +of the glorious old time—will not form a bad opinion of my friend's +character, merely because he eat a good-for-nothing sort of pakeha, +who really was good for nothing else. People from the old countries I +have often observed to have a kind of over-delicacy about them, the +result of a too effeminate course of life and over-civilization, which +is the cause that, often starting from premises which are true enough, +they will, being carried away by their over-sensitive constitution or +sickly nervous system, jump at once, without any just process of +reasoning, to the most erroneous conclusions. I know as well as can be +that some of this description of my readers will at once, without +reflection, set my friend down as a very rude, ill-mannered sort of +person. Nothing of the kind, I assure you, Miss. You never made a +greater mistake in your life. My friend was a highly respectable +person in his way; he was a great friend <span class="pagenum"><a id="page17" name="page17"></a>(p. 17)</span> and protector of +rich, well-to-do pakehas; he was, moreover, a great warrior, and had +killed the first man in several different battles. He always wore, +hanging round his neck, a handsome carved flute, (this at least showed +a soft and musical turn of mind,) which was made of the thigh-bone of +one of his enemies; and when Heke, the Ngapuhi, made war against us, +my friend came to the rescue, fought manfully for his pakeha friends, +and was desperately wounded in so doing. Now can any one imagine a +more respectable character?—a warrior, a musician, a friend in need, +who would stand by you while he had a leg to stand on, and would not +eat a <i>friend</i> on any account whatever, except he should be very +hungry.</p> + +<p>The boat darts on; she touches the edge of a steep rock; the "<i>haere +mai</i>" has subsided; six or seven "personages"—the magnates of the +tribe—come gravely to the front to meet me as I land. There is about +six or seven yards of shallow water to be crossed between the boat and +where they stand. A stout fellow rushes to the boat's nose, and "shows +a back," as we used to say at leap-frog. He is a young fellow of +respectable standing in the tribe, a far-off cousin of the chief's, a +warrior, and as such has no back; that is to say, to carry loads of +fuel or potatoes. He is too good a man to be spoiled in that way; the +women must carry for him; the able-bodied men of the tribe must be +saved for its protection; but he is ready to carry the pakeha on +shore—the <i>rangatira pakeha</i>, who wears a real <i>koti roa</i>, (a long +coat,) and <span class="pagenum"><a id="page18" name="page18"></a>(p. 18)</span> 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 <i>taonga</i>?</p> + +<p>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 multitude, 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 <i>terrâ firmâ</i> 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!</p> + +<p>The ebb tide is running like a sluice; in an instant we are forty +yards off, and a fathom below the surface; <span class="pagenum"><a id="page19" name="page19"></a>(p. 19)</span> 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 <i>Veni aura</i>? +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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page20" name="page20"></a>(p. 20)</span> 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, properly 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 +matter—how did I, in the first instance, become possessed 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, consequently, 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, upon the 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page21" name="page21"></a>(p. 21)</span> 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, and what more can any one desire? So now +Adam Smith, McCulloch, and all the rest of them may go and be hanged. +The whole upshot of this treatise on political economy and golden +hair, (which I humbly lay at the feet of the Colonial Treasurer,) is +this:—I would not give one of your golden locks, my dear, for all the +gold, silver, pearls, diamonds, <i>mere ponamus</i>—stop, let me think,—a +good <i>mere ponamu</i> would be a temptation. I had once a <i>mere</i>, 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 +beautiful marks like fern leaves, trees, fishes, and—I would not give +much for a person who could not see almost <i>anything</i> 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.</p> + +<p>Up we came at last, blowing and puffing like grampuses. With a glance +I "recognised the situation:"—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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page22" name="page22"></a>(p. 22)</span> "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 direction. 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 <i>hat</i>, 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 I?—with my black hat and +my <i>koti roa</i>? 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 <i>utu</i> I heard roared by many voices, but did not then +know its import. The pakeha was drowning the Maori for <span class="pagenum"><a id="page23" name="page23"></a>(p. 23)</span> <i>utu</i> +for himself, in <i>case</i> 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 <i>taonga</i> to be robbed +of?—no, not exactly to be robbed of, either; let us not use +unnecessarily 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.</p> + +<a id="img012" name="img012"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img012.jpg" width="100" height="88" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<a id="img013" name="img013"></a> +<div class="figcenterch"> +<img src="images/img013.jpg" width="500" height="104" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a id="page24" name="page24"></a>(p. 24)</span> Chapter III.</h2> + +<p class="resume">A wrestling match. — Beef against melons. — The victor gains a + loss. — "Our chief." — His speech. — His <i>status</i> 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. — + Loose notions about heads. — Tears of blood. — Brotherly love. + — Capital felony. — Peace.</p> + +<p>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 +hat, 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, elbowing 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page25" name="page25"></a>(p. 25)</span> 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. "<i>Hu!</i>" +says he, "<i>hu! hu!</i>" "What <i>can</i> he mean?" said I. "He is challenging +you to wrestle," cried one of the Englishmen; "he wants <i>utu</i>." "What +is <i>utu</i>?" 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." +"<i>Water</i>-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 a +ring. 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 antagonist 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page26" name="page26"></a>(p. 26)</span> +wearing him out, and avoiding his <i>ta</i> and <i>wiri</i>. All this time the +mob were shouting encouragement to one or other of us. Such a row +never was seen. I soon perceived I had a "party." "Well done, pakeha!" +"Now for it, Melons!" "At him again!" "Take care, the pakeha is a +<i>taniwha</i>; the pakeha is a <i>tino tangata</i>!" "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. I stood a victor; and like many +other conquerors, a very great loser. There I stood, <i>minus</i> 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?"</p> + +<p>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 welcomed me to the shore with his whole stock of English—"How do +you do?"</p> + +<p>But the row is not half over yet. Here comes the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page27" name="page27"></a>(p. 27)</span> 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 <i>mere +ponamu</i>. He is a tall, stout fellow, in the prime of life, black with +tattooing, and splendidly dressed, according to the splendour of those +days. He has on a very 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 surrounding 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 oration, 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 <i>mere</i>, about ten steps +in one direction, in the course of which ten steps he delivers a +sentence; 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 exhausted the subject and tired his legs. The +Englishmen were beside me and gave a running translation of what he +said. "Pretty work this," he began, "<i>good</i> work; killing my pakeha; +look at him! (Here a flourish in my direction with the <i>mere</i>.) I +won't <span class="pagenum"><a id="page28" name="page28"></a>(p. 28)</span> 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 with a sneer.) Killing my pakeha! (In a voice +like thunder, and rushing savagely, <i>mere</i> 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 <i>taonga</i> along with him. What if you had killed +him dead, or broken his bones? his relations would be coming across +the sea for <i>utu</i>. (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 <i>koti +roa</i>?—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 +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page29" name="page29"></a>(p. 29)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 republican, 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.</p> + +<p>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 gunpowder <span class="pagenum"><a id="page30" name="page30"></a>(p. 30)</span> into the +cartridges with his hand, and smoking 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 filling 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.</p> + +<p>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 I 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 +<i>taonga</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>I have now all New Zealand before me to caper about in; so I shall do +as I like, and please myself. <span class="pagenum"><a id="page31" name="page31"></a>(p. 31)</span> 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 delectable days, now, +alas! passed and gone. Some short time after this, news came that a +grand war expedition, 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, however, had afterwards been formally made; but, +nevertheless, the news of the return of this expedition was not heard +without causing a sensation almost amounting 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 village, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page32" name="page32"></a>(p. 32)</span> 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 fortress 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.</p> + +<p>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, knocking down houses inside the place, clearing away +brushwood and fern all around the outside within musket shot. I was in +the thick of it, and worked all day lashing the fence; the fence being +of course not nailed, but lashed with <i>toro-toro</i>, a kind of tough +creeping plant, like a small rope, which was very strong and well +adapted for the purpose. This lashing 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, passing the end of the +<i>toro-toro</i> from one to the other through the fence of large upright +stakes and round a cross piece which <span class="pagenum"><a id="page33" name="page33"></a>(p. 33)</span> 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 +permitting, 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 <i>vis-à-vis</i> 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 <i>rations</i>.) 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 <i>tetere</i> sounding. This was a huge wooden trumpet six +feet long, which gave forth a groaning moaning sound, like the voice +of a <span class="pagenum"><a id="page34" name="page34"></a>(p. 34)</span> dying wild bull. Babel, with a dash of Pandemonium, will +give a faint idea of the uproar.</p> + +<p>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 explaining to me +the design of the whole. I learned something 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page35" name="page35"></a>(p. 35)</span> +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 +preparation.</p> + +<p>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 considerably from the forest to the +fort, the whole intervening space was clearly visible.</p> + +<p>Another night of alarm and sleepless expectation, the melancholy moan +of the <i>tetere</i> 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 diabolical 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. <span class="pagenum"><a id="page36" name="page36"></a>(p. 36)</span> Anxious glances are turning from all +quarters towards 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 <i>taua</i> 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 <i>taua</i>, +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 <i>taua</i> still comes steadily +on. As I have said, the men are all stripped for action, but I also +notice that the appearance 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page37" name="page37"></a>(p. 37)</span> 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 <i>taua</i> 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, heavy-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. Instead 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page38" name="page38"></a>(p. 38)</span> The mimic opposition is now discontinued; the outpost rushes +in at full speed, the men firing their guns in the air as they run. +<i>Takini! takini!</i> is the cry, and out spring three young men, the best +runners of our tribe, to perform the ceremony of the <i>taki</i>. They hold +in their hands some reeds to represent darts or <i>kokiri</i>. At this +moment a tremendous fire of <i>ball</i> 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 unexpected turn things may +take. Now, from the whole female population arises the shrill "<i>haere +mai! haere mai!</i>" 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 <i>taua</i> 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page39" name="page39"></a>(p. 39)</span> 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," (<i>Tai Haruru</i>) +for the "Black Cloud," (<i>Kapua Mangu</i>) 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, "Sounding 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page40" name="page40"></a>(p. 40)</span> 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 before their faces, in +the manner already described. The <i>élite</i> 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 beginning to wonder what will be +the end of all this; and also to speculate on the efficacy 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 herculean stature, comes, <i>mere</i> 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page41" name="page41"></a>(p. 41)</span> 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 Maorified,) starting from the ground like +a single man, endeavoured to outdo even their amiable friends' +exhibition. They end; then the new-comers 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! <span class="pagenum"><a id="page42" name="page42"></a>(p. 42)</span> 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 I have +described. Part, however, of the "<i>impedimenta</i>" 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.</p> + +<p>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 nearest they had been to each other was thirty yards +when the war dancing was going on, and they seemed <span class="pagenum"><a id="page43" name="page43"></a>(p. 43)</span> quite +glad, when the short speeches were over, to move off to a greater +distance from each other.</p> + +<p>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, <i>sans-ceremonie</i>, 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 <i>kumera</i>, 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page44" name="page44"></a>(p. 44)</span> +from the oven. The groundwork of this feast appeared to be sweet +potatoes and <i>taro</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>haere mai!</i> +hailed them. They went on gravely, and observing where the principal +chief was seated, our chief advanced towards him, fell upon his neck +embracing him in the most affectionate manner, commenced a <i>tangi</i>, 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page45" name="page45"></a>(p. 45)</span> this, however, both these chiefs were dead, and others +reigned in their stead. While the <i>tangi</i> 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.</p> + +<p>After the <i>tangi</i> 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 greenstone <i>mere</i> 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.</p> + +<p>The speeches of the orators were not very interesting, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page46" name="page46"></a>(p. 46)</span> 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 determined 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 <i>tena koutou</i>, 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 do I not see? <i>The head has no +body under it!</i> 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, to a +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 something bold and defiant about +the whole air of the head. Another was the head of a very old man, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page47" name="page47"></a>(p. 47)</span> 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 than +ordinary. "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 <i>werry</i> scarce," says he, shaking his own +"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?" says I. "That's just it," says he. "<i>Capital</i> felony!" says I. +"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 involuntarily 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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page48" name="page48"></a>(p. 48)</span> number of women +were standing in a row before it, screaming, wailing, and quivering +their hands about in a most extraordinary manner, and cutting +themselves 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 +<i>tuhua</i>, or volcanic glass, as sharp as a razor: this she placed +deliberately to her left wrist, drawing it slowly upwards to her left +shoulder, the spouting blood following as it went; then from the left +shoulder downwards, 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 conceived. 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page49" name="page49"></a>(p. 49)</span> 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 scratching 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.</p> + +<p>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 "<i>na! +na! mate rawa!</i>" 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 <i>did not</i> 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.</p> + +<p>With reference to the knowing remarks of the pakeha who accosted me on +the hill on the state of <span class="pagenum"><a id="page50" name="page50"></a>(p. 50)</span> 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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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, however, hope to be excused for the last two or three <span class="pagenum"><a id="page51" name="page51"></a>(p. 51)</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>sans-ceremonie</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 +Frenchmen, hail! (A bit of fine writing does one good.) Nestling under +thy wing, I will scrape sharp the point of my spear with a <i>pipi</i> +shell; I will carry fern-root into my pa; I will <i>cure</i> those heads +which I have killed in war, or they will spoil and "won't fetch +nothin:" for these are thy arts, O peace!</p> + +<a id="img014" name="img014"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img014.jpg" width="100" height="40" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<a id="img015" name="img015"></a> +<div class="figcenterch"> +<img src="images/img015.jpg" width="500" height="77" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a id="page52" name="page52"></a>(p. 52)</span> Chapter IV.</h2> + +<p class="resume">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.</p> + +<p>Pakehas, though precious in the good old times, would sometimes get +into awkward scrapes. Accidents, I have 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page53" name="page53"></a>(p. 53)</span> 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 +gunpowder"—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 gunpowder! who ever heard of such an awful imposition? 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 hesitate: +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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page54" name="page54"></a>(p. 54)</span> 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 +massacre—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.</p> + +<p>Well, about three months after this, about daylight 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 shouting +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 +perceived at a glance that the faithful old creature would probably +save a sleeve. A long line of similar articles, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page55" name="page55"></a>(p. 55)</span> my property, +which had graced the <i>taiepa</i> 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 <i>could</i> 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 behind, by a fellow who seemed to be about +as strong as a 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page56" name="page56"></a>(p. 56)</span> fallen under, but not surrendered +to, superior force. Three natives had got him down; but it took all +they could do to <i>keep</i> him down: he was evidently carrying 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 +assailants 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 commander; +"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 broadside of a three-decker). Bang! The elevation was perfectly +correct. The shot struck the water at <span class="pagenum"><a id="page57" name="page57"></a>(p. 57)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>This was a <i>taua muru</i> (a robbing expedition) in revenge for the +leader having been cleaned out by our chief, which gave them the right +to rob any one connected 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 <i>tika</i> (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.</p> + +<p>The above is good law, and here I may as well inform the New Zealand +public that I am going to write the whole law of this land in a book, +which I shall call "<i>Ko nga ture</i>;" 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page58" name="page58"></a>(p. 58)</span> does not matter, as I shall +add a "glossary," in Coptic, to make things clear.</p> + +<p>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 arguments 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—<i>his</i> 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 <i>tangi</i> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page59" name="page59"></a>(p. 59)</span> After this the land about which this little misunderstanding +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 <i>de novo</i> (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."</p> + +<a id="img016" name="img016"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img016.jpg" width="70" height="120" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<a id="img017" name="img017"></a> +<div class="figcenterch"> +<img src="images/img017.jpg" width="500" height="92" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a id="page60" name="page60"></a>(p. 60)</span> Chapter V.</h2> + +<p class="resume">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 commissioners. + — The triumphs of eloquence. — Magna Charta.</p> + +<p>"Every Englishman'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.</p> + +<p>I now purchased a piece of land and built a "castle" for myself. I +really can't tell to the present 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 different <span class="pagenum"><a id="page61" name="page61"></a>(p. 61)</span> 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, declared 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, <i>i.e.</i>, 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 grandfather had been murdered on the land, and—as I am a +veracious pakeha—another claimed payment because <i>his</i> 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 <i>wahi tapu</i>, 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page62" name="page62"></a>(p. 62)</span> about two hundred years, and the +bones of the others had been (as they said) removed long ago to a +<i>torere</i> in the mountains. It seemed an awkward circumstance that +there was some difference of opinion as to where this same <i>wahi tapu</i> +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 boundaries 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 ever 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 <i>wahi tapu</i> 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 gunpowder 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page63" name="page63"></a>(p. 63)</span> 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 impossible 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page64" name="page64"></a>(p. 64)</span> 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 informed 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 disparagement 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 +or a 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page65" name="page65"></a>(p. 65)</span> 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 <i>rint</i>. 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. Besides 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 shillings 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 I had thoughts of doing, the +commissioners would not have minded examining them all. They were, I +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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page66" name="page66"></a>(p. 66)</span> +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 <i>don't</i> +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 +<i>not be sold</i>," 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.</p> + +<p>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 it."</p> + +<a id="img018" name="img018"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img018.jpg" width="69" height="100" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<a id="img019" name="img019"></a> +<div class="figcenterch"> +<img src="images/img019.jpg" width="500" height="104" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a id="page67" name="page67"></a>(p. 67)</span> Chapter VI.</h2> + +<p class="resume">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.</p> + +<p>I 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.</p> + +<p>Having purchased my "estate," I set up housekeeping. My house was a +good commodious <i>raupo</i> building; and as I had a 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 as much more. Their duties were not heavy; being chiefly to +amuse themselves fishing, wrestling, shooting pigeons, or pig-hunting, +with an occasional pull in the boat when I went on a water excursion. +Besides <span class="pagenum"><a id="page68" name="page68"></a>(p. 68)</span> 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 <i>work</i> 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page69" name="page69"></a>(p. 69)</span> 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. At +a time, however, and in a country like New Zealand, where every man +was a fighting man or nothing, these desperadoes, sooner or later, +came to grief, being at last invariably shot, or run through the body, +by some sturdy freeholder, whose rights they had invaded. 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 <i>genus homo</i> 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; threatened 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.</p> + +<p>This last affair was rather displeasing to me. I <span class="pagenum"><a id="page70" name="page70"></a>(p. 70)</span> 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 <i>status</i> as an independent potentate—a +<i>rangatira</i> 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 <i>me</i> 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 <i>dis</i>-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—committed 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page71" name="page71"></a>(p. 71)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 unquestionably +"a great <i>rangatira</i>," and, as he had never been defeated, his <i>mana</i> +was in full force.</p> + +<p>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 friends 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 +out if I dare. That was his meaning—there was no mistaking it.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page72" name="page72"></a>(p. 72)</span> I have all my life been an admirer of the <i>suaviter in modo</i>, +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 <i>suaviter in modo</i> can be combined +with the <i>fortiter in re</i>. They in fact can't understand it for some +reason perfectly inexplicable to me. It was, however, quite a matter +of indifference, I could perceive, how I should open proceedings with +my friend, as he evidently meant mischief. "Habit is second nature," +so I instinctively took to the <i>suaviter</i>. "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." He seemed 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, however, with my friend. It shook +him, certainly, a <span class="pagenum"><a id="page73" name="page73"></a>(p. 73)</span> 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 without +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 <i>wiri</i> 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, I 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 +furniture <span class="pagenum"><a id="page74" name="page74"></a>(p. 74)</span> 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. I, 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 <i>beaten</i>, +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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page75" name="page75"></a>(p. 75)</span> lightning he snatched at a large carving fork +which, unperceived by me, was lying on the floor amongst the smashed +furniture and <i>débris</i> 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 conquered. 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 +<i>murder</i> him and cover him up. I unwound the tomahawk from his wrist: +he was passive and helpless 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 <i>coup-de-grâce</i>, (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 afterwards 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 antagonist. <span class="pagenum"><a id="page76" name="page76"></a>(p. 76)</span> 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 chattels, 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 concealed under the <i>whariki</i>, 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 however 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page77" name="page77"></a>(p. 77)</span> 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 great <i>rangatira</i>." 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 +<i>rangatira</i>.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>rangatira</i>, 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."</p> + +<p>Now, ladies, I call that a fairish good fight, considering 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."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page78" name="page78"></a>(p. 78)</span> "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.</p> + +<p>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 enormously disproportionate outlay of labour in its +construction, and, in consequence, became precious to a degree +scarcely conceivable by people of civilised and wealthy countries. +This great value attached to <span class="pagenum"><a id="page79" name="page79"></a>(p. 79)</span> personal property of all kinds, +increased proportionately 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 hundred men +on a distant expedition, through the boisterous seas surrounding their +island.</p> + +<p>As a consequence of their warlike habits and character, they are +self-possessed and confident in themselves and their own powers, and +have much diplomatic 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page80" name="page80"></a>(p. 80)</span> 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 dangerous 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 institutions, new habits of life, new ideas, sentiments, and +information,—whom we must either civilise or by our mere contact +exterminate. How is this to be done?<a id="footnotetag5" name="footnotetag5"></a><a href="#footnote5" title="Go to footnote 5"><span class="smaller">[5]</span></a> Let me see. I think I shall +answer this question when I am prime minister.</p> + +<a id="img020" name="img020"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img020.jpg" width="82" height="100" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<a id="img021" name="img021"></a> +<div class="figcenterch"> +<img src="images/img021.jpg" width="500" height="80" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a id="page81" name="page81"></a>(p. 81)</span> Chapter VII.</h2> + +<p class="resume">Excitement caused by first contact with Europeans. — 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.</p> + +<p>The natives have been for fifty years or more in a continual state of +excitement on one subject or another, which has had a markedly bad +effect on their character and physical condition, as I shall by-and-by +take occasion to point out. When the first straggling ships came here +the smallest bit of iron was a prize so inestimable that I might be +thought to exaggerate 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 <i>iron</i> 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 +forgotten, and would continue long to be the subject of anxious +expectation and speculation.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page82" name="page82"></a>(p. 82)</span> After this, regular trading began. The great madness 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 +neighbours, 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.</p> + +<p>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, particularly 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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page83" name="page83"></a>(p. 83)</span> "the Maori difficulty" without having been paid for +it, which would have been a great oversight, and contrary to the +customs of New Zealand. I must go back.</p> + +<p>There were in the old times two great institutions, which reigned with +iron rod in Maori land—the <i>Tapu</i> and the <i>Muru</i>. Pakehas who knew no +better, called the <i>muru</i> simply "robbery," because the word <i>muru</i>, +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, however, crept into this +system—so great, indeed, as to render the retention of any sort of +moveable property almost an impossibility, and to, in a great measure, +discourage the inclination to labour for its acquisition. These great +inconveniences were, however, met, or in some degree softened, by an +expedient 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 <i>mere</i> 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page84" name="page84"></a>(p. 84)</span> ceremony 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 intended, +and gets into a <i>wahi tapu</i> 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 distraints +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, +<i>not</i> 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 disgraceful in the highest degree, <i>but it would have +debarred the contemptible individual from the privilege of robbing his +neighbours</i>, 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page85" name="page85"></a>(p. 85)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>The tract of country inhabited by a 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 illustrating +the working of the <i>muru</i> 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 <i>muru</i>, 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 <i>rangatira</i> +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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page86" name="page86"></a>(p. 86)</span> one or another if +attacked. But this is of no consequence; a flesh wound more or less +deep is to be counted on; and then think of the plunder! It is against +the law of <i>muru</i> 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 in a 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 <i>taua muru</i> is coming, and may be +expected to-morrow, or the next day. He asks, "Is it a great <i>taua</i>?" +"Yes; it is a very great <i>taua</i> indeed." The victim smiles, he feels +highly complimented, he <i>is</i> 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 relations. 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 <i>taua</i> 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 circumstances. <span class="pagenum"><a id="page87" name="page87"></a>(p. 87)</span> On comes the <i>taua</i>. +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 intended to exterminate all before them, +the <i>kai muru</i> 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 instantly 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 "<i>murua! murua! +murua!</i>" 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page88" name="page88"></a>(p. 88)</span> 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 +purchaser; and all these transfers had been made by legal process of +<i>muru</i>. 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 shouting, "Get up!—get up! I will kill you this +day. You have roasted my grandfather. Get up!—<i>stand</i> up!" I, of +course, guessed that I had committed some heinous though involuntary +offence, and the "stand up" hinted the immediate probable +consequences; 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, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page89" name="page89"></a>(p. 89)</span> made some smart bangs and thrusts, which I parried, and then +explained to me that I had "cooked his grandfather;" 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 <i>muru</i>, 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 grandfather," and had to +pay the penalty accordingly.</p> + +<p>It did not require much financial ability on my part, after a few +experiences of this nature, to perceive that I had better avail myself +of my privileges as a pakeha, and have nothing further to do with the +law of <i>muru</i>—a determination I have kept to strictly. If ever I have +unwittingly injured any of my neighbours, I have always made what I +considered just compensation, and resisted the <i>muru</i> 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.</p> + +<p>The above slight sketch of the penal law of New <span class="pagenum"><a id="page90" name="page90"></a>(p. 90)</span> 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 consequence 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 <i>accident</i>, 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, however, to +an English lawyer, may require some explanation, 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 with it. 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 companions—<i>i.e.</i>, +one of his own tribe. The accidental discharge of a gun often caused +death in this way. Then, indeed, the law of <i>muru</i> had full swing, and +the wholesale plunder of the criminal and family was the penalty. +Murder, as the natives understood it—that <span class="pagenum"><a id="page91" name="page91"></a>(p. 91)</span> is to say, the +malicious destruction of a man of <i>the same tribe</i>—did not happen as +frequently as might be expected; and when it did, went in most cases +unpunished; the murderer in general managing to escape to some other +section of the tribe where he had relations, who, as he fled to them +for protection, were bound to give it, and always ready to do so; or +otherwise 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 <i>utu</i> or +<i>lex talionis</i> was the only one which applied in this case, and as, +unlike the law of <i>muru</i>, nothing was to be got by enforcing it but +hard blows, murder in most cases went unpunished.</p> + +<p>[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 unpunished. The Government ask for him to be given +up, the tribe refuse, and there is an end of the matter.—Pembroke.]</p> + +<a id="img022" name="img022"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img022.jpg" width="100" height="60" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<a id="img023" name="img023"></a> +<div class="figcenterch"> +<img src="images/img023.jpg" width="500" height="102" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a id="page92" name="page92"></a>(p. 92)</span> Chapter VIII.</h2> + +<p class="resume">The Muru falling into disuse. — Why? — Examples of the Tapu. — + The personal Tapu. — Evading the Tapu. — The undertaker's Tapu. + — How I got tabooed. — Frightful difficulties. — How I got out + of them. — The war Tapu. — Maori war customs.</p> + +<p>The law of <i>muru</i> is now but little used, and only on a small scale. +The degenerate men of the present day in general content themselves +with asking "payment," and 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.</p> + +<p>I think the reason that the <i>muru</i> 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, +especially 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page93" name="page93"></a>(p. 93)</span> 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 shorthand process of <i>muru</i>, 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 +<i>muru</i> 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 present 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 <i>morale</i> of +Young New Zealand; but it is likely to change for the better, for it +is a maxim of mine that "laws, if not <i>made</i>, will <i>grow</i>."</p> + +<p>I must now take some little notice of the other great institution, the +<i>tapu</i>. The limits of these flying <span class="pagenum"><a id="page94" name="page94"></a>(p. 94)</span> sketches of the good old +times will not allow of more than a partial notice of the +all-pervading <i>tapu</i>. 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 considerable +allowance for this ignorance, as well they might, seeing that they +themselves, though from infancy to old age enveloped in a cloud of +<i>tapu</i>, would sometimes fall into similar scrapes.</p> + +<p>The original object of the ordinary <i>tapu</i> seems to have been the +preservation of property. Of this nature in a great degree was the +ordinary personal <i>tapu</i>. This form of the <i>tapu</i> 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 <i>rangatira</i>—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 everything 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. <span class="pagenum"><a id="page95" name="page95"></a>(p. 95)</span> 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 <i>tapu</i> 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 <i>muru</i> already mentioned. If the transgression was involuntary, the +chief, or a priest, or <i>tohunga</i>, could, by a certain mystical +ceremony, prevent or remit the doleful and mysterious part of the +punishment if he chose, but the civil action, or the robbery by law of +<i>muru</i>, would most likely have to take its course, though possibly in +a mitigated form, according to the circumstances.</p> + +<p>I have stated that the worst part of the punishment of an offence +against this form of the <i>tapu</i> 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, <i>if</i> +one, who had sufficient resolution to dare the shadowy terrors of the +<i>tapu</i>. I actually have seen an instance where the offender, though an +involuntary 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 <i>tapu</i>. 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page96" name="page96"></a>(p. 96)</span> accidental circumstances. +A chief of very high rank, standing, and <i>mana</i> was on a war +expedition; with him were about five hundred men. His own personal +<i>tapu</i> was increased twofold, as was that of all the warriors who were +with him, by the <i>war tapu</i>. The <i>taua</i> being on a very dangerous +expedition, they were over and above the ordinary personal <i>tapu</i> 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 <i>paro</i> or shallow basket of +green flax leaves, was, of course, enough for two or three men, and +consequently the greater part remained unconsumed. 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 ammunition 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 remained behind when the <i>taua</i> had +moved on—of the fatal act he had committed. I 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.) <span class="pagenum"><a id="page97" name="page97"></a>(p. 97)</span> 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 <i>tapu</i> 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 +inability to understand plain and direct evidence.</p> + +<p>It will be seen at once that this form of the <i>tapu</i> 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 +effective 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 <i>tapu</i>, +though latent in young folks of <i>rangatira</i> 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 <i>tapu</i> prevented +the elders from doing, and which restraint was sometimes very +troublesome and inconvenient. <span class="pagenum"><a id="page98" name="page98"></a>(p. 98)</span> A man of any standing could not +carry provisions of any kind on his back, or if he did they were +rendered <i>tapu</i>, 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 useless—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 <i>tapu</i>, 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 <i>tapu morbus</i>, 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 rubbing +two sticks together, when on a journey, and at the same time there was +a roaring fire close at hand at which several <i>rangatira</i> and myself +were warming ourselves, but it was <i>tapu</i>, sacred fire—one of the +<i>rangatira</i> 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 <i>tapu</i> was perhaps <span class="pagenum"><a id="page99" name="page99"></a>(p. 99)</span> 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 appropriate 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 infected by +the <i>tapu</i>. 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, supposing him to be of a hospitable and obliging +disposition, 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, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page100" name="page100"></a>(p. 100)</span> 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 bystanders, and +been set down as a <i>tutua</i>—a nobody, who had no <i>tapu</i> or <i>mana</i> +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 <i>tapu</i> 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.</p> + +<p>This same personal <i>tapu</i> would even hold its own in some cases +against the <i>muru</i>, though not in a sufficiently general manner to +seriously affect the operation of that well-enforced law. Its +inconveniences were, on the other hand, many, and the expedients +resorted to to avoid them were sometimes comical <span class="pagenum"><a id="page101" name="page101"></a>(p. 101)</span> 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 +<i>rangatira</i>, 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 go on. We were beginning to +think we must give up the expedition 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 (<i>pikau</i>) the +provisions, we will <i>hiki</i> them." (<i>Hiki</i> 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 <i>hiki'd</i> 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page102" name="page102"></a>(p. 102)</span> so, having thus evaded the +law, we started on our expedition.</p> + +<p>I remember another amusing instance in which the inconvenience arising +from the <i>tapu</i> was evaded. I must, however, notice that these +instances were only evasions of the <i>tapu</i> of the ordinary kind, what +I have called the personal <i>tapu</i>, not the more dangerous and dreadful +kind connected with the mystic doings of the <i>tohunga</i>, or that other +form of <i>tapu</i> connected with the handling of the dead. Indeed, my +companions in the instance I have mentioned, though all <i>rangatira</i>, +were young men on whom the personal <i>tapu</i> 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 <i>hiki</i> and +<i>pikau</i> 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 <i>look</i> at it would +almost be dangerous to them.</p> + +<p>The other instance of dodging the law was as follows:—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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page103" name="page103"></a>(p. 103)</span> 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! I 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 <i>whare noa</i>, +a house to which, from its general and temporary uses, the <i>tapu</i> was +not supposed to attach, I mean, of course, the ordinary personal +<i>tapu</i> or <i>tapu rangatira</i>. Any person, however, <i>infected</i> with any +of the more serious or extraordinary forms of the <i>tapu</i> 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 <i>kumera</i> 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 <i>tapu</i>, and the +parties who entered the field to remove the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page104" name="page104"></a>(p. 104)</span> weeds were +<i>tapu</i>, <i>pro tem.</i>, also. Now one of the effects of this temporary +extra <i>tapu</i> 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 <i>genus homo</i>, flung down his wooden +<i>kaheru</i> or weed exterminator and rushed towards the town house before +mentioned. What could he do? The <i>tapu</i> forbade his entrance, and the +front was so completely blocked up by his admiring 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 <i>tapu</i> the slip. He ran to the back of the +house, made with some difficulty a hole in the padded <i>raupo</i> wall, +and squeezed his head through it. The elastic wall of <i>raupo</i> closed +again around his neck; the <i>tapu</i> was fairly beaten! No one could say +he was <i>in</i> 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.</p> + +<p>Some of the forms of the <i>tapu</i> were not to be played with, and were +of a most virulent kind. Of this kind <span class="pagenum"><a id="page105" name="page105"></a>(p. 105)</span> was the <i>tapu</i> of +those who handled the dead, or conveyed the body to its last +resting-place. This <i>tapu</i> 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 <i>tapu</i> 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 bedeviling +them. He could not even touch food with his hands, which had become so +frightfully <i>tapu</i> 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 <i>tapu'd</i> 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 immunity 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 inconveniences of the <i>tapu</i>, +as well as its dangers. One of these people might be easily +recognized, after a little experience, even by a pakeha. Old, +withered, haggard, clothed in the most miserable rags, daubed all over +from head to foot with red paint (the native <span class="pagenum"><a id="page106" name="page106"></a>(p. 106)</span> 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 tuft 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 requires, 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.</p> + +<p>What will my kind reader say when I tell him that I myself once got +<i>tapu'd</i> with this same horrible, horrible, most horrible style of +<i>tapu</i>? 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page107" name="page107"></a>(p. 107)</span> +word "excommunication" means, and I did not understand what it meant +till I got <i>tapu'd</i>. I was returning 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 without +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 longer 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 <i>tapu</i>, 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 <i>kai tango atua</i> or undertakers are wont to do. I had, +however, no idea of <span class="pagenum"><a id="page108" name="page108"></a>(p. 108)</span> any such proceeding; and pulling out my +knife proceeded 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 <i>hands</i>?" +"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, in ordinary cases, excused; but +this, I saw at once, was an act which, to my friends, seemed the <i>ne +plus ultra</i> 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 <i>atua</i>, who, at the +command of a witch, or to avenge some breach of the <i>tapu</i>, 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page109" name="page109"></a>(p. 109)</span> +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 welcome, +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 eatable 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 +<i>tapu</i> 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 <i>rangatira</i> +can turn his hand to. But why should I have anything more to do with +cooking? 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!" <span class="pagenum"><a id="page110" name="page110"></a>(p. 110)</span> +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."</p> + +<p>I soon made a fire, and after a little rummaging found the <i>matériel</i> +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 <i>tapu</i> 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 advanced towards the kitchen, which was detached from +the house, and which, in the late deplorable <span class="pagenum"><a id="page111" name="page111"></a>(p. 111)</span> state of +affairs, had become my regular residence. I sat in the doorway, and +soon perceived that my visitor was a famous <i>tohunga</i>, 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 gesticulating +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 <i>karakia</i> 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 <i>kumera</i>, saying, "<i>He kai mau</i>." I of course accepted the +offered food, took a bite, and as I ate he mumbled his incantation +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 but +believing member of the Church of England as by Parliament +established, "knuckling down" abjectly to the ministration of a +ferocious old cannibal, wizard, sorcerer, high priest,—as it appeared +very probable,—to Satan himself. "Blacken his remaining eye! knock +him over and <span class="pagenum"><a id="page112" name="page112"></a>(p. 112)</span> run the country!" whispered quite plainly in 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 desperate danger; but just in those moments the +ceremony, 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 presence of mind enough to <i>forget</i> 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 everything." 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. Out I 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page113" name="page113"></a>(p. 113)</span> +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 necromantic 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 imaginable cause. "Boy," said he, gravely and quietly, and +without seeming to notice my very noticeable declaration of war and +independence, "don't act foolishly; don't go mad. No one will ever +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 <i>anger</i> 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 <i>flogging</i>. +"Well," said I, at last, "Fate compels; to fate, and not old +Hurlothrumbo there, I yield—so here goes." Let me not dwell upon the +humiliating concession to the powers of <i>tapu</i>. Suffice it to say, I +disrobed, and received <span class="pagenum"><a id="page114" name="page114"></a>(p. 114)</span> 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 performing 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 considerable 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 flocking 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 considered I had not been as completely purified from the <i>tapu +tango atua</i> 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.</p> + +<p>Besides these descriptions of <i>tapu</i>, there were many others. There +was the <i>war tapu</i>, 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 <i>tapu</i>, or sacred, as in +this particular case the word <span class="pagenum"><a id="page115" name="page115"></a>(p. 115)</span> 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 <i>tapu</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 enemies, 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.</p> + +<p>The warriors, when on a dangerous expedition, also observed strictly +the custom to which allusion is made. 1 Samuel, xxi. 4-5.</p> + +<a id="img024" name="img024"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img024.jpg" width="100" height="43" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<a id="img025" name="img025"></a> +<div class="figcenterch"> +<img src="images/img025.jpg" width="500" height="80" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a id="page116" name="page116"></a>(p. 116)</span> Chapter IX.</h2> + +<p class="resume">The Tapu Tohunga. — The Maori oracle. — Responses of the + oracle. — Priestcraft.</p> + +<p>Then came the <i>tapu tohunga</i>, or priest's <i>tapu</i>, a quite different +kind or form of <i>tapu</i> from those which I have spoken of. These +<i>tohunga</i> presided over all those ceremonies and customs which had +something approaching to a religious character. They also pretended 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 <i>tohunga</i> 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 predictions were of a most daring nature, and happening to turn +out perfectly successful, there may be some excuse for an ignorant +people believing in 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 soothsayer no matter how the +event turned out. It is also <span class="pagenum"><a id="page117" name="page117"></a>(p. 117)</span> remarkable that these <i>tohunga</i> +did not pretend to divine future events by any knowledge or power +existing 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 <i>tohunga</i> who, having made a +false prediction, laid the blame on the "tricksey spirit," who he said +had purposely 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 <i>tohunga</i> 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 importance to the welfare of the colony. A certain +<i>tohunga</i> has even quite lately, to my certain knowledge, been paid a +large sum of money to do a miracle! I 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 importance, continue to consult the Maori oracle.</p> + +<p>I shall give two instances of predictions which came <span class="pagenum"><a id="page118" name="page118"></a>(p. 118)</span> under +my own observation, and which will show how much the same priestcraft +has been in all times.</p> + +<p>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 +became 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 therefore inquired of the oracle if he would return. At night the +<i>tohunga</i> invoked 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 <i>tohunga</i> 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 <i>a corpse</i>; 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."</p> + +<p>Another instance, which I witnessed myself, was as follows:—A captain +of a large ship had run away <span class="pagenum"><a id="page119" name="page119"></a>(p. 119)</span> 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 <i>tohunga</i>; 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 a long voyage. The fugitives had fairly escaped; and what +the relations wanted was that the <i>atua</i>, or familiar spirit of the +<i>tohunga</i>, should bring the ship back into port, so that they might +have an opportunity 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 <i>de trop</i> 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page120" name="page120"></a>(p. 120)</span> 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 preferred 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 recalled. The rest of +the night was spent in conjecturing 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 <i>koroke hangareka</i>. 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" +(<i>ihu</i>). 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page121" name="page121"></a>(p. 121)</span> 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 <i>douceur</i> to the priest.</p> + +<p>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. Before the <i>taua</i> started the +oracle was consulted, and the answer to the question, "Shall this +expedition be successful?" came. "A desolate country!—a desolate +country!—a desolate country!" This the eager warriors accepted as a +most favourable response. 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 helpless by their loss, became a prey to their more immediate +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.</p> + +<a id="img026" name="img026"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img026.jpg" width="100" height="45" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<a id="img027" name="img027"></a> +<div class="figcenterch"> +<img src="images/img027.jpg" width="500" height="100" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a id="page122" name="page122"></a>(p. 122)</span> Chapter X.</h2> + +<p class="resume">The priest evokes a spirit. — The consequences. — A Maori + tragedy. — The "Tohunga" again.</p> + +<p>These priests or <i>tohunga</i> would, and do to this hour, undertake to +call up the spirit of any dead person, if paid for the same. I have +seen many of these exhibitions, but one instance will suffice as an +example.</p> + +<p>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 <i>tohunga</i> had promised on a certain night to +call up his spirit to speak to them, and answer certain 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. I +was not much inclined to bear a part in such outrageous mummery, but +curiosity caused me to go. Now it is necessary to remark that this +young chief <span class="pagenum"><a id="page123" name="page123"></a>(p. 123)</span> 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 mentioned. 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 female 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 myself, 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 incredulity on my part would +shock and hurt the feelings of my friends extremely; and yet, whilst +feeling thus, I felt myself more and more near to believing in +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page124" name="page124"></a>(p. 124)</span> 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 <i>tohunga</i> sat was +now in perfect darkness. Suddenly, without the slightest warning, 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 +restrained by her brother by main force, till moaning and fainting she +lay still on the ground. At the same instant another female voice was +heard from a young girl who was held by the wrists by two young men, +her brothers. "Is it you?—is it you?—<i>truly</i> is it you?—<i>aue! aue!</i> +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, <i>aue! aue!</i>" Here she fell +insensible on the rush floor, and with the sister was <span class="pagenum"><a id="page125" name="page125"></a>(p. 125)</span> +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 conversation. 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 impulse, I +felt half ready to give way to. At last the brother spoke. "How is it +with you?—is it well with you in <i>that</i> country?" The answer +came—(the voice all through, it is to be remembered, was not the +voice of the <i>tohunga</i>, but a strange melancholy sound, like the sound +of the wind blowing into a hollow vessel),—"It is well with me; my +place is a good place." The brother spoke again. "Have you seen ——, +and ——, and ——?" (I forget the names mentioned.) "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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page126" name="page126"></a>(p. 126)</span> 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 disenchanted at once) and my double-gun." Here +the brother interrupted, "Your gun is a <i>manatunga</i>, 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 <i>tahuhu</i> 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 <i>with the book in his hand</i>. I +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 impressive cry +of "farewell" arose from every one in the house. "Farewell," again +cried the spirit, <i>from deep beneath the ground</i>! "Farewell," again +from <i>high in air</i>! "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. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page127" name="page127"></a>(p. 127)</span> "A ventriloquist," said I; "or—or—<i>perhaps</i> the devil."</p> + +<p>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 shouting +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 a light. 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 upwards 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 +<i>howled</i>, and the sound was that of a heathen despair, knowing +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page128" name="page128"></a>(p. 128)</span> 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 herself to shatters. And the old man was +her father, and a <i>tohunga</i>. A calm low voice now spoke close beside +me, "She has followed her <i>rangatira</i>," it said. I looked round, and +saw the famous <i>tohunga</i> of the night.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<a id="img028" name="img028"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img028.jpg" width="100" height="90" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<a id="img029" name="img029"></a> +<div class="figcenterch"> +<img src="images/img029.jpg" width="500" height="88" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a id="page129" name="page129"></a>(p. 129)</span> Chapter XI.</h2> + +<p class="resume">The local Tapu. — The Taniwha. — The battle on Motiti. — The + death of Tiki Whenua. — Reflections. — Brutus, Marcus Antonius, + and Tiki Whenua. — Suicide.</p> + +<p>A story-teller, like a poet or a pugilist, must be <i>born</i>, and not +<i>made</i>, 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 +<i>tapu</i> I would "try back." I believe I ought to be just now completing +the purchase 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 <i>tapu</i> the best way I can, +after which I will start fair and try not to get before my story.</p> + +<p>Besides these different forms of the <i>tapu</i> which I have mentioned, +there were endless others, but the temporary local <i>tapus</i> 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page130" name="page130"></a>(p. 130)</span> +<i>tapu</i> yesterday might be most horribly <i>tapu</i> to-day, and the +consequences of trespassing thereon proportionately 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 <i>tapu</i>, 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 +invulnerable, could not escape the fangs of the terrible Taniwha. "Was +not little Jackey-<i>poto</i>, the sailor, drowned by the Taniwha? He +<i>would</i> go on shore, in spite of every warning, to get some water to +mix with his <i>waipiro</i>, 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?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page131" name="page131"></a>(p. 131)</span> 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 <i>tu ngarahu</i>, and then disappeared. The Ngati +Kuri, elated, and accepting 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 <i>rangatira</i>, 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 as a 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 <i>victory</i>, no, nor for <i>life</i>. Think only now of +<i>utu</i>!—for your time is come. That which you have dealt to many, you +shall now <span class="pagenum"><a id="page132" name="page132"></a>(p. 132)</span> receive. Fight!—fight! Your tribe shall be +exterminated, 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 <i>utu</i>; 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!</p> + +<p>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 in this +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 <i>exit</i> of Tiki Whenua has a smack of originality about +it which I like, and so I have mentioned it here.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page133" name="page133"></a>(p. 133)</span> But all this is digression on digression; however, 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-singing, special-pleading, +shilling-hunting set of wretches; not above one in a dozen of them +would know how to cut up a man <i>secundem artem</i>. Pshaw! I am ashamed +of them.</p> + +<p>I am getting tired of this <i>tapu</i>, so will give only one or two more +instances of the local temporary <i>tapu</i>. In the autumn, when the great +crop of <i>kumera</i> was gathered, all the paths leading to the village +and cultivated lands were made <i>tapu</i>, 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 <i>kumera</i> had often cost its cultivators and the +whole <span class="pagenum"><a id="page134" name="page134"></a>(p. 134)</span> 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 <i>kumera</i>. Exaggeration would multiply the truth by ten, the +fertile land would be coveted, and very probably its owners, or rather +its <i>holders</i>, 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 <i>kumera</i> were dug hurriedly by the whole +strength of the working hands, thrown in scattered heaps, and +concealed from any casual observation 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 <i>rua</i>, 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 proceeding, +even the families inhabiting the same village did not know what sort +of a crop their neighbours 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page135" name="page135"></a>(p. 135)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>Talking of bygone habits and customs of the natives, I 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 residence in the country, it was of almost daily +occurrence. 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 a very 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 a remarkable 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, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page136" name="page136"></a>(p. 136)</span> 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 disappointment, feeling +as if there was nothing more to live for.</p> + +<a id="img030" name="img030"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img030.jpg" width="100" height="154" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<a id="img031" name="img031"></a> +<div class="figcenterch"> +<img src="images/img031.jpg" width="500" height="78" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a id="page137" name="page137"></a>(p. 137)</span> Chapter XII.</h2> + +<p class="resume">The Tapa. — Instances of. — The storming of Mokoia. — Pomare. + — Hongi Ika. — Tareha. — Honour amongst thieves.</p> + +<p>There was a kind of variation on the <i>tapu</i>, called <i>tapa</i>, 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 <i>tapa</i> would fall to the ground. It was, however, in a +certain degree necessary to have some legal reason, or excuse, for +making the <i>tapa</i>; but to give some idea of what constituted the +circumstances under which a man could fairly <i>tapa</i> anything, I must +needs quote a case in point.</p> + +<p>When the Ngapuhi attacked the tribe of Ngati 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page138" name="page138"></a>(p. 138)</span> advanced division of +the Ngapuhi arrived at Rotorua, and encamped on the shore of the lake, +Ngati Wakawe 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 crying, "<i>Ma wai koe e kawe mai ki Rangitiki?</i>"—"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 +<i>totara</i> 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 +<i>tapa'd</i> one or more for himself, or, as the native expression is, +<i>to</i> himself. Up jumped Pomare, and standing on the lake shore, in +front of the encampment 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 +<i>tapa</i>. Then the soft voice of the famous Hongi Ika, surnamed "The +eater of men," of <span class="pagenum"><a id="page139" name="page139"></a>(p. 139)</span> <i>Hongi kai tangata</i>, was heard, "Those two +canoes are my two thighs." And so the whole flotilla was appropriated +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 <i>tapa-tapa</i>, 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 <i>hapu</i> 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" (<i>tika</i>).</p> + +<p>This <i>tapu</i> 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.</p> + +<a id="img032" name="img032"></a> +<div class="figcenterch"> +<img src="images/img032.jpg" width="500" height="101" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a id="page140" name="page140"></a>(p. 140)</span> Chapter XIII.</h2> + +<p class="resume">"My Rangatira." — The respective duties of the Pakeha and his + Rangatira. — Public opinion. — A "Pakeha Kino." — Description + 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.</p> + +<p>When I purchased my land the payment was made on the ground, and +immediately divided and subdivided amongst 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.</p> + +<p>One old <i>rangatira</i>, before whom a considerable portion 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 payment, 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page141" name="page141"></a>(p. 141)</span> payment, and being also a person of great respectability, +<i>i.e.</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>rangatira</i> aforementioned, a good deal of +liberty was allowed me. The fact of my having become his pakeha made +our respective relations and duties to each other about as follows:—</p> + +<p>Firstly.—At all times, places, and companies my owner had the right +to call me "his pakeha."</p> + +<p>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 degenerate +invention of that nature; as, if he did, they would all become <i>tapu</i>, +and of no use to any one but himself, nor indeed to himself either, as +he did not see the use of them.</p> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page142" name="page142"></a>(p. 142)</span> slightest allusion to be ever made to +the relative value of the gifts on either side (an important article).</p> + +<p>Fourthly.—It was to be a <i>sine quâ non</i> 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.)</p> + +<p>Fifthly.—The chief's own particular pipe never to be allowed to +become extinguished for want of the needful supply of tobacco.</p> + +<p>Sixthly.—All desirable jobs of work, and all advantages of all kinds, +to be offered first to the family of my <i>rangatira</i> 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 <i>douceur</i> to the chief himself +because he did not work.</p> + +<p>In return for these duties and customs, well and truly performed on my +part, the chief was understood to—</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Secondly.—In case of my being plundered or maltreated 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 finding the powder,) and to declare loudly what he would +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page143" name="page143"></a>(p. 143)</span> have done had he only been in time. I, of course, on such +occasions, for my own dignity, and in consideration 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.</p> + +<p>Thirdly.—In case of my losing anything of consequence 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 +mentioned, 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 <i>rangatira</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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, on the 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page144" name="page144"></a>(p. 144)</span> when he +arrived, unless, indeed, some unlucky accident happened, such as +pakehas were liable to sometimes in the good old times.</p> + +<p>Mentioning "public opinion" as a restraint on the chiefs' +acquisitiveness, I must explain that a chief possessing a pakeha was +much envied by his neighbours, 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 foolishness and bad policy either to kill them, or, by too +rough handling, to cause them to fly away.</p> + +<p>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 <i>get a bad name</i>, 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, wherever he went, would consider him a person out of whom the +most was to be made at once, as he was not <span class="pagenum"><a id="page145" name="page145"></a>(p. 145)</span> 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 mishaps, 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 acquaintances as "a pakeha <i>pakeke</i>"—a +hard pakeha; "a pakeha <i>taehae</i>"—a miser; or, to sum up all, "a +pakeha <i>kino</i>."</p> + +<p>The chief who claimed me was a good specimen of the Maori <i>rangatira</i>. +He was a very old man, and had fought the French when Marion, the +French circumnavigator, was killed. He had killed a Frenchman himself, +and carried his thighs and legs many miles as a <i>bonne bouche</i> 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 <i>hapu</i>, 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page146" name="page146"></a>(p. 146)</span> +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 <i>rangatira</i>, +would lecture on good manners, etiquette, and the use of the spear. He +was, indeed, a model of a <i>rangatira</i>, and well worth being described. +He was a little man, with a high massive head, and remarkably high +square forehead, 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, are a match for any one. There was in my old friend's eyes a +sort of dull fiery appearance, which, when anything 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 +<i>mêlées</i>, where he would have sometimes six or eight antagonists, that +he had received these wounds. He was a great <span class="pagenum"><a id="page147" name="page147"></a>(p. 147)</span> 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 firearms the natives have entirely altered +their tactics, and adopted a system better adapted to the new weapon +and the nature of the country.</p> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page148" name="page148"></a>(p. 148)</span> 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, occurred to him on another occasion. He was returning 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 Shortland 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 belonging 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 surprise, attacked, rushing upon them +from two opposite directions at once. My <i>rangatira</i>, dashing +furiously among them, and, as I can well suppose, those eyes of his +flashing fire, had the happiness of once again <span class="pagenum"><a id="page149" name="page149"></a>(p. 149)</span> killing the +first man, and being authorized to shout, "<i>Ki au te mataika!</i>" A few +more blows, the parties recognize each other: they are friends!—men +of the same tribe! Who is the last <i>mataika</i> slain by this famous +warrior? Quick, bring a flaming brand; here he lies dead! Ha! It is +his father!</p> + +<p>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 +<i>rangatira</i> 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 <i>tangi</i> or +lamentation for the old warrior who had just received his <i>mittimus</i>; +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 <i>rangatira</i> was one of the most famous +fighting men in his tribe.</p> + +<p>This Maori <i>rangatira</i>, who I am describing, had <span class="pagenum"><a id="page150" name="page150"></a>(p. 150)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>was</i> 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page151" name="page151"></a>(p. 151)</span> grumbling 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 (<i>he riri wakamutunga</i>), 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 <i>utu</i> or retaliation for similar +barbarities 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 in a 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 consequences, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page152" name="page152"></a>(p. 152)</span> though he thought some men fools for +trying 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 +<i>did</i> 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 <i>him</i>; 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 preparation 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 distant enemies, but of people within a +day's journey, that none could tell at what moment some stout young +fellow in search of <i>utu</i> and a "<i>ingoa toa</i>" (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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page153" name="page153"></a>(p. 153)</span> 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 <i>rangatira</i>, 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 <i>rangatira</i> was a man +of a thousand,—a model <i>rangatira</i>. This exploit, if possible, added +to his reputation, and every one said his <i>mana</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page154" name="page154"></a>(p. 154)</span> 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 accomplish +than can be now found in the surrounding districts. 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 terraces 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 +to twenty miles; and native tradition affirms that each of these hills +was the stronghold of a separate <i>hapu</i> 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page155" name="page155"></a>(p. 155)</span> northern part of the North +Island, in which the <i>kumera</i> were once stored; and these pits are, in +the greatest 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 <i>kumera</i> 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 degree, from which perhaps +they have been preserved by the absence of frost, as well as by a +beautiful <span class="pagenum"><a id="page156" name="page156"></a>(p. 156)</span> 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 constantly doing, had raised a mound of decaying +bark round the root of the tree.</p> + +<p>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 circumference 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page157" name="page157"></a>(p. 157)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 reasons for believing that this country has been +inhabited 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The natives attribute their decrease in numbers, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page158" name="page158"></a>(p. 158)</span> before the +arrival of the Europeans, to war and sickness, 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.</p> + +<p class="poem10"> + A rugged wight, the worst of brutes, was man;<br> +<span class="add1em">On his own wretched kind he ruthless prey'd.</span><br> + The strongest then the weakest overran,<br> +<span class="add1em">In every country mighty robbers sway'd,</span><br> + And guile and ruffian force was all their trade.</p> + +<p>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 observation, they have decreased in number since my arrival +rather more than one-third. I have, however, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page159" name="page159"></a>(p. 159)</span> 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 residences. 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 <i>kumera</i> 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 descriptions; the women, in all spare time, +making mats for clothing, or baskets to carry the crop of <i>kumera</i> 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page160" name="page160"></a>(p. 160)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>Now when the natives became generally armed with the musket they at +once abandoned the hills, and, to save themselves the great labour and +inconvenience occasioned by the necessity of continually carrying +provisions, fuel, and water to these precipitous 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 cultivations, erected a +new kind of fortification adapted to the capabilities of the new +weapon. <i>This</i> 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 <i>see</i> the enemy +which killed them, and therefore could not believe the Europeans who +pointed out the cause of their destruction.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page161" name="page161"></a>(p. 161)</span> This change of residence was universal and everywhere +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 continual +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 accident than design.</p> + +<p>Twenty years ago a <i>hapu</i>, in number just forty persons, removed their +<i>kainga</i> from a dry, healthy position, to the edge of a <i>raupo</i> 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 into 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, "<i>men</i> cannot live here." Eight years from that day the +whole <i>hapu</i> were extinct; but, as I remember, two persons were shot +for bewitching them and causing their deaths.</p> + +<p>Many other causes combined at the same time to <span class="pagenum"><a id="page162" name="page162"></a>(p. 162)</span> 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 supposing a man 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 <i>hapu</i>, 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 <i>hapu</i>, 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 at a time. Now as the natives, when +undisturbed and labouring regularly 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page163" name="page163"></a>(p. 163)</span> 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-exertion, 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 ammunition 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 implements in any useful quantity, till first the great, +pressing, paramount want of muskets and gunpowder had been supplied. +Thus continual excitement, 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, I am sure, and the cause is not a mystery. The influx +of Europeans has caused a competition in trading, which enables them +to get the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page164" name="page164"></a>(p. 164)</span> 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 opportunities 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—<i>i.e.</i>, 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 remarkable 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 permanent +good result.</p> + +<a id="img033" name="img033"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img033.jpg" width="60" height="107" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<a id="img034" name="img034"></a> +<div class="figcenterch"> +<img src="images/img034.jpg" width="500" height="99" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a id="page165" name="page165"></a>(p. 165)</span> Chapter XIV.</h2> + +<p class="resume">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.</p> + +<p>From the years 1822 to 1826, the vessels trading for flax had, when at +anchor, boarding nettings up to the tops. All the crew were armed, +and, as a standing 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 Zealand, 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page166" name="page166"></a>(p. 166)</span> 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 Taranaki, 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 himself 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 <i>does</i> 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 +Britannia" to the contrary notwithstanding) died a slave; but whether +he was buried, deponent sayeth not.</p> + +<p>My old <i>rangatira</i> 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 general breaking up of his strength became plainly +observable. 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 <i>éclât</i>. The last two years of his life were spent +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page167" name="page167"></a>(p. 167)</span> 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 +sometimes humming in a low droning tone some old ditty which no one +knew the meaning of but himself, 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 +subject 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 whenever 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 Zealand" 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page168" name="page168"></a>(p. 168)</span> 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 <i>tupuna</i> 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 <i>ka poto</i>, or assembled, to the last man +around the dying chief. I must here mention that, though this old +<i>rangatira</i> was not the head of his tribe, he had been for about half +a century the recognized war chief of almost all the sections or +<i>hapu</i> of a very numerous and warlike <i>iwi</i> 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 <i>haere mai!</i> 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 consequently at once in the position of a "personage." "Here +comes the pakeha!—<i>his</i> 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 <i>au fait</i> in Maori etiquette by +this time, thanks to the instructions and example of my old <span class="pagenum"><a id="page169" name="page169"></a>(p. 169)</span> +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 +a cannon. 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 <i>rangatira</i>. 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 <i>mere</i>, and at his left side, close, and touching him, sat +a stout, athletic savage, with a countenance disgustingly expressive +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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page170" name="page170"></a>(p. 170)</span> <i>tohunga</i>. 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 <i>tohunga</i> 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 unfold 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page171" name="page171"></a>(p. 171)</span> 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 <i>mere</i> to my pakeha,"—"my two old +wives will hang themselves,"—(here a howl of assent from the two old +women in the rear rank)—"I am going; be brave, after I am gone." Here +he began to rave; he fancied himself in some desperate battle, for he +began to call to celebrated comrades who had been dead forty or fifty +years. I remember every word—"Charge!" shouted he—"Charge! <i>Wata</i>, +charge! <i>Tara</i>, charge! charge!" Then after a short pause—"Rescue! +rescue! to my rescue! <i>ahau! ahau! rescue!</i>" The last cry 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 +superstitious 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 moment. The <i>tohunga</i> now bending +close to the dying man's ear, roared out "<i>Kai kotahi ki te ao! Kia +kotahi ki te ao! Kia kotahi ki te po!</i>" The poor savage was now, as I +believe, past hearing, and gasping his last. "<i>Kai kotahi ki te +ao!</i>"—shouted the devil priest again in his ear, and shaking his +shoulder roughly with his hand—"<i>Kia kotahi ki te <span class="pagenum"><a id="page172" name="page172"></a>(p. 172)</span> ao!—Kai +kotahi ki te po!</i>" Then giving a significant look to the surrounding +hundreds of natives, a roar of musketry burst forth. <i>Kai kotahi ki te +ao!</i> Thus in a din like pandemonium, guns firing, women screaming, and +the accursed <i>tohunga</i> 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."</p> + +<p>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 lies in a +cave, with the spear and tomahawk beside it.</p> + +<p>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 reach of +rats. 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; <i>they might recover</i>." "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 <i>kauhoa</i>, to carry the bodies on. At a short +distance also were five old creatures of women, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page173" name="page173"></a>(p. 173)</span> sitting in a +row, crying, with their eyes fixed on the hanging objects, and +everything was evidently going on <i>selon les règles</i>. I walked on. "<i>E +tika ana</i>," said I, to myself. "It's all right, I dare say."</p> + +<p>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 themselves 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.</p> + +<a id="img035" name="img035"></a> +<div class="figcenterch"> +<img src="images/img035.jpg" width="500" height="89" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a id="page174" name="page174"></a>(p. 174)</span> Chapter XV.</h2> + +<p class="resume">Mana. — Young New Zealand. — The law of England. — "Pop goes + the weasel." — Right if we have might. — God save the Queen. — + Good advice.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon I went home musing on what I had heard and seen. +"Surely," thought I, "if one half of the world does not know how the +other half live, neither do they know how they die."</p> + +<p>Some days after this a deputation arrived to deliver up my old +friend's <i>mere</i>. It was a weapon of great <i>mana</i>, and was delivered +with some little ceremony. I perceive now I have written this word +<i>mana</i> 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 <i>mana</i> 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, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page175" name="page175"></a>(p. 175)</span> 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 <i>mana</i>. And, moreover, though I myself do know all the +meanings and different shades of meaning properly belonging to the +word, I find a great difficulty in explaining them; but as I have +begun, the thing must be done. It will also be a tough word disposed +of to my hand, when I come to write my Maori dictionary, in a hundred +volumes, which, if I begin soon, I hope to have finished before the +Maori is a dead language.</p> + +<p>Now then for <i>mana</i>. <i>Virtus</i>, <i>prestige</i>, authority, good fortune, +influence, sanctity, luck, are all words which, under certain +conditions, give something near the meaning of <i>mana</i>, 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.</p> + +<p><i>Mana</i> sometimes means a more than natural virtue or power attaching +to some person or thing, different from and independent of the +ordinary natural conditions of either, and capable of either increase +or diminution, both from known and unknown causes. The <i>mana</i> of a +priest or <i>tohunga</i> is proved by the truth of his predictions, as well +as the success of his incantations, <i>which same incantations, +performed by another person, of inferior mana, would have no effect</i>. +Consequently, this description of <i>mana</i> is a virtue, or more than +natural or ordinary condition attaching to the priest himself, and +which <span class="pagenum"><a id="page176" name="page176"></a>(p. 176)</span> he may become possessed of and also lose without any +volition of his own. When</p> + +<p class="poem10"> +<span class="add5em"><span class="min33em">"</span>Apollo from his shrine,</span><br> +<span class="add5em">No longer could divine,</span><br> + The hollow steep of Delphos sadly leaving,"—</p> + +<p class="noindent"><i>Then</i> the oracle had lost its <i>mana</i>.</p> + +<p>Then there is the doctor's <i>mana</i>. The Maori doctors in the old times +did not deal much in "simples," but they administered large doses of +<i>mana</i>. Now when most of a doctor's patients recovered, his <i>mana</i> 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 <i>seriatim</i>, then his <i>mana</i> was suspected to be getting weak, +and he would not be liable to be "knocked up" as frequently as +formerly.</p> + +<p><i>Mana</i> 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 <i>mana</i>. Let him lose the power, and the +<i>mana</i> is gone; but mind you do not translate <i>mana</i> as power; that +won't do: they are two different things entirely. Of this nature also +is the <i>mana</i> of a tribe; but this is not considered to be the +supernatural kind of <i>mana</i>.</p> + +<p>Then comes the <i>mana</i> of a warrior. Uninterrupted success in war +proves it. It has a <i>slight</i> touch of the supernatural, but not much. +Good fortune comes near the meaning, but is just a little too weak. +The <span class="pagenum"><a id="page177" name="page177"></a>(p. 177)</span> warrior's <i>mana</i> is just a little something more than +bare good fortune; a severe defeat would shake it terribly; two or +three in succession would show that it was gone: but before leaving +him, some supernaturally ominous occurrence might be expected to take +place, such as are said to have happened before the deaths of Julius +Cæsar, 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 <i>Toa</i>, were thought as much of in <i>their</i> world, as any +Greek or Roman of old was in his; and, moreover, that it is my private +opinion, that if the best of them could only have met my friend +"Lizard Skin," in his best days, and would take off his armour and +fight fair, that the aforesaid "Lizard Skin" would have tickled him to +his heart's content with the point of his spear.</p> + +<p>A fortress often assailed but never taken has a <i>mana</i>, and one of a +high description too. The name of the fortress becomes a <i>pepeha</i>, a +war boast or motto, and a war cry of encouragement or defiance, like +the <i>slogan</i> of the ancient Highlanders in Scotland.</p> + +<p>A spear, a club, or a <i>mere</i>, may have a <i>mana</i>, 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 <i>mana</i> than this, like the <i>mana</i> of the enchanted weapons we +read of in old romances or fairy tales. Let any one who likes give an +English word for this kind of <i>mana</i>. I have done with it.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page178" name="page178"></a>(p. 178)</span> 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 "<i>poaka whai mana</i>," a +pig possessed of <i>mana</i>; <i>it had more than natural powers</i> and could +foretell rain.</p> + +<p>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 <i>puka puka whai mana</i>, a book of <i>mana</i>; and I shall have a +high opinion of the good sense and good taste of the New Zealand +public.</p> + +<p>When the law of England is the law of New Zealand, and the Queen's +writ will run, then both the Queen and the law will have great <i>mana</i>; +but I don't think either will ever happen, and so neither will have +any <i>mana</i> of consequence.</p> + +<p>If the reader has not some faint notion of <i>mana</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>does</i> get <span class="pagenum"><a id="page179" name="page179"></a>(p. 179)</span> 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; <i>they</i> +must <i>ride</i>. The other day I saw a young chap on a good horse; he had +a black hat and polished Wellingtons; his hat was cocked knowingly to +one side; he was jogging along, with one hand jingling the money in +his pocket; and may I never see another war dance, if the hardened +villain was not whistling "Pop goes the weasel!" What will all this +end in?</p> + +<p>My only hope is in a handy way (to give them their due) which they +have with a <i>tupara</i>; and this is why I don't think the law will have +much <i>mana</i> here in my time,—I mean the <i>pakeha</i> law; for to say the +worst of them, they are not yet so far demoralized as to stand any +nonsense of that kind, which is a comfort to think of. I am a loyal +subject to Queen Victoria, but I am also a member of a Maori tribe; +and I hope I may never see this country so enslaved and tamed that a +single rascally policeman, with nothing but a bit of paper in his +hand, can come and take a <i>rangatira</i> away from the middle of his +<i>hapu</i>, and have him hanged for something of no consequence at all, +except that it is against the law. What would old "Lizard Skin" say to +it? His grandson certainly is now a magistrate, and if anything is +stolen from a pakeha, he will get it back, <i>if he can</i>, 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page180" name="page180"></a>(p. 180)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>I belong to both parties, and I don't care a straw which wins; but I +am sure we shall have fighting. Men <i>must</i> fight; or else what are +they made for? Twenty years ago, when I heard military men talking of +"marching through New Zealand with fifty men," I was called a fool +because I said they could not do it with five hundred. Now I am also +thought foolish by civilians, because I say we can conquer New Zealand +with our present available means, if we set the right way about it +(which we won't). So hurrah again for the Maori! We shall drive the +pakeha into the sea, and send the law after them! If we can do it, we +are right; and if the pakeha beat us, <i>they</i> will be right too. God +save the Queen!</p> + +<p>So now, my Maori tribe, and also my pakeha countrymen, I shall +conclude this book with good advice; and be sure you take notice; it +is given to <i>both parties</i>. It is a sentence from the last speech of +old "Lizard Skin." It is to you both. "Be brave, that you may <i>live</i>."</p> + +<p class="center">VERBUM SAPIENTI.</p> + +<a id="img036" name="img036"></a> +<div class="figcenterch"> +<img src="images/img036.jpg" width="500" height="89" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<h1><span class="pagenum"><a id="page181" name="page181"></a>(p. 181)</span> HISTORY OF THE WAR IN THE NORTH<br> + OF NEW ZEALAND AGAINST<br> + THE CHIEF HEKE,<br> +<span class="smaller">IN THE YEAR 1845;<br> + TOLD BY AN OLD CHIEF OF THE<br> + NGAPUHI TRIBE.</span></h1> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a id="page182" name="page182"></a>(p. 182)</span> PREFACE.</h2> + +<p>This 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 likeness. To those who have more recently sought +these shores, I hope it may be interesting. To all it is respectfully +presented.</p> + +<a id="img037" name="img037"></a> +<div class="figcenterch"> +<img src="images/img037.jpg" width="500" height="101" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<p class="p4 center"><span class="pagenum"><a id="page183" name="page183"></a>(p. 183)</span> HISTORY OF THE WAR IN THE NORTH OF NEW ZEALAND AGAINST THE +CHIEF HEKE.</p> + +<p>Many years ago, Hongi Ika, the great warrior chief of New Zealand, was +dying.<a id="footnotetag6" name="footnotetag6"></a><a href="#footnote6" title="Go to footnote 6"><span class="smaller">[6]</span></a> His relations, friends, and 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page184" name="page184"></a>(p. 184)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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 +Ngapuhi 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page185" name="page185"></a>(p. 185)</span> 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,<a id="footnotetag7" name="footnotetag7"></a><a href="#footnote7" title="Go to footnote 7"><span class="smaller">[7]</span></a> 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.</p> + +<p>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, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page186" name="page186"></a>(p. 186)</span> 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 +meaning of what he said was so closely concealed we never have found +it out.<a id="footnotetag8" name="footnotetag8"></a><a href="#footnote8" title="Go to footnote 8"><span class="smaller">[8]</span></a> 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 abundance 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, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page187" name="page187"></a>(p. 187)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 like 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 proceeding. 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.</p> + +<p>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," <span class="pagenum"><a id="page188" name="page188"></a>(p. 188)</span> and the chiefs began to get up and make +speeches. One said, "Come here, Governor; go back to England;" 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 themselves. 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page189" name="page189"></a>(p. 189)</span> 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.<a id="footnotetag9" name="footnotetag9"></a><a href="#footnote9" title="Go to footnote 9"><span class="smaller">[9]</span></a></p> + +<p>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 +blankets;<a id="footnotetag10" name="footnotetag10"></a><a href="#footnote10" title="Go to footnote 10"><span class="smaller">[10]</span></a> 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 persuaded 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page190" name="page190"></a>(p. 190)</span> 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?</p> + +<p>Well, after this, the Governor died; he was bewitched, as I have +heard, by a <i>tohunga</i> 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 bewitched, 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.<a id="footnotetag11" name="footnotetag11"></a><a href="#footnote11" title="Go to footnote 11"><span class="smaller">[11]</span></a></p> + +<p>After the first Governor came the second Governor, but the towns and +numerous pakeha traders we expected did not come. We heard of a town +at Waitamata having been built,<a id="footnotetag12" name="footnotetag12"></a><a href="#footnote12" title="Go to footnote 12"><span class="smaller">[12]</span></a> and others farther South; but in +our part of the country there was no new <span class="pagenum"><a id="page191" name="page191"></a>(p. 191)</span> 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 <i>rahui</i>, 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page192" name="page192"></a>(p. 192)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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,<a id="footnotetag13" name="footnotetag13"></a><a href="#footnote13" title="Go to footnote 13"><span class="smaller">[13]</span></a> and +tobacco became cheap, and ships began to come as before, and all our +old pakeha friends were glad, because 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.</p> + +<p>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,<a id="footnotetag14" name="footnotetag14"></a><a href="#footnote14" title="Go to footnote 14"><span class="smaller">[14]</span></a> so he sent +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page193" name="page193"></a>(p. 193)</span> to England, and to Port Jackson, and everywhere, for +soldiers to come to guard the flagstaff, and to fight with Heke.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +expected 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page194" name="page194"></a>(p. 194)</span> not keep their eyes continually rolling about in search +of an enemy.</p> + +<p>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 <i>men</i>.'<a id="footnotetag15" name="footnotetag15"></a><a href="#footnote15" title="Go to footnote 15"><span class="smaller">[15]</span></a> 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."</p> + +<p>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—<i>Kei hea koutou +kia toa</i>."</p> + +<p>But the chiefs of the Ngapuhi <i>hapu</i> said amongst themselves, "How +long will the fire of the Maori burn before it is extinguished?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page195" name="page195"></a>(p. 195)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>Heke and Kawiti having arrived at Tokerau, and having fixed upon the +day of attack, they agreed that Kawiti should attack the town of +Kororareka, to draw off the attention of the soldiers who guarded the +flagstaff 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.<a id="footnotetag16" name="footnotetag16"></a><a href="#footnote16" title="Go to footnote 16"><span class="smaller">[16]</span></a> They threw one for Heke, and one +for the soldiers, and one for the flagstaff: and the dart for Heke +went straight, and fair, and fortunate; but the dart for the soldiers +turned to <span class="pagenum"><a id="page196" name="page196"></a>(p. 196)</span> 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 +<i>tohunga</i>, threw a <i>rakau</i> 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 morning he lay with his men in a hollow close to +the flagstaff.</p> + +<p>Heke lay on the ground with his war party—close at hand were the +sleeping soldiers. Amongst those soldiers there was not one <i>tohunga</i>, +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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page197" name="page197"></a>(p. 197)</span> +ignorant and inexperienced in omens, and, indeed, care nothing at all +about them.<a id="footnotetag17" name="footnotetag17"></a><a href="#footnote17" title="Go to footnote 17"><span class="smaller">[17]</span></a></p> + +<p>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 <i>mataika</i> for the pakeha.<a id="footnotetag18" name="footnotetag18"></a><a href="#footnote18" title="Go to footnote 18"><span class="smaller">[18]</span></a> 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 (<i>toa</i>) 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page198" name="page198"></a>(p. 198)</span> in the fight. I did not see it myself, but was at every +other fight in the war.</p> + +<p>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 remember 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 lies now.</p> + +<p>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 <i>toa</i>, +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 suffered much.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon the Maori began to perceive that the pakeha were +leaving the town, and going on <span class="pagenum"><a id="page199" name="page199"></a>(p. 199)</span> board the ships, so they +returned to the town and began to plunder, and the people of the town +plundered 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 of iron. 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 (<i>waipu</i>) 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.</p> + +<p>Well, you pakeha are a noble-minded people; it was very generous of +you to give up Kororareka to be plundered and burnt for <i>utu</i> 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 <i>very</i> good of you. I wish I had been there.</p> + +<p>When Kororareka was burnt, and all the Europeans <span class="pagenum"><a id="page200" name="page200"></a>(p. 200)</span> 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 <i>hapu</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 Europeans; 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 <i>matua</i> (elder relation) to Walker.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 afterwards. They came to help Walker, in +search of <span class="pagenum"><a id="page201" name="page201"></a>(p. 201)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 appearance of +war; and many young men came from different tribes (<i>hapu</i>) to join +Walker, and to perfect themselves in the practice of war.</p> + +<p>And I, your friend, went also with my two younger brothers, my four +sons, and my daughter's husband, and nine cousins (<i>teina keke</i>), and +three slaves—twenty men of us, all <i>tino tangata</i>, who had seen +war.<a id="footnotetag19" name="footnotetag19"></a><a href="#footnote19" title="Go to footnote 19"><span class="smaller">[19]</span></a> I went because when the ancestors of Heke fought against +mine, the ancestors of Walker came to help <span class="pagenum"><a id="page202" name="page202"></a>(p. 202)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 Ahuahu 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."</p> + +<p>Then the messenger answered Walker, saying, "Behold the soothsayers +foretell your death."</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>Then Heke's messenger, having saluted the people, took his gun and +departed.</p> + +<p>Up to this time, no news had been heard from the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page203" name="page203"></a>(p. 203)</span> 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 Governor 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page204" name="page204"></a>(p. 204)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 himself, 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 +frequently from Auckland, and before long we heard that the soldiers +were coming.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Now, when this new fort of Heke's was finished, the spirit of the +Ngakahi entered into the <i>atua wera</i>, who is the greatest <i>tohunga</i> in +all the country of the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page205" name="page205"></a>(p. 205)</span> Ngapuhi. So the Ngakahi spoke in the +night to Heke and his people, by the mouth of the <i>atua wera</i>, "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 (<i>tapu</i>). 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."<a id="footnotetag20" name="footnotetag20"></a><a href="#footnote20" title="Go to footnote 20"><span class="smaller">[20]</span></a></p> + +<p>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 Okaihau, which was but a short distance from where Heke was. When +these soldiers arrived they were very much fatigued, and quite without +provisions, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page206" name="page206"></a>(p. 206)</span> 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?</p> + +<p>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 ourselves lest it should turn round upon us +also.</p> + +<p>When the soldiers had rested one night at Okaihau, they prepared to +attack Heke's pa; but early in the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page207" name="page207"></a>(p. 207)</span> 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 unlucky 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,<a id="footnotetag21" name="footnotetag21"></a><a href="#footnote21" title="Go to footnote 21"><span class="smaller">[21]</span></a> but they are a brave people, and they came <span class="pagenum"><a id="page208" name="page208"></a>(p. 208)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>So the soldiers, sailors, and other Europeans advanced to the attack +of Heke's pa, and with them <span class="pagenum"><a id="page209" name="page209"></a>(p. 209)</span> 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 <i>kauhoa</i> 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 dreadfully 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 <i>calling</i> 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 <i>mate</i>" (a funeral procession); so all the Maori +left the soldiers, and went and sat on the top of the hill called +Taumata Kakaramu, 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page210" name="page210"></a>(p. 210)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>pekerangi</i>.<a id="footnotetag22" name="footnotetag22"></a><a href="#footnote22" title="Go to footnote 22"><span class="smaller">[22]</span></a> 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.</p> + +<p>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 behind Walker there was a wood—he was between the wood and +the pa.</p> + +<p>Then the soldiers who had the rocket gun went a <span class="pagenum"><a id="page211" name="page211"></a>(p. 211)</span> 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 Ngapuhi, the same <i>iwi</i> 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 <i>Ngakahi</i>, the +familiar spirit of the <i>atua wera</i>, who had blown upon it with his +breath and turned it away, according to his word when he spoke by the +mouth of the <i>tohunga</i>; for up to this time Heke and his people had +kept strictly all the sacred customs, and infringed none of them. So +the <i>Ngakahi</i> remained guarding them from all danger.</p> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page212" name="page212"></a>(p. 212)</span> +not one did any harm, for the <i>Ngakahi</i> had turned them all away—not +one entered the pa.</p> + +<p>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?"<a id="footnotetag23" name="footnotetag23"></a><a href="#footnote23" title="Go to footnote 23"><span class="smaller">[23]</span></a> and this has become a saying amongst us +from that day; for whenever 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?"</p> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page213" name="page213"></a>(p. 213)</span> 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 (<i>ahua</i>) 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.</p> + +<p>When all the rockets had been fired, then the hundred men, soldiers +and sailors, who were at the back of the pa, arose out of an old Maori +<i>pare pare</i>, 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."<a id="footnotetag24" name="footnotetag24"></a><a href="#footnote24" title="Go to footnote 24"><span class="smaller">[24]</span></a> And as Heke was saying this, the soldiers <span class="pagenum"><a id="page214" name="page214"></a>(p. 214)</span> and +sailors had begun to move towards the pa, when suddenly Kawiti with +one hundred and forty men appeared 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 <i>toa</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>As the soldiers chased Kawiti, the pa fired on them from the left, so +that they had Kawiti in front and <span class="pagenum"><a id="page215" name="page215"></a>(p. 215)</span> 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 returned 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 soldiers' faces, and drove them out of the +breastwork. The soldiers retreated a short distance, and Tupori and +his people began collecting the bundles of cartridges 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 great anger, shouting and +<i>cursing</i> 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page216" name="page216"></a>(p. 216)</span> 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 <i>toa</i>. +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.</p> + +<p>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 behind at Taumata Tutu, where they fell in the fight with +Kawiti.</p> + +<p>So Heke remained in possession of the battle plain (<i>te papa</i>), 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 pretended they were +friends, and got his gun from him, and then they took him to the lake +and held his head under water till he was dead.</p> + +<p>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; <span class="pagenum"><a id="page217" name="page217"></a>(p. 217)</span> but the +rest of his tribe, being one hundred men, remained 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 soldiers, who +agreed to do so, for they were angry at not having been able to take +Heke's pa at Taumata Tutu.</p> + +<p>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 precaution, +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 daylight. +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 payment for Kororareka, which was very +right. So the soldiers and Walker's Maori plundered the pa of the +Kapotai, and killed all the pigs.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page218" name="page218"></a>(p. 218)</span> 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 remained behind on the clear ground near the +pa. Walker, Mohi, and Repa went into the woods with three hundred men, +followed the Kapotai, and overtook 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 desperate 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 whenever 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page219" name="page219"></a>(p. 219)</span> the fish of the sea,<a id="footnotetag25" name="footnotetag25"></a><a href="#footnote25" title="Go to footnote 25"><span class="smaller">[25]</span></a> 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 +fell dead. When Hauraki saw this, he said, "I die not unrevenged," and +then sank gently to 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 <i>tino tangata</i> (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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page220" name="page220"></a>(p. 220)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<a id="footnotetag26" name="footnotetag26"></a><a href="#footnote26" title="Go to footnote 26"><span class="smaller">[26]</span></a> +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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page221" name="page221"></a>(p. 221)</span> 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 <i>taua</i> 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.<a id="footnotetag27" name="footnotetag27"></a><a href="#footnote27" title="Go to footnote 27"><span class="smaller">[27]</span></a> And as he lay thus, he +saw<a id="footnotetag28" name="footnotetag28"></a><a href="#footnote28" title="Go to footnote 28"><span class="smaller">[28]</span></a> the spirit of the greatest warrior of all his ancestors, who +said to him, "Arise! Shall my descendant be taken alive?" Then Hauraki +said, "I am a mere man, not like unto my ancestors, half god <span class="pagenum"><a id="page222" name="page222"></a>(p. 222)</span> +and half man."<a id="footnotetag29" name="footnotetag29"></a><a href="#footnote29" title="Go to footnote 29"><span class="smaller">[29]</span></a> 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 there in 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.</p> + +<p>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, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page223" name="page223"></a>(p. 223)</span> to fulfil the last rights due to a chief. And +when the <i>pihe</i> had been sung,<a id="footnotetag30" name="footnotetag30"></a><a href="#footnote30" title="Go to footnote 30"><span class="smaller">[30]</span></a> 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 Ngapuhi tribes. Bounding to and fro before the corpse, with his +famous spear in hand, he spoke as follows: "Farewell, Hauraki! go, +taking with you your kindness 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page224" name="page224"></a>(p. 224)</span> aloud, and +this was her lament—the part I remember of it:—</p> + +<p class="poem10"> + It is well with thee, O moon! You return from death,<br> + Spreading your light on the little waves. Men say,<br> +<span class="add2em">"Behold the moon re-appears;"</span><br> + But the dead of this world return no more.<br> + Grief and pain spring up in my heart as from a fountain.<br> + I hasten to death for relief.<br> + Oh, that I might eat those numerous soothsayers<br> + Who could not foretell his death.<br> + Oh, that I might eat the Governor,<br> + For his was the war!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page225" name="page225"></a>(p. 225)</span> when people sing that +lament, they only say, "Oh, that I might eat the numerous priests" +(<i>tini tohunga</i>).</p> + +<p>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<a id="footnotetag31" name="footnotetag31"></a><a href="#footnote31" title="Go to footnote 31"><span class="smaller">[31]</span></a> (<i>paura mamae</i>.) They destroyed 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 (<i>patu mamae</i>), and, therefore, they +would not fight. So the <i>taua</i> 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 (<i>whakaaro rangatira</i>).</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page226" name="page226"></a>(p. 226)</span> 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 Hauraki." What Heke said was true; but he said it to please +Te Hikutu, for Heke is a man of many thoughts.</p> + +<p>At this same time, Te Tao Nui, who was at Okaihau, 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 Taumata 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.</p> + +<p>But Heke was very much enraged to see his fort and provisions thus +snatched from him, and he determined to retake it before the soldiers +should return from Auckland to help Walker. So he sent messengers 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. <span class="pagenum"><a id="page227" name="page227"></a>(p. 227)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 hundred 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>taua</i> of armed men, and they had got within fifty fathoms of +the pa,<a id="footnotetag32" name="footnotetag32"></a><a href="#footnote32" title="Go to footnote 32"><span class="smaller">[32]</span></a> so she cried aloud the cry of alarm—<i>Te Whakaariki e! Te +Whakaariki e!</i>—and <span class="pagenum"><a id="page228" name="page228"></a>(p. 228)</span> 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—"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 Kahakaha, 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page229" name="page229"></a>(p. 229)</span> 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 waterfall. 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 +<i>toa</i>, 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page230" name="page230"></a>(p. 230)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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, "<i>Whakahokai!</i>" 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page231" name="page231"></a>(p. 231)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 Kahakaha." 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 a man. 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page232" name="page232"></a>(p. 232)</span> many had fled. The tribe of Ihutai 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 cartridges; 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 himself to +transgress the sacred rules, and had touched <span class="pagenum"><a id="page233" name="page233"></a>(p. 233)</span> 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.<a id="footnotetag33" name="footnotetag33"></a><a href="#footnote33" title="Go to footnote 33"><span class="smaller">[33]</span></a> 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.<a id="footnotetag34" name="footnotetag34"></a><a href="#footnote34" title="Go to footnote 34"><span class="smaller">[34]</span></a> 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.<a id="footnotetag35" name="footnotetag35"></a><a href="#footnote35" title="Go to footnote 35"><span class="smaller">[35]</span></a> I will carry off the old man alone." <span class="pagenum"><a id="page234" name="page234"></a>(p. 234)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>All this which I have told took but little time, for in battle when +men's eyes shine there is no listlessness. But by this time Heke's men +to the right were quite defeated by Walker, and running away; but +Walker pursued them, slowly and with caution, for the ground was +covered with brushwood, and rocks, and high fern, and the enemy though +defeated were <span class="pagenum"><a id="page235" name="page235"></a>(p. 235)</span> still more numerous than we were, and we +followed slowly lest we might fall into an ambush.</p> + +<p>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, follow me to die for <i>Pokaia</i>.<a id="footnotetag36" name="footnotetag36"></a><a href="#footnote36" title="Go to footnote 36"><span class="smaller">[36]</span></a>" Three +men started forward <span class="pagenum"><a id="page236" name="page236"></a>(p. 236)</span> 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 brushwood 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 +<i>karakia</i> (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 <i>Ta +Pura</i>, <i>Hoao</i>, and <i>Te Ngawe</i>.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>After this battle Heke remained some time at Ohaeawae, and Walker +stayed at Te Ahuahu, the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page237" name="page237"></a>(p. 237)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 every respect. The inside 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 loopholes, 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 <i>pekerangi</i>, 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page238" name="page238"></a>(p. 238)</span> the ground, so that the men behind the inner +fence, standing in the ditch, could shoot through the loopholes in the +inner fence <i>under</i> this outside fence; also at different distances +along the <i>kaue</i> (curtain) there were <i>koki</i> (flanking) angles, +capable of containing many men, so that a storming party would be +exposed 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 <i>pakeaka</i> (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 inner fence, from whence could be seen all that an +enemy might be doing outside.</p> + +<p>When this fort was completely finished and provisioned, the priests +(<i>tohunga</i>) 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 (<i>tapu</i>,) as were all the men who were to defend it.</p> + +<p>This fortress being now quite finished and ready for war, the soldiers +came from Auckland to attack it, and also came the sailors and <i>Pakeha +Maori</i> (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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page239" name="page239"></a>(p. 239)</span> 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 by such a gun?" We however, notwithstanding our +laughing, thought they must have some use, or the soldiers would not +have brought them.</p> + +<p>At last, after remaining several days at the Waimate, the <i>taua</i> +advanced against Ohaeawae. The soldiers, sailors, and other pakeha +might be in number 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!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>So the soldiers encamped before the pa at the distance of about two +hundred fathoms. There was <span class="pagenum"><a id="page240" name="page240"></a>(p. 240)</span> 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 +distance 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.</p> + +<p>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 revenge; come on! Stiff your dead are +lying on Taumata tutu. Come on! Come on!"<a id="footnotetag37" name="footnotetag37"></a><a href="#footnote37" title="Go to footnote 37"><span class="smaller">[37]</span></a> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page241" name="page241"></a>(p. 241)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>Next day the guns began to fire again, and continued until night; and +also a great number of soldiers, 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, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page242" name="page242"></a>(p. 242)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<a id="footnotetag38" name="footnotetag38"></a><a href="#footnote38" title="Go to footnote 38"><span class="smaller">[38]</span></a> 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 prevented 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page243" name="page243"></a>(p. 243)</span> 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.<a id="footnotetag39" name="footnotetag39"></a><a href="#footnote39" title="Go to footnote 39"><span class="smaller">[39]</span></a></p> + +<p>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 +opening 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.</p> + +<p>This gun was placed at the foot of the hill where <span class="pagenum"><a id="page244" name="page244"></a>(p. 244)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page245" name="page245"></a>(p. 245)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 gun had made an opening for the soldiers to +rush through quickly; otherwise, he said they would be all killed, and +not get in at all. 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.</p> + +<p>When we saw that the attack was determined upon, and just going to +take place, we were all in a great <span class="pagenum"><a id="page246" name="page246"></a>(p. 246)</span> 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 understanding 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 +Lieutenant 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>toa</i> who +had consented to die, so that those <span class="pagenum"><a id="page247" name="page247"></a>(p. 247)</span> 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 advanced 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page248" name="page248"></a>(p. 248)</span> +strong as that which had been first built by Taui; but, nevertheless, +by working hard day and night, they made it very strong.</p> + +<p>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 desperate thing like this, we are all like mad men, and make a +great clamour, rushing towards the world of darkness (<i>te po</i>) with +great noise and fury.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Now the defenders of the pa perceived that the time of battle was +come, and all went to their stations, 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 children 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 victorious; the +parent who maintains us is the land—die <span class="pagenum"><a id="page249" name="page249"></a>(p. 249)</span> 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 <i>toa</i>, 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 upright 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, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page250" name="page250"></a>(p. 250)</span> 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 numbers; 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 (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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page251" name="page251"></a>(p. 251)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page252" name="page252"></a>(p. 252)</span> 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 <i>wakaka</i> (forlorn-hope, or leading party) of the soldiers, +but when the chief of that party saw them, he ordered <span class="pagenum"><a id="page253" name="page253"></a>(p. 253)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 appropriate 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—</p> + +<div class="poem10"> +<p>E tama te uaua,<br> + E taima te maroro,<br> + Ina hoki ra te tohu!<br> + O te uaua.<br> + Kei taku ringa, e mauana.<br> + Te upoko.<br> + O te Kawau Tatakiha!</p> + +<p>O youth, of sinewy force,<br> + O men of martial strength,<br> + Behold the sign of power!<br> + In my hand I hold the scalp,<br> + Of the Kawau Tatakiha.</p> +</div> + +<p>And often in the night the watch-cry of the pa was <span class="pagenum"><a id="page254" name="page254"></a>(p. 254)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 prevent them falling alive +into the hands of the enemy. When we heard this we got into a state of +commotion 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page255" name="page255"></a>(p. 255)</span> 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.<a id="footnotetag40" name="footnotetag40"></a><a href="#footnote40" title="Go to footnote 40"><span class="smaller">[40]</span></a></p> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page256" name="page256"></a>(p. 256)</span> food they might lose their <i>mana</i> +(<i>prestige</i>, good fortune), and be in consequence less feared.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>toa</i> and a chief, his scalp was more desirable for this purpose than +that of an ordinary person.</p> + +<p>So the foliage of the battle-field was taken to the Atua Wera that he +might perform the usual ceremonies, and cause the people to be +fortunate in the war.<a id="footnotetag41" name="footnotetag41"></a><a href="#footnote41" title="Go to footnote 41"><span class="smaller">[41]</span></a></p> + +<p>When the people in the pa saw that, although the soldiers had lost so +many men, they were not dismayed, 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 opportunity to revenge themselves. So in the night they +all left, and went to Kaikohe, without it having been perceived that +they were gone.</p> + +<p>However, before they had been gone very long, Walker's people began to +suspect what had taken <span class="pagenum"><a id="page257" name="page257"></a>(p. 257)</span> 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 <i>utu</i> 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 tomahawk, for he +had lost his left arm at a great battle at Hokianga some years before, +and was therefore unable to use a gun. 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 sleeping person, and then he perceived it +was a woman, so he struck his tomahawk into the ground only, and +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page258" name="page258"></a>(p. 258)</span> having taken her prisoner, he called his brother, and they +returned to the camp, and gave information that the pa was deserted.</p> + +<p>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 quarrelling +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>ratapu</i>; they, therefore, only set fire to Heke's house at Kaikohe, +and returned to the camp at <span class="pagenum"><a id="page259" name="page259"></a>(p. 259)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>toa</i> is a blow struck against the enemy.</p> + +<p>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 Heke 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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page260" name="page260"></a>(p. 260)</span> 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.<a id="footnotetag42" name="footnotetag42"></a><a href="#footnote42" title="Go to footnote 42"><span class="smaller">[42]</span></a></p> + +<p>So this great war party left the Bay of Islands, and went up the river +to attack Kawiti at the Ruapekapeka. 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 <i>taua</i> +advanced, and encamped before the Ruapekapeka.</p> + +<p>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, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page261" name="page261"></a>(p. 261)</span> 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 disappear 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.</p> + +<p>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 gunpowder, 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; +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page262" name="page262"></a>(p. 262)</span> 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 <i>wicki</i> (fuse), and then get out the powder. A good +deal of powder was procured in this way.</p> + +<p>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 +belonged 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 Kahununu, 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page263" name="page263"></a>(p. 263)</span> 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.<a id="footnotetag43" name="footnotetag43"></a><a href="#footnote43" title="Go to footnote 43"><span class="smaller">[43]</span></a> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page264" name="page264"></a>(p. 264)</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page265" name="page265"></a>(p. 265)</span> 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.<a id="footnotetag44" name="footnotetag44"></a><a href="#footnote44" title="Go to footnote 44"><span class="smaller">[44]</span></a></p> + +<p>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 remained in the pa firing through loopholes, for the back of +the pa which was now attacked by the Ngapuhi 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page266" name="page266"></a>(p. 266)</span> 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 a sailor, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page267" name="page267"></a>(p. 267)</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page268" name="page268"></a>(p. 268)</span> +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 expected 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.</p> + +<p>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 Governor came also and asked for peace, he +would not consider it fully made.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page269" name="page269"></a>(p. 269)</span> 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 <i>did</i> 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 <span class="smcap">King</span> +by-and-by. All the Europeans are afraid of him, and give him anything +he asks for, or if they refuse he takes it, and no one dare say +anything to him.</p> + +<p>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 +exterminated, 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page270" name="page270"></a>(p. 270)</span> 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.<a id="footnotetag45" name="footnotetag45"></a><a href="#footnote45" title="Go to footnote 45"><span class="smaller">[45]</span></a></p> + +<p>This has been a great talk. What payment are you going to give me? +Give me that bottle of rum. I am <i>so</i> thirsty with talking. Don't +shake your head; I <i>must</i> have it. 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page271" name="page271"></a>(p. 271)</span> bottle. You are not afraid +of the law. I am a great chief; <i>I</i> 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 payment, and the next day they +shall work, and the next get drunk, and there shall not be a +watch-house in the whole land.<a id="footnotetag46" name="footnotetag46"></a><a href="#footnote46" title="Go to footnote 46"><span class="smaller">[46]</span></a></p> + +<p>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. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page272" name="page272"></a>(p. 272)</span> You are a slave. You are <i>all</i> slaves. Your grandfathers +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 <i>can't</i>. You are not able. You are cowards. +<i>You</i> are a coward! Kapai Heke!<a id="footnotetag47" name="footnotetag47"></a><a href="#footnote47" title="Go to footnote 47"><span class="smaller">[47]</span></a> (Here exit Ngapuhi chief +head-foremost on to the grass-plat before the door, and so ends the +history of the war with Heke.)</p> + +<h2>CONCLUSION.</h2> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page273" name="page273"></a>(p. 273)</span> blanket, and one cloth cap with a <i>gold</i> 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.<a id="footnotetag48" name="footnotetag48"></a><a href="#footnote48" title="Go to footnote 48"><span class="smaller">[48]</span></a></p> + +<a id="img038" name="img038"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img038.jpg" width="150" height="44" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<p>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 scuffle 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 <span class="pagenum"><a id="page274" name="page274"></a>(p. 274)</span> to the land was perfectly +clear and good. A sense of impartiality, however, forces me also to +declare that the title of my <i>other</i> 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 circumstance 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 possibly +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, <i>by kicking him off the +premises</i>.</p> + +<p class="right10 smcap">Pakeha Maori.</p> + +<a id="img039" name="img039"></a> +<div class="figcenterch"> +<img src="images/img039.jpg" width="500" height="106" alt="Decoration." title=""> +</div> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a id="page275" name="page275"></a>(p. 275)</span> GLOSSARY.</h2> +<div class="gloss"> +<p class="glossare">Page 2.</p> + +<p class="entry"><i>No hea</i>—Literally, from whence? Often used as a negative answer to +an inquiry, in which case the words mean that the thing inquired for +is not, or in fact is nowhere.</p> + +<p class="glossare">Page 3.</p> + +<p class="entry"><i>Mana</i>—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.</p> + +<p class="entry"><i>Tangi</i>—A dirge, or song of lamentation for the dead. It was the +custom for the mourners, when singing the <i>tangi</i>, to cut themselves +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 <i>tangi</i> further on.</p> + +<p class="glossare">Page 3.</p> + +<p class="entry"><i>Pakeha</i>—An Englishman; a foreigner.</p> + +<p class="glossare">Page 10.</p> + +<p class="entry"><i>Tupara</i>—A double gun; an article, in the old times, valued by the +natives above all other earthly riches.</p> + +<p class="glossare">Page 11.</p> + +<p class="entry"><i>Hahunga</i>—A <i>hahunga</i> 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."</p> + +<p class="entry"><i>Kainga</i>—A native town, or village: their principal head-quarters.</p> + +<p class="glossare">Page 12.</p> + +<p class="entry"><i>Haere mai!</i> <i>&c.</i>—Sufficiently explained as the native call of +welcome. It is literally an invitation to advance.</p> + +<p class="glossare">Page 15.</p> + +<p class="entry"><i>Tutua</i>—A low, worthless, and, above all, a poor, fellow—a "nobody."</p> + +<p class="glossare">Page 16.</p> + +<p class="entry"><i>A pakeha tutua</i>—A mean, <i>poor</i> European.</p> + +<p class="entry"><i>E aha te pai?</i>—What is the good (or use) of him? Said in contempt.</p> + +<p class="glossare">Page 17.</p> + +<p class="entry"><i>Rangatira</i>—A chief, a gentleman, a warrior. <i>Rangatira pakeha</i>—A +foreigner who is a gentleman (not a <i>tutua</i>, or nobody, as described +above), a <i>rich</i> foreigner.</p> + +<p class="glossare">Page 18.</p> + +<p class="entry"><i>Taonga</i>—Goods; property.</p> + +<p class="glossare">Page 21.</p> + +<p class="entry"><i>Mere ponamu</i>—A native weapon made of a rare green stone, and much +valued by the natives.</p> + +<p class="glossare">Page 22.</p> + +<p class="entry"><i>Taniwha</i>—A sea monster; more fully described further on.</p> + +<p class="entry"><i>Utu</i>—Revenge, or satisfaction; also payment.</p> + +<p class="glossare">Page 26.</p> + +<p class="entry"><i>Tino tangata</i>—A "good man," in the language of the prize-ring; a +warrior; or literally, a very, or perfect man.</p> + +<p class="glossare">Page 36.</p> + +<p class="entry"><i>Taua</i>—A war party; or war expedition.</p> + +<p class="glossare">Page 46.</p> + +<p class="entry"><i>Tena koutou</i>; or, <i>Tenara ko koutou</i>—The Maori form of salutation, +equivalent to our "How do you do?"</p> + +<p class="glossare">Page 49.</p> + +<p class="entry"><i>Na! Na! mate rawa!</i>—This is the battle cry by which a warrior +proclaims, exultingly and tauntingly, the death of one of the enemy.</p> + +<p class="glossare">Page 62.</p> + +<p class="entry"><i>Torere.</i>—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 disposed +of.</p> + +<p class="glossare">Page 80.</p> + +<p class="entry"><i>Eaha mau</i>—What's that to you?</p> + +<p class="glossare">Page 130.</p> + +<p class="entry"><i>Jacky Poto.</i>—Short Jack; or Stumpy Jack.</p> + +<p class="glossare">Page 131.</p> + +<p class="entry"><i>Tu ngarahu.</i>—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.</p> + +<p class="glossare">Page 132.</p> + +<p class="entry"><i>Bare Motiti</i>—The island of Motiti is often called "<i>Motiti wahie +kore,"</i> as descriptive of the want of timber, or bareness of the +island. A more fiercely contested battle, perhaps, was never fought +than that on Motiti, in which the Ngati Kuri were destroyed.</p> + +<p class="glossare">Page 149.</p> + +<p class="entry"><i>Ki au te mataika</i>—I have the <i>mataika</i>. The first man killed in a +battle was called the <i>mataika</i>. To kill the <i>mataika</i>, 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 +<i>mataika</i>. In this emergency he, as he rushed on, cut down with a +furious blow of his tomahawk, a sapling which stood in his way, and +gave the cry which claims the <i>mataika</i>. 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 <i>mataika</i>, and that the +young man who cut it down should always claim, without question, to +have killed, or as the natives say "caught," the <i>mataika</i> of that +battle.</p> + +<p class="glossare">Page 152.</p> + +<p class="entry"><i>Toa</i>—A warrior of preëminent courage; a hero.</p> + +<p class="glossare">Page 171.</p> + +<p class="entry"><i>Kia Kotahi ki te ao! Kia kotahi ki te po!</i>—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.</p> +</div> + +<h2>Notes</h2> +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="footnote1" name="footnote1"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag1">1</a></b>: They made cartridges of them. These were the Hau Haus, a +sect of Maories who, when the prestige of Christianity first 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.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote2" name="footnote2"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag2">2</a></b>: I regret to say that the strict propriety (according to +the received code of that day) with which the Poverty-Bay massacre, +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 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 scandalous. I forget what punishment was awarded him: let us hope +he got what he deserved; and may this story be a warning to those who +let their angry passions rise.</p> + +<p>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>I</i> catch him," he added, with +a grin.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote3" name="footnote3"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag3">3</a></b>: 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 (<i>i.e.</i> a white man who lives amongst the Maories) on the +subject of missionary labour. At last he said, "I'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>i.e.</i> 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 a long start of him, and moreover <i>was the best fighting +man</i> of the two, which went a long way. In a short time I had about +two hundred of the most muscular, blood-thirsty, hard-fighting +Protestants you could wish to see.</p> + +<p>"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 a 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.</p> + +<p>"Lying down in the fern, we waited impatiently for the signal to +charge; had not we, on the last occasion worth speaking of, outrun our +elders, and been nearly decimated in consequence? 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>i.e.</i> 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 myself, my +worthy converts, who philosophically and rightly looked upon religion +merely as a means to an end (<i>i.e.</i> killing the greatest possible +quantity of enemies), were unable to produce a line of scripture +amongst them.</p> + +<p>"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.'</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p><a id="footnote4" name="footnote4"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag4">4</a></b>: 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 forwarded 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 untried. Chief number one was insulted, and declared that +if chief number two had not known his superiority in arms and +ammunition, 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.</p> + +<p>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?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I have heard old Archdeacon ——, of Tauranga, relate how in one of +these petty wars he has known the defenders of a 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 instinctively +upon fighting as the chief object in life. 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 him, it is not hard to imagine.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote5" name="footnote5"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag5">5</a></b>: <span class="smcap">Printer's Devil</span>:—How is <i>this</i> to be done?—<i>which?</i> +<i>what?</i>—how?—<i>civilise</i> or <i>exterminate</i>? <span class="smcap">Pakeha Maori</span>:—<i>Eaha +mau!</i></p> + +<p><a id="footnote6" name="footnote6"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag6">6</a></b>: Hongi was shot through the body at Mangamuka, in +Hokianga, of which wound he died, after lingering some years. The +speech here given was not spoken on the <i>day</i> of his death, but some +time before, when he saw he could not recover.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote7" name="footnote7"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag7">7</a></b>: 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 suggested that he had some sinister +design, probably that of <i>bewitching</i> them.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote8" name="footnote8"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag8">8</a></b>: 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.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote9" name="footnote9"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag9">9</a></b>: 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 underdone; or before a battle it +is a particularly bad omen.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote10" name="footnote10"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag10">10</a></b>: These presents were given to the natives, and, in their +matter-of-fact manner, understood to be payment for signing the +treaty.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote11" name="footnote11"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag11">11</a></b>: The Treaty of Waitangi.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote12" name="footnote12"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag12">12</a></b>: Auckland, the capital of New Zealand.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote13" name="footnote13"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag13">13</a></b>: 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 +convinced 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.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote14" name="footnote14"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag14">14</a></b>: 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 +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.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote15" name="footnote15"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag15">15</a></b>: 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 +<i>but</i> a man, and therefore not to be too much feared. The speech is a +literal verbatim translation.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote16" name="footnote16"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag16">16</a></b>: 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 <i>tohunga</i> (such of them as did not deceive +<i>themselves</i>) 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.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote17" name="footnote17"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag17">17</a></b>: It 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."</p> + +<p><a id="footnote18" name="footnote18"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag18">18</a></b>: The first man killed in a battle is called the +<i>mataika</i>. To kill the <i>mataika</i> 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 +individuals claiming the honour of having killed the first man. The +writer knows a man who in different battles has killed eleven +<i>mataika</i>.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote19" name="footnote19"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag19">19</a></b>: This is a very good example of the manner in which a +native chief raises men for a war party; they are all his <i>relations</i> +with their different connections, and it is this which causes the +natives to be so careful to remember all who are, however remotely, +related to them. In a word, to be "a man of many cousins" is to be a +great chief.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote20" name="footnote20"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag20">20</a></b>: This is word for word a literal translation of the +speech of the <i>atua wera</i> to Heke's men. He was, however, supposed +only to speak the words of the <i>Ngakahi</i> by whom he was at the moment +inspired.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote21" name="footnote21"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag21">21</a></b>: That the sailors were quite a different <i>hapu</i>, though +belonging to the <i>iwi</i> 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 accountable 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 +<i>nothing</i>. I have had, indeed, to leave out a whole volume of minute +particulars, such as this for instance: where a <i>pakeha</i> 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 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 +<i>formula</i> about fifty times; the lighting of a pipe and the smoking +it, or the seeing a wild pig (describing size and colour, &c.), 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 European 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 <i>all</i> 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 <i>that</i> 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 <i>can't</i> +help making the most of a chance of talking. To cut a story short +seems to them a <i>waste of words</i> by <i>not</i> speaking them, while we +think it a decided waste of words <i>to</i> speak them. In old times the +natives had so few subjects for conversation that they <i>made the most</i> +of what they had, which accounts for their verbosity in trifling +matters.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote22" name="footnote22"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag22">22</a></b>: 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 <i>then</i>, 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 continue the war, in the course of which +they acquired so much confidence, that now they think less of fighting +Europeans, and are less afraid of them, than of their own countrymen.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote23" name="footnote23"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag23">23</a></b>: "<i>E aha te kai e pahure i aia.</i>" 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 translation +gives it exactly.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote24" name="footnote24"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag24">24</a></b>: The natives often call a line or column of men a fish, +and this term is just as well understood as our "column," "company," +"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 relating 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 understood, and without any hesitation, give a +description of a fortification 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.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote25" name="footnote25"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag25">25</a></b>: In allusion to the fact of the war party having come by +water.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote26" name="footnote26"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag26">26</a></b>: 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 +<i>rangatira</i>, 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.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote27" name="footnote27"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag27">27</a></b>: 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 convicted 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 <i>had</i> been made prisoner, it was by +a section of <i>his own</i> tribe, and consequently by his own <i>relations</i> +he was defeated. Thus endeavouring to make a "family affair" of it.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote28" name="footnote28"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag28">28</a></b>: 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.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote29" name="footnote29"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag29">29</a></b>: One of the ancestors of Hauraki, according to a +tradition of the Rarawa, hearing, even in the <i>Reinga</i> (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 <i>Reinga</i>, to be with the heroes of the olden +time." He then disappeared in the waves.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote30" name="footnote30"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag30">30</a></b>: The <i>pihe</i> 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 derived 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.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote31" name="footnote31"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag31">31</a></b>: It 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 <i>paura +mamae</i>—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.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote32" name="footnote32"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag32">32</a></b>: The natives estimate distances by fathoms and tens of +fathoms. A <i>kume</i> is ten fathoms.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote33" name="footnote33"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag33">33</a></b>: 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.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote34" name="footnote34"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag34">34</a></b>: This whole scene between Heke and Te Atua Wera is +described 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 proscribe many rules and +observances to the people, and prophecy good fortune, <i>provided</i> none +of these rules be broken, well knowing that some of them will to a +certainty be broken by the careless 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 battle 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.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote35" name="footnote35"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag35">35</a></b>: Heke had been for years a Christian, according to the +Maori notion of Christianity, which was then, if not now, a mere +jumble of superstition and native barbarism. Here Heke says, that +because he <i>prayed</i> 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 +<i>karakia</i> which Heke made use of does not mean prayer as we understand +that word. <i>Karakia</i> properly signifies a formula of words or +<i>incantation</i>, which words are supposed to contain a <i>power</i>, and to +have a positive effect on the spirit to whom they are addressed, +totally irrespective of the conduct or actions, good or bad, of the +person using them. The fact is that the Maori has, perhaps, the lowest +religious character of any human being; his mental formation seems to +have the <i>minimum</i> of religious tendency. The idea of a supreme being +has never occurred to him, and the word which the missionaries use for +God (<i>Atua</i>) 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 supposed to have <i>died</i> long ago by some, and all +agree that he no longer exists.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote36" name="footnote36"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag36">36</a></b>: In the agitation caused by hearing that Heke had fallen, +the Atua Wera called Heke by the name of <i>Pokaia</i>. This was the name +of Heke's father, a celebrated cannibal warrior and desperate savage. +His closing scene took place in the country of the Ngatiwhatua, where, +having gone in a war expedition, he and his 300 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.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote37" name="footnote37"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag37">37</a></b>: "Whai mai e te hoia, ki tetahi utu maua akato wharoro +ana koe, kei Taumata tutu—whai mai! whai mai!"—The watch-cry.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote38" name="footnote38"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag38">38</a></b>: Colonel Despard.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote39" name="footnote39"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag39">39</a></b>: The pa at Ohaeawae was attacked against the advice of +the friendly native chiefs, who well knew its strength, and the +certain repulse to be expected. They called Colonel Despard anything +but a soldier, and the term "foolish and inexperienced" is the +<i>mildest</i> they applied to him.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote40" name="footnote40"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag40">40</a></b>: 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 <i>some</i> foundation for +it, and that a retreat had been talked of.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote41" name="footnote41"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag41">41</a></b>: 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 advice, &c., +&c. This is called sending the <i>rahu rahu</i> of the battle field. <i>Rahu +rahu</i> is the name of the <i>fern</i> which is the most common plant in the +North Island.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote42" name="footnote42"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag42">42</a></b>: The friendly natives never lost sight of the possibility +that they themselves might some day have to fight us. They therefore +scrutinized closely all our military proceedings, and were anxious to +see us do our very best, or rather, our <i>worst</i>, so that they might +know what they would have to contend against.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote43" name="footnote43"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag43">43</a></b>: It is a common practice when a native has killed a man +of any note in battle, for the party who killed the other to +commemorate the exploit by taking the name of the dead man.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote44" name="footnote44"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag44">44</a></b>: 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, <i>did</i> 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.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote45" name="footnote45"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag45">45</a></b>: 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 "<i>books</i>" to it, and turned it to his +account. His "pakeha friend" is still extant, as well as the other +"pakeha" who endeavoured 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 conqueror of +both Wellington and Buonaparte!</p> + +<p><a id="footnote46" name="footnote46"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag46">46</a></b>: This <i>convivial</i> 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 +the country settlers manage to exist with their native "friends." The +chief's <i>speculation</i> in the distilling line is faithfully 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 +<i>plucked</i> 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.</p> + +<p><a id="footnote47" name="footnote47"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag47">47</a></b>: Kapai Heke! tantamount to <i>Vive</i> Heke! <i>In vino +veritas</i>—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 probably +join him, being, as all the natives are, without any exception, +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 marauders, both by nature and practice, +and so "measure our corn in their own bushel."</p> + +<p><a id="footnote48" name="footnote48"></a> +<b><a href="#footnotetag48">48</a></b>: 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 back, 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 <i>nothing</i>; he has told me every word he +said to the Governor, and every word the Governor said to him, 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 <i>wakaka</i> may have.</p> +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Old New Zealand, by A Pakeha Maori + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD NEW ZEALAND *** + +***** This file should be named 39361-h.htm or 39361-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/3/6/39361/ + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Christine P. Travers and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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