{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_54474/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_54474","id":"gutenberg_54474","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54474","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: History - Other","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","New Zealand -- History"],"text":"Romance of Empire Series\n\n  EDITED BY JOHN LANG\n\n\n  NEW ZEALAND\n\n\n\n\nTO MY WIFE\n\n[Illustration: Heke fells the flagstaff at Kororareka\n\n(Page 169)]\n\n\n\n\n  ROMANCE OF EMPIRE\n\n  NEW ZEALAND\n\n  BY\n  REGINALD HORSLEY\n\n  AUTHOR OF 'IN THE GRIP OF THE HAWK,' 'STONEWALL'S SCOUT,'\n  'THE YELLOW GOD,' 'THE BLUE BALLOON,' 'HUNTED THROUGH FIJI,' ETC.\n\n  WITH TWELVE REPRODUCTIONS IN COLOUR FROM DRAWINGS BY\n  A.D. M'CORMICK, R.I.\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  LONDON\n  THE CAXTON PUBLISHING COMPANY,\n  CLUN HOUSE, SURREY ST. W.C.\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nThis book does not contain a history of New Zealand, but something of\nthe story of many full and stirring days. Almost like the ghost the\nMaori thought him, Tasman came swiftly out of the rosy West, struck\na blow which harmed his country more than it hurt those upon whom it\nfell, and yet more swiftly sailed away. Notable enough were his coming\nand going, but only as the prologue to the drama which began after an\ninterval of one hundred and twenty-seven years. Then there steps upon\nthe stage of Maoriland that well-graced actor, Captain Cook; and so the\nplay goes on until the fall of the curtain upon the peace which closed\nthe long struggle of the brave tribesmen with settlers, soldiers and\ncolonists. Another interval, not so long, and then, fitting epilogue,\nthe Dominion.\n\nThe years since 1870 have no doubt held romance enough of their own.\nBooks have been written and may still be written of the romance of\npeaceful settlement, of sport, of mountaineering in New Zealand, or\nof soldiering by New Zealanders in other lands; but, save for a few\nepisodes, one may say that the romance of the history of New Zealand\nended for the present with the vanishing of Te Kooti. Then, at least,\nended the era of turbulence, and began the fat years of progress and\nprosperity, and it is as difficult for a State as for an individual to\nbe romantic when \"with good capon lined.\"\n\nYet so crowded with incident is the brief period named that I have\npractically confined the story to the most prominent of the facts\nindexed in the _New Zealand Official Year Book_ for 1906. Even with\nthis limitation there is not space enough in which to tell the whole\nromantic story. At most, an impression of the vivid happenings of the\npast can be presented, and this is what I have tried to do.\n\nI gratefully acknowledge my indebtedness to those who, being dead, yet\nspeak--Thomson, Gudgeon, \"A Pakeha Maori,\" and others,--whose vanished\nhands picturesquely chronicled some of the events with which this story\nis concerned. From Sir George Grey, the gentle \"Knight of the Kawan,\"\nI had the legend of the Loves of Heaven and Earth and the defiance of\ntheir rebellious sons. To the Honourable William Pember Reeves, High\nCommissioner for New Zealand in London, I am greatly obliged for books\nof reference and the loan of valuable photographs.\n\nIf I am not one of them, I yet claim the consideration of the Children\nof the Dominion, since I am connected with them by ties of kin and\nhappy memories of childhood and youth lived under the Southern Cross,\nhere and there among the islands on both sides of the Tasman Sea.\nAlso the Dominion has already given me some of the facts of her\ncolonial days as a basis for fiction. So it is permissible to hope\nthat the shortcomings of this book will be forgiven, and that those\nof the Dominion who may read will recognise throughout its pages a\nwhole-hearted admiration for their country and all that belongs to it.\n\nIf I please some, I shall be rewarded. For the rest, since \"'tis not in\nmortals to command success,\" then, _est quadam prodire tenus, si non\ndatur ultra_.\n\nREGINALD HORSLEY.\n\n\n[Illustration: NEW ZEALAND]\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n  PART I\n  THE MAORI\n                                                                 PAGE\n  CHAPTER I\n  THE COMING OF THE RACE                                           3\n\n\n  CHAPTER II\n  THE MEN WHO CAME                                                10\n\n\n  CHAPTER III\n  THE LAND TO WHICH THEY CAME                                     20\n\n\n  CHAPTER IV\n  THE GROWTH OF THE RACE                                          35\n\n\n  CHAPTER V\n  THE LIFE OF EVERY DAY                                           48\n\n\n  CHAPTER VI\n  GRIM-VISAGED WAR                                                55\n\n\n  PART II\n  THE COMING OF THE PAKEHA\n\n\n  CHAPTER VII\n  THE DUTCHMAN'S LOSS                                             69\n\n\n  CHAPTER VIII\n  THE BRITON'S GAIN                                               79\n\n\n  CHAPTER IX\n  CLOUDS AT DAWN                                                  89\n\n\n  CHAPTER X\n  RONGO PAI!                                                     101\n\n  CHAPTER XI\n  THE WARS OF HONGI IKA                                          108\n\n  CHAPTER XII\n  VARIOUS RULERS                                                 119\n\n\n  PART III\n  PAKEHA AND MAORI\n\n  CHAPTER XIII\n  GREAT BRITAIN WINS                                             133\n\n  CHAPTER XIV\n  INDEPENDENCE AND ARGUMENT                                      143\n\n  CHAPTER XV\n  TE RAUPARAHA AND HONI HEKE                                     158\n\n  CHAPTER XVI\n  THE FALL OF KORORAREKA                                         172\n\n  CHAPTER XVII\n  HEKE AND KAWITI ON THE WARPATH                                 177\n\n  CHAPTER XVIII\n  THE FALL OF THE BAT'S NEST                                     192\n\n  CHAPTER XIX\n  THE WAR IN THE SOUTH                                           201\n\n  CHAPTER XX\n  BUILDING AND UPSETTING                                         215\n\n  CHAPTER XXI\n  O'ERCLOUDED SKIES                                              225\n\n  CHAPTER XXII\n  THE QUEEN MOVES                                                239\n\n  CHAPTER XXIII\n  THE BLACK KNIGHT GIVES CHECK                                   244\n\n  CHAPTER XXIV\n  PAI MARIRE, OR THE HAUHAU SECT                                 254\n\n  CHAPTER XXV\n  MURDER MOST FOUL                                               262\n\n  CHAPTER XXVI\n  ALARMS! EXCURSIONS!                                            272\n\n  CHAPTER XXVII\n  POVERTY BAY                                                    280\n\n  CHAPTER XXVIII\n  THE LAST RALLY                                                 288\n\n  CHAPTER XXIX\n  THE SUN OF PEACE                                               307\n\n  CHAPTER XXX\n  THE DOMINION OF NEW ZEALAND                                    318\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n                                                                 PAGE\n\n  Heke fells the Flagstaff at Kororareka      _Frontispiece_\n\n  Farewell to Hawaiki                                              8\n\n  Victors in the Fight                                            66\n\n  The Fight in Massacre Bay                                       75\n\n  Hongi's last \"Word\" to his People                              115\n\n  A Dreadful Recognition                                         122\n\n  Signing the Treaty of Waitangi                                 141\n\n  Phillpotts at Oheawai                                          190\n\n  A Boy's Heroism. \"Awake! Awake!\"                               208\n\n  Major Witchell's Charge at Nukumaru                            234\n\n  The Frenzy of the Hauhau. The Incantation                      256\n\n  Butters gives the Alarm--Poverty Bay                           284\n\n\nMAP\n\n  New Zealand                                                   viii\n\n\n\n\nPART I\n\nTHE MAORI\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nTHE COMING OF THE RACE\n\n\nThe voice of lamentation and the noise of weeping were heard in\nHawaiki;[1] for men's hands were lifted up to slay their own kin: so\nthat father slew son, and son smote father, and brother strove against\nbrother, until nowhere in all that pleasant land was there peace.\nWherefore, little children hid themselves for fear; and women, having\ncut their cheeks with sharks' teeth, and gashed their bosoms with sharp\nshells and pieces of _tuhua_[2], raised the _tangi_[3] for the warriors\nwho every day passed through the portals which give upon the Waters of\nReinga.[4]\n\nBut Ngahue, being a great chief, might not weep; so he sat apart in\nhis _whare_,[5] neither eating nor drinking, while he prayed to the\ngods and to his ancestors that they would make a way of escape from the\nthreatening doom. For Ngahue was sore stricken, having been worsted\nin the fight, and well he knew that for the conquered was no mercy.\nWherefore, he sat with bowed head and covered face, and prayed for\nlight.\n\nAnd light came; for the gods had pity upon Ngahue, who was ever their\nfaithful servant.\n\nSo Ngahue arose in the black darkness, bidding his wife be of good\ncheer and patiently await his return, and with noiseless tread stole\nforth from his _whare_.\n\nSoftly called Ngahue unto him his best-beloved friend, Te Turi, the\nStubborn One, and Te Turi's friends, Te Weri, the Centipede, and Te\nWaerau, the Crab,[6] together with certain warriors, proved in many a\nfight. He compelled also to his side a sufficiency of _tutua_[7] and,\nbeing come to the beach, launched a great canoe. Then, having commended\nthemselves to the gods, they sailed whithersoever Atua[8] chose to lead\nthem.\n\nMany days sailed they over the placid bosom of _moana_,[9] passing\nfair islands whereon they were fain to rest, but for fear of club and\ncooking-pot dared not land. So they kept on the course which Atua had\nset, praying ever that they might come to the land which Ngahue had\nseen in a vision what time the gods gave him light.\n\nBut all things have an end. Neither Ngahue, nor his friends, nor his\nfollowers, nor the _tutua_ complained or murmured at the hardships\nthey underwent, or reviled the gods; wherefore the Six Great Brethren\nhad compassion upon them.\n\nSo the Great Six sat in council--Tumatauenga, god and father of men and\nwar; Haumiatikitiki, god of the food which springs of itself from the\nearth; Rongomatane, god of the food which men prepare for themselves;\nTangaroa, god of fish and reptiles; Tawhiri-Ma-Tea, god of winds and\nstorms; Tane-Mahuta, god of forests and of the birds therein--all were\nthere.\n\nThen spake Tumatauenga, saying, \"Behold! I will send ahead of Ngahue\nmy youngest son, Mauitikitiki o Taranga; and I will give him the\njawbone of one of his ancestors, whereof he shall fashion a great hook,\nwherewith he shall fish up a land out of _moana_ for Ngahue; and the\nname thereof shall be Te Ika a Maui.[10] Behold! I have spoken.\"\n\nThen spake in turn the rest of the Great Brethren, sons all of Rangi\nand Papa,[11] promising good gifts to Ngahue and them with him. But\nMaui, obedient to his father's word, went forth and fished diligently\nin the sea until, lo! he drew up a land, which, by the might of the\nSix Brethren, was covered in an instant with forests and plains and\nmountains and valleys. And birds flew high and low and sang among the\ntrees, and rivers rushed through deep woods, and silver streams flashed\nby quiet lawns, and the bays and straits abounded in fish, and the\nearth with good things to eat. All was of the best for Ngahue and his\nfriends when they should arrive.\n\nSo Maui gave to Ngahue the new land, which was a land beautiful, a\nland rich and abounding in all things good and needful; and he and his\nfriends, beholding this fair and gracious land and knowing it their\nown, gave thanks to the Six Great Brethren and were filled with joy.\n\nThen Ngahue, calling upon the gods, drave the great canoe into a\nbeautiful bay, and made fast to a tree which hung low over the water\nand flung its red blossoms on the tide; whereafter the wanderers\nstepped ashore and stood upon the land which Maui had fished up from\nthe sea, and which the Six Great Brethren had given them for their own.\n\nThen, all most reverently standing still, Ngahue gathered a little soil\nand scattered it to the four quarters of the earth and, having cast his\nmost cherished ornament into the sea in propitiation, he chanted this\nprayer to the Spirit of the Land:--\n\n  We arrive where an unknown earth is under our feet;\n    We arrive where a new sky is above us.\n        We arrive at this land,\n        A resting-place for us.\n  O Spirit of the Earth! We strangers now humbly\n    Offer our hearts as food for thee.[12]\n\nAnd Ngahue loved the new land, for the forest trees were tall and\nsplendid, and the flowers beautiful and radiant as _kahukura_[13] in\nthe sky. Great eels swarmed in the rivers, fish in plenty swam in the\nsea, and sharks, whose teeth are for ornament and for women when they\nraise the _tangi_. Whales, also, played in the near seas, and seals\nbasked upon the rocks. Birds of song and birds for food flew in the\nair or ran along the ground or swam upon the lakes and rivers. But one\ngiant bird with feeble wings stalked with long legs over the hills;\nand, though this bird was twice the height of an ordinary man, and of\na strength prodigious, yet did Ngahue slay one such in his wanderings\nabout the new land.[14]\n\nEarth, too, gave of her treasures a most beautiful stone, green of\nhue and clear as light at dawn or dense as a storm-cloud, and so hard\nwithal that a club which Ngahue fashioned from it cracked the skull of\none of his foes, yet itself brake not in pieces.\n\nSo, looked Ngahue north or south or east or west; looked he inland\nwhere the tall mountains hid their snowy peaks in the bosoms of the\nrosy clouds, or looked he upon the \"many dimpled smile of ocean,\"\nbehold, the land was very good.\n\nThen Ngahue, having gathered many things which would not perish by the\nway, called his friends and said, \"See now; let us return to Hawaiki,\ntaking these our treasures, which, when our kinsmen see, they will\neagerly follow us hither. So shall they gain a peaceful home, and so\nshall the land the gods have given us be filled with stout hearts, and\nour seed increase and multiply. What say ye, O my brothers?\"\n\nAnd Te Weri and Te Waerau joyously cried, \"_Kapai!_\"[15] and the\nwarriors shouted their war-cry; but the _tutua_ raised their voices and\nwept for happiness that they should be free of war's alarms.\n\nSo they came again after many days to Hawaiki, whence all their kinsmen\nwere willing to go with them to the new and beautiful land which had\nbeen given to Ngahue. Moreover, strife still raged; wherefore, they of\nthe weaker side came privately to Ngahue and begged that they might go\nwith him; to which the chief willingly consented, knowing that the more\nthe folk the better for the new land.\n\nBut one of the gods--no man knoweth which--angry because Ngahue\npersuaded so many to leave the land of their birth, set fire to Hawaiki\nto destroy all therein. But Rangi sent a storm of rain upon the land,\nso that the fire was utterly killed, save for certain few sparks which\nhid among the trees where the rain could not reach them, and there\nabode for ever. Wherefore it is that, if a man rub together two pieces\nof wood, fire will issue therefrom.\n\nAnd now, a fleet having been built--some say at one place, some at\nanother, but most at Rarotonga--a great company assembled and filled\nthe double canoes, whereof the names were Arawa, Matatua, Tainui,\nTakitumu, Kurahaupo, Tokomaru, Matawhaorua, Aotea, and more whose names\nare forgotten.\n\n[Illustration: Farewell to Hawaiki]\n\nFamily by family they embarked, taking great store of seeds of\n_kumara_,[16] _karaka_[17] berries and gourds, together with\n_pukeko_,[18] dogs, and rats. Thus they set sail in company from the\nland of their birth.\n\nBut an evil spirit let loose a tempest upon them, so that the fleet was\nscattered, and each canoe must sail upon its own course, its captain\nhaving no pilot, but only the knowledge which Ngahue had imparted to\nthe high chiefs. Yet by the grace of Atua they all came safe to the\nland which Maui had fished up from the sea.\n\nAotea, Arawa, Tainui, and the rest, all were beached at last, and the\nexiles bade one another farewell and wandered here and there over the\nland, each family making choice where they would dwell. Nor was the\nchoice too easy, since every place was so beautiful and inviting. But\nat last they came to rest, and thus from the beginning was Te Ika a\nMaui peopled by the friends and followers of Ngahue; and their seed,\nmultiplying as the spores upon the fern, founded and established the\nnations which compose the Maori Race.\n\n  NOTE.--According to another tradition, the first Maori explorer was\n  Rakahaitu, a chief, who landed in the South Island about one thousand\n  years ago. Other traditions, again, give the credit of discovery to\n  Kupe. In August of this year, an interesting find was made on the\n  south coast of the North Island, in the shape of an ancient stone\n  anchor. This is held by experts to have been used by Kupe, whose\n  canoes, buried under huge mounds of earth, still rest upon the\n  heights to which the adventurers dragged them after landing.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[Footnote 1: The island--true site unknown--whence the ancestors of the\nMaori emigrated, according to tradition, to New Zealand.]\n\n[Footnote 2: Obsidian, or volcanic glass.]\n\n[Footnote 3: The Lament for the Dead.]\n\n[Footnote 4: The Abode of the Shades.]\n\n[Footnote 5: House. In Maori there are no silent vowels. Thus whare\n\"wharry,\" not \"whar\"; kupe \"ku-pe,\" not \"koop.\"]\n\n[Footnote 6: Maori names were frequently bestowed on account of mental\nor physical peculiarities, or of real or fancied resemblance to natural\nobjects.]\n\n[Footnote 7: Poor, low-born men to do menial work.]\n\n[Footnote 8: The gods collectively. Fate.]\n\n[Footnote 9: The ocean.]\n\n[Footnote 10: Literally, \"The Fish of Maui.\"]\n\n[Footnote 11: Heaven and Earth. Short for Papa-tu-a-nuku.]\n\n[Footnote 12: This prayer, preserved by tradition, was actually uttered\nby a chief upon the landing of the exiles from Hawaiki, after Ngahue's\nsecond, and final, voyage from his old home.]\n\n[Footnote 13: The rainbow.]\n\n[Footnote 14: The reference is to the gigantic, wingless bird, now\nextinct, the Moa--_Dinornis moa_.]\n\n[Footnote 15: Good! Hurrah!]\n\n[Footnote 16: Sweet potato--_Ipomoea batatas_.]\n\n[Footnote 17: _Corynocarpus laevigata._]\n\n[Footnote 18: Water-hen--_Porphyrio melanotus_.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nTHE MEN WHO CAME\n\n\nThe foregoing is more or less traditional among the Maori as to their\nmigration from some other place and settlement in New Zealand. Some\nfacts have been handed down for generations, but the traditions are\nconfused. When the first Pakeha[19] arrived, every Maori believed that\ncertain events had happened in the far past; but there was little\nagreement as to the manner or sequence in which those events had\noccurred.\n\nMany investigators--notably Sir George Grey--have inquired in the\ntruest spirit of antiquarian research into the traditions of the\nMaori; and what between the discoveries of such trained observers, the\ndabblings of the amateur, and the luck of the \"rolling-stones,\" who\nhave picked up a tale here and a legend there, we have a fairly clear\naccount of the coming of the Maori to New Zealand, as far as it is\nuncertainly known and hazily remembered among themselves.\n\nOne fact, at least, is established. The Maori pertain to the Polynesian\nsection of the great southern archipelago, not to the Melanesian. Most\neminent ethnologists agree that the pure Polynesians are descended\nthrough the Malays from a very remote Asiatic stock.\n\nNo bolder navigators, no more merciless pirates than the Malays ever\nsailed the sea, and, as they skimmed over the blue in their queer\n_proas_, their fierce eyes searching the horizon for the sail of some\nhelpless trader, they not infrequently made some hitherto unknown\nisland. Adventurers all, they occupied the place if it were their\nwhim, and mixed with or exterminated the original inhabitants. Thus\ntheir stock spread in the course of centuries over all Polynesia,\ngiving populations to Tonga, to the Samoan, Sandwich, Society and other\nislands, and, more important to our theme, to New Zealand.\n\nIt is reasonably certain that, apart from haphazard adventure, there\nwas once an emigration on a large scale, and it would seem that the\npioneers of Polynesian colonisation left their home in Sumatra for the\nislands of their choice some nine or ten hundred years ago.\n\nCenturies go on their appointed course and become the Past; the\nimmigrants, long acclimatised, have only vague memories and fanciful\ntraditions of their origin. They are no longer Malays; they are\nPolynesians. Climate, associations, food have worked an alteration in\nthem; their skin is browner, their eyes less sleepy, their figures\ntaller and more symmetrical, their features handsomer than in the\nforgotten days in Sumatra, cradle of their race. Their language, too,\nhas undergone a marked change, and only traces of the parent stock\nare discoverable in their customs. One practice, occasional amongst\ntheir ancestors, they have unhappily not forgotten; for the Polynesians\nhave established the flesh of their enemies--when they can get it--as\nthe prime article in their dietary. They are not so abandoned in this\nrespect as their neighbours of Melanesia; but they are smirched with\nthe same pitch, and an unpleasant defilement it is.\n\nMore centuries roll on; in Europe the night of the Middle Ages is\nat its darkest, but in far-off Polynesia the dawn is at hand. On an\nunnamed island within that vast area there is unrest and tribulation,\nout of which a nation is presently to be born.\n\nWhere this island of Hawaiki was situated not even the Maori tradition\ncan certainly determine. Some will have it that Rarotonga in the Cook\nIslands was once Hawaiki; but all that can be said with accuracy is\nthat, some five or six hundred years ago, a company of Polynesians,\nperhaps a thousand strong, left the island on which they had been born\nand sailed the sea in search of a new home.\n\nIn time they made the North Island of New Zealand, which, delighted\nwith its beauty and fertility, they decided to occupy. They landed\nat various points and wandered ever farther south, increasing and\nmultiplying in numbers, until at last some of the most adventurous\ncrossed Cook Strait and began to people the Middle Island. And these\nPolynesian immigrants were the ancestors of the race of men whom we now\nknow as Maori.\n\nSome recent investigators hold that the North Island was then possessed\nby peaceable folk calling themselves Moriori, who were speedily subdued\nby the warriors from Hawaiki. A remnant of the Moriori escaped, it is\nsaid, to the Chatham Islands, hoping to dwell in peace; but their evil\nfate pursued them, for the Ngati-Awa tribe migrated in 1835 to the same\nplace, and the unfortunate Moriori were again conquered and enslaved.\n\nWherever the birthplace of the Maori, it lay within the tropics. The\nnearer the equator, the shorter the interval between day and night,\nand thus it was that the Maori, struck by the beauty of a phenomenon\nwholly unfamiliar, styled their new home in affectionate admiration,\n_Ao-tea-roa_, \"The Land of the Long Lingering Day,\" or \"The Land of\nTwilight.\" Always poetical, others called it _Aotea_, or \"The Land\nof the Dawn.\" These charming subtitles did not displace the original\nname, _Te Ika A Maui_, or, as some have it, _Eaheinomawe_,[20] but they\nserve to show the poetic mind of the Maori. Later on, the Middle Island\nreceived its native appellation, _Te Wai Pounamou_, or \"The Waters\nof Greenstone,\" while _Ra Ki Ura_, \"In the Glow of the Sun,\" denoted\nStewart Island, the small triangle which forms the southern extremity\nof New Zealand.\n\nSo they came to their own, these handsome, stalwart men, and \"black,\nbut comely\" women. You may see a group of them there upon the western\nbeach, led by Te Turi, one of the pioneer chiefs who received this new\njewel among countries from the hands of the gods. Perhaps they landed\nat dawn, for Te Turi called the place of disembarkation _Aotea_, which\nis literally \"The White Day\"; but he may have named the harbour out of\ncompliment to the canoe which had carried them so far in safety, for\nit, too, was _Aotea_.\n\nThe white day swiftly turns to blue and gold, and all fatigue is\nforgotten for pure joy of being. The glory of summer is everywhere, and\nover all is that exquisite charm which belongs to _Ao-tea-roa_ more\nthan to any of the isles of the iridescent Southern Sea. Westward,\nthe great ocean heaves and sparkles in the morning sun--not a cloud\nthat way from zenith to horizon. Southward, far away, Ruapehu lifts\nhis time-worn, snowy head three thousand feet above grim Tongariro's\nsullen, smoking cones, gazing ever where his ancient comrade, hoary\nTaranaki,[21] dwells in solitude by the thundering sea.\n\nLong ago, these mighty ones stood shoulder to shoulder; but Taranaki,\nforgetting friendship, seized Pihinga, Tongariro's love, and strove to\nbear her away. Then Tongariro arose in his wrath, belching forth smoke\nand flames and red-hot stones, and smote Taranaki such a buffet that\nthe giant reeled away, nor stopped until he reached the sea. Never did\nTaranaki return to his comrades. Alone he broods, rearing his great\nbody eight thousand feet above the tide, his stricken head hidden under\na veil of perennial snow.\n\nInland, the forest. But what a forest! Not the light emerald of\nwaving palms of their almost unregretted Hawaiki, but a forest\ngrand, obscure, a very twilight of verdure. Yet not all gloom; for\nthe _rata_[22] are abloom, and splash the dark-green front with vivid\ncrimson, and the white cornucopias of the \"morning-glory,\" and the\ngorgeous, scarlet \"beaks\" of the _kowhai_[23] bejewel the undergrowth.\nUp from the ground the little \"wild rose\" twines the great stems to\ntheir topmost boughs, falling back to earth, a cascade of blossom;\nwhile, festooning and garlanding tall trunks and leafy tops, are flung\nthe long tendrils of the _puawananga_,[24] its myriad white stars\nshining in the green night.\n\nAs they gaze, entranced, flocks of parakeets, screaming a harsh\nwelcome, dash from the shimmering sky athwart the sombre front, like\na rainbow shivered into fragments. There is a burst of appreciation,\na hundred poetic expressions of delight, and Te Turi's company crowd\nabout him, invoking blessings upon his head for his share in the\ndiscovery of this earthly paradise.\n\nThey are worth looking at, these jubilant Maori: the men strong and\nwell built about the chest and shoulders, and carrying themselves as\nmen should. Their hair is slightly wavy or curls freely, and matches\nwell the steady, piercing eyes, stern lips, pronounced noses and\nhaughty carriage of the head we are accustomed to style \"Roman.\" The\nMalay type is fully evident, while others recall the Jew, and a very\nfew approach the colour of the negro, but miss his characteristic\nfeatures and woolly hair.\n\nThey are grave, dignified and impressed by the solemnity of the\noccasion; and the Light is shining in the darkness of their minds, for\nthey stand in reverential attitudes while their great chief chants a\nthanksgiving to the gods and a short prayer of propitiation to the\nSpirit of the Land.\n\nMost of the women and girls are weeping, for tears come easily to\nthe Maori _wahine_ (woman) even in moments of joy. But bright smiles\npresently flash out everywhere, showing dazzling teeth, while, though\nall are talking at once, their voices are so melodious that the babel\nis rather pleasant than otherwise.\n\nConsidering them more closely, we know that we are looking at a people\nexceptional, if not unique among savages.\n\nTheir intelligence is obvious; the voyage demonstrates their\nenterprise, and they will later prove their courage upon many a\nstricken field. Prudent they are, for they have brought the seeds of\nfood-plants, while for companionship and, to some extent, for food,\nthey gave their dogs a place in the canoes. Perhaps the rat, always a\nbit of an adventurer, stole aboard as a stowaway.\n\nThey are emotional, but not less brave because tears stood in their\neyes as they listened to Te Turi's prayer. Their great chiefs solemn\nchant and the exclamations which greeted the forest in its summer\ndress show their poetic mind and their capacity for felicitous speech.\nMoreover, they are fond of fun and have a trenchant wit, if not a very\nlightsome humour. They are quick at repartee, and eloquent in discourse.\n\nWhen their villages are built, you shall note how kind and hospitable\nthey are to strangers of whatever race. Also, you shall be convinced\nthat among the gentlemen of their tribes a lie is a thing abominable\nand abhorred, and the word of a chief, once passed, most rarely broken.\n\nAre they then faultless, these newcomers to the land which Maui fished\nup from the sea? No; for they are men, and men yet stumbling in the\nnight of paganism. There is no need to catalogue their faults; they are\nthose common to savages, and too many of them will show clearly as this\nnarrative progresses. Till then let us pass them over.\n\nTake one more look at the faces of these old-time Maori. They differ\nfrom those of their descendants, for they are unmarked by tattoo.\n\nThe Maori of the immediate past were noted for the extraordinarily\nelaborate tattooing or, rather, carving, which embellished their faces\nand, sometimes, their hips. When the Pakeha arrived a Maori with\nbeard, whiskers or moustache was as rare as the _moa_; for tattooing\nnecessitated a smooth face, and each warrior was careful to pull out\nevery offending hair from cheek, lips and chin.[25] Thus, neither the\nprocess nor the result was interfered with, and this was important, for\nevery line, curve or mark of any kind had its significance.\n\nTattooing was by no means universal among the Polynesians, and the\nMaori tradition is firm that the faces of the immigrants from Hawaiki\nwere innocent of tattoo, or _moko_, as the Maori method is styled,\nwhile beards were worn or not, according to individual taste.\n\nIt has always been a principle with savages to frighten their enemies\nby noise, facial contortions, masks, weird head-dresses and so on. When\nthe Maori began to quarrel and fight, it occurred to one genius that\na tremendous moral effect would be produced upon the enemy if he--the\ngenius--were to blacken his face before going into battle. One would\nhardly suppose that a shade only two or three degrees deeper than\nthe original would bring about any startling result; but our genius\nevidently succeeded, for the next time his tribe took the field the\nfaces of all were black as the back of _Tui_, the Parson-bird.\n\nThen it occurred to a wise old chief, named Rauru, that, if something\npermanent could be devised, much time and trouble would be saved.\nRemembering a visit he had paid to an island where tattooing was in\nforce, he called a council and vigorously advocated the adoption of the\npractice. The suggestion was accepted and, as the process of _moko_ is\ndecidedly painful, there must have been many wry faces while it was\nbeing carried into effect.\n\nNo doubt, when their faces had been rendered sufficiently terrifying,\nthis particular tribe had things all their own way for a time. But\nthere is a sincere form of flattery known as imitation and, once the\nsecret leaked out, matters took a turn. Before Te Ika A Maui was many\nmoons older, every able-bodied man on the Island had tricked out his\nface in the new style, and was ready to meet the inventors upon equal\nterms.\n\n  NOTE.--Tattoo is a Polynesian word, not in use among the Maori. A\n  skilful professor of the art of _moko_ and _whakairo_ (face and body\n  decoration) was held in rare esteem. Instances are on record of\n  slaves having vastly improved their status by the artistic use of the\n  lancet and mallet employed in tattooing.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[Footnote 19: White man. Literally, \"stranger,\" as opposed to Maori,\n\"native.\"]\n\n[Footnote 20: Really, _He mea hi no Maui_, \"A thing fished up by Maui.\"]\n\n[Footnote 21: Mount Egmont.]\n\n[Footnote 22: _Metrosideros robusta._ It belongs to the myrtle order,\nand is one of the most ornamental trees in the New Zealand bush.]\n\n[Footnote 23: _Clianthus puniceus._ New Zealand pea.]\n\n[Footnote 24: A variety of clematis. In the flowering season the effect\nof the white stars amid the dark green of the overhead foliage is most\nbeautiful.]\n\n[Footnote 25: This was done with a pair of cockle-shells, which in\nMaoriland represented the _volsellae_ of the Romans, and our modern\ntweezers.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nTHE LAND TO WHICH THEY CAME\n\n\nWhere Nature is constantly in a tempestuous mood, where volcanoes spout\nand earthquakes convulse, and where, on the other hand, \"Man comes in\nwith his strife\" against Nature herself, comparatively few years may\nsuffice to bring about great changes and to alter the face of a country\nalmost beyond recognition.\n\nThus, the New Zealand on whose shores the Maori landed differed\nmaterially from the New Zealand of to-day. Not only has Nature cruelly\ndestroyed some of the most beautiful of the vestiges of creation,\nbut the white man has cleared off scrubs, eradicated forests, said\nwith effect to the sea, \"thus far and no farther,\" and, by radically\naltering the original features of the country, has actually influenced\nthe climate.\n\nNew Zealand is a land in every way desirable. Save for a trick Nature\nhas of tumbling into convulsions now and then, it is hard to see how\nany land could have been created more beautiful, more comfortable, more\nblessed. Not large; indeed, a kind of \"Pocket Venus\" among countries;\nfor, though there have been smaller, there have been none more\nbeguiling to the senses, more charming to the eye, more responsive to\nthe attentions of its lords. Surely, from such a soil must spring a\nworthy race.\n\nBefore colonisation, and for some time after, New Zealand included only\nthe North Island, the Middle Island,[26] and Stewart Island, and was\nin area about one-seventh less than that of the United Kingdom. No;\nnot a large country; but packed to overflowing with good and desirable\nthings, and lacking much that is undesirable.\n\nEarly in the present century the Cook, or Hervey, Islands were included\nin the colony; an interesting addition, because Rarotonga, the largest\nof the group, is said to be the island where the emigrating Maori built\nsome of their canoes for the voyage to Te Ika A Maui, and where they\nrested when Hawaiki lay far behind them. The new boundaries of the\nDominion of New Zealand embrace several other island groups.\n\nHawaiki lay within the tropics, while the northern extremity of New\nZealand is a clear eleven degrees south of Capricorn. As the country\ntails southward, it falls more within the temperate zone, until, as\nStewart Island is reached, the latitude corresponds almost exactly with\nthat of Cornwall in England.\n\nComing thus from a hot climate to one warm indeed, but cooler than that\nto which they had been accustomed, it behoved the Maori without delay\nto make some alteration in their dress. At first they used coverings\nmade from the skins of their dogs; but this was expensive, so they\npresently began to look elsewhere for what they wanted. Like most\npeoples unvexed by over-education, they were keen observers, and it was\nnot long before they found the very thing they required.\n\nOne day, a certain Te Matanga,[27] The Knowing One, took matters in\nhand. Winter was coming, and girdles of cocoa-nut fibre would scarcely\nsuffice to keep out the cold. For some time he discovered nothing\nlikely to be useful, and it was in a disconsolate mood that he stood at\nthe edge of an extensive swamp and wondered what was to become of his\nfriends and himself.\n\nThe swamp was covered with plants whose like Te Matanga had never seen.\nEach grew in the fashion of a thick bush; but the leaves--there were\nno branches--were flat and tapering, yet stiff and irrefragable, while\nthey towered, upstanding, half as high again as the height of a man.\nMoreover, the leaves were so tough, that Te Matanga had some ado to\ncut through one with his flint knife. Flowers upon long stalks were\nin the bushes, and the plant with a red blossom was larger than that\nwhich bore a yellow blossom, though both were stately. And, perceiving\nthat there were two varieties of the plant, Te Matanga named the finer\n_Tihore_ and the larger _Harakeke_.[28]\n\nWhen he had prodded here and sliced there, and observed the leaves to\nbe full of strong fibre, Te Matanga immediately perceived that he had\nfound that which he had set out to seek and, his anxiety upon the score\nof clothing relieved, he began to feel hungry and thirsty. The swamp\nwater did not look inviting and, while he deliberated, he aimlessly\nplucked a flower and regarded it.\n\nWhat was this? At the bottom of the floral cup was a considerable\nquantity of fluid, resembling limpid water.\n\nNot without a qualm, the Knowing One tasted the liquid and found it\ndelicious, resembling water sweetened with honey, or the _eau sucr\u00e9e_\nbeloved of Frenchmen. He hesitated no longer, drank off the delightful\ndraught, smacked his lips and drained another flower-cup of its nectar.\n\nHaving found so much, Te Matanga told himself that more should be got\nfrom so accommodating a plant and, sure enough, he discovered an edible\ngum in the roots and leaves. What wonder that, with a winter outfit\nin view, his thirst quenched and his hunger stayed, clever Te Matanga\nshould assume a few excusable airs when telling his joyous news.\n\nThus, that Providence which they had not yet learned to know, gave\nto the Maori food, drink and clothing, all within the compass of one\nspecimen of God's marvellous handiwork.\n\nThe plant which Te Matanga found is not related to the true flax,\nthough it serves every purpose to which the other is put. The Pakeha\nspeedily recognised its virtues; in 1906 twenty-eight thousand tons of\nthe fibre were exported from New Zealand.\n\nGreat ingenuity was displayed by the Maori in the manipulation of the\nfibre and its manufacture into many useful articles, from the little\nbaskets in which food was served, and which were never used twice, to\nthe magnificent robe, or \"mat,\" known as the _kaitaka_, which occupied\nnearly a year in the making. This was peculiarly the costume of people\nof consideration, and the gift of one was regarded as a mark of high\nfavour.\n\nAmong the many varieties of flax mats, the _pureki_ had an interest\nall its own, for the makers managed to render it rain-proof, so that\nit was in a sense the prototype of our mackintosh. One might also say\nthat it was the Maori substitute for _khaki_; for a native, wrapped\nin his _pureki_ and squatting upon a barren hillside, was scarcely\ndistinguishable from the boulders surrounding him.\n\nTe Matanga went to work again and experimented with the berries of the\n_tutu_ or _Coronaria_, extracting thence a beverage as grateful as that\nwhich he had quaffed from the chalice of the flax-flowers. Yet the\nberries, eaten whole, are poisonous.\n\nThe beverages which Te Matanga gave to his countrymen were neither\nnoxious nor degrading. It was the civilised Christian who introduced\nto the pagan savage that \"enemy which steals away men's brains.\" Left\nto themselves, the Maori showed no inclination towards intoxicating\nliquors. Even in later days they proved remarkably temperate,\ntheir barter with the Pakeha rarely including a supply of what they\ncharacteristically designated \"stink-water.\" They did not even brew the\nhighly stimulating _yaqona_, so popular with the South Sea Islanders;\nwhich is remarkable, since the plant (_Piper methysticum_) grows wild\nin New Zealand.\n\nOur wise man also taught his compatriots the value of the edible fern,\n_Pteris esculenta_, whose bright-green fronds waved ten feet or more\nabove the ground. The underground stem was cut into plugs and matured,\nand, this done, was eaten plain, or cakes were baked of the flour\nbeaten out of it.\n\nIt was not ordained that the Maori should subsist entirely upon a\nvegetable diet. Te Matanga searched for something more stimulating and\nreadily found it. He showed his people fat eels in creek and river,\nwhile from the sea they drew _Mango_, the shark, _Tawatawa_, the\nmackerel, _Hapuku_, the cod (not that of northern waters) and a hundred\nother varieties of fish, which they cooked or dried or smoked. It was\nsometimes their good fortune to slay great _Ikamoana_, the whale, and\n_Kekeno_, the seal, both of which they ate with relish; while for\nsauce, _Tio_, the oyster, sat upon the rocks and gaped while they\nscooped him from his shell.\n\nThe dwellers inland had eels and the delicious little green,\nwhitebait-like _Inanga_ of the lakes to eat with their fern-root\nand _kumara_. And well for them it was so; for, with the exception\nof _Pekapeka_, the bat, who swept by them in eerie flight when the\nlong-lingering day grew pale about them, not a mammal roamed the\nplains or haunted the deep woods. _Kuri_, the dog, and _Maungarua_, the\nrat, they also ate; for _Maungarua_[29] multiplied exceedingly, while\n_Kuri_ took to the bush and ran wild.\n\n_Ngara_,[30] the lizard, frisked in the sunshine; but no son of Maui\nlooked upon him if it could be avoided; for _Ngara_ were dread beasts,\nin whose bodies the spirits of the dead found an abiding-place. Even\nsuch stalwarts as Ngahue and Te Turi would blanch at sight of any of\nthat terrible race. Moreover, _Taniwha_,[31] the great, the horrible,\nwhom to mention was unsafe, and to set eyes upon was to perish, was\nnot he, too, a lizard? Nay; close the eyes and mutter a _karakia_[32]\nshould _Ngara_ cross your path.\n\nHow blessed the Maori were in the absence of other reptiles they did\nnot learn till much later. Australia abounds in snakes, from the huge\ncarpet-snake, cousin to the boa, to the \"deaf-adder,\" whose bite is\nalmost certainly fatal; but in New Zealand, as in Ireland, not even a\ntoad is to be found wherewith to point the sweetness of the \"uses of\nadversity.\"\n\nThe clever men now sought food among the birds, and found on land\npigeons, plovers, rails, ducks, quails and parrots innumerable. Of\nthese last, one, the _kakapo_, was almost as big as a fowl, like which\nit ran about the ground, feeding; for its wings were short and feeble,\nand it rarely used them except to fly from a bough to the earth and up\nagain. Conscious of its weakness, it chose the late twilight or the\nnight for its rambles, hiding away during the day. Like so many of the\ninteresting birds of New Zealand, it is now nearly extinct.\n\nAmong sea-birds, many of which were eaten, particular choice was made\nof _Titi_,[33] the Mutton-bird. These birds flew inland at night,\nand the Maori, anticipating their coming, would choose a likely spot\nupon the verge of a cliff and build a row of fires. Behind these they\nlurked, armed with sticks and, as the birds, attracted by the light,\nflew past, they were knocked over in immense numbers. As the flesh\nwas oily, they were preserved in their own fat, packed in baskets of\nseaweed and stored until winter, when they formed a staple and highly\nflavoured dish. The inland tribes made annual pilgrimages to the coast\nfor the purpose of procuring a supply of mutton-birds.\n\nOf all the birds which the Maori found on their arrival the most\nsingular were those which are either extinct or fast becoming so.\nThese were the _Struthidae_, or wingless birds,--such as the ostrich,\nthe rhea, and the emu,--which were represented in New Zealand by the\ngigantic _moa_[34] and the _kiwi_.[35]\n\nThe _moa_ was long ago exterminated by the Maori, who saw in its huge\nbulk magnificent prospect of a feast of meat. All that is left of it\nto-day are bones in various museums, one or two complete skeletons, and\na few immense eggs.\n\nThere were several species of this bird, the largest of them from\ntwelve to fourteen feet in height; but, huge as they were, they appear\nto have possessed little power of self-defence, though a kick from one\nof their enormous legs and long-clawed feet would have killed a man.\nBut, like all wingless birds, they were shy and timid, never coming to\na knowledge of their strength; so they fell before a weaker animal, but\none of infinitely greater ingenuity.\n\nThe bones of birds are filled with air, for the sake of warmth and\nlightness; but the leg bones of the _moa_, like those of a beast, and\nunlike those of any known bird, were filled with marrow.\n\nDiminutive in size, and in appearance even more extraordinary than its\ncousin, the _moa_, is the _kiwi_, as the Maori named the apteryx from\nits peculiar cry. Several species were plentiful in the Islands, but\nsome of them have become extinct, and the rest are fast disappearing.\nThe Maori attract the bird by imitating its call and, as it is rather\nstupid, it is easily caught and killed.\n\nThe _kiwi_ was served up at table, as were most things in New Zealand\nwhich walked or swam or flew; but what gave it surpassing value in\nMaori eyes was its plumage of short, silky feathers, whose beauty they\nwere quick to recognise, and which they employed in fashioning one of\nthe rarest and most ornamental of their mats (_kahu-kiwi_).\n\nThere was little difficulty about the erection of houses and forts, the\nbuilding of canoes, the shaping of spears and clubs. Given the ability\nto construct, there was material in plenty. Throughout the land spread\nmagnificent forests, whose plumed tops waved above trunks uprearing one\nhundred feet, or more, some of them of an age well-nigh incredible.\nFew and short appeared the years of man beside the life of the giant\n_kauri_[36] which for close upon four thousand years had towered there,\nstately emperors in a company of kings.[37] How brief the age of\ntheir forest court compared with their own--the _totara_[38] with its\neight hundred years of life, the _rimu_[39] with its six hundred, the\n_matai_[40] with its four hundred. What are they beside the dominant\n_kauri_? Mortals, looking up to an immortal.\n\nCrowded in those forests primeval were trees bearing wood with capacity\nfor every class of work to which man could put his hand. Trees with\nwood of iron hardness; trees with wood so soft that it fell away in\nsilky flakes at the touch of the knife; trees with wood of medium\nconsistence, durable as stone; trees whose wood under the hands of the\nartist-polisher took on a beauty indescribable; trees whose bark was\nrich in all that the tanner needs; trees which yielded invaluable resin\nand turpentine; trees which gave up no less valuable tar and pitch;\ntrees which could be reduced to wood-pulp for the making of paper when\nthe time for that should come: all these there were, and more.\n\nSo the Maori set to work, building houses and forts, and hewing out\ncanoes. For the last, those who dwelt in the north chose the great\ntrunks of the _kauri_, often forty feet in circumference, and of such\ndiameter that a tall man with outspread arms could not stretch from\nrim to rim of the cross section. In the south they used the _totara_,\nlikewise a pine, and great, but a pigmy beside the imperial _kauri_.\n\nWhile the builders built, explorers traced the swiftly flowing rivers\nfrom source to sea, or gazed with awe at the snow-capped peaks and\nglimmering glaciers. Others moved northwards towards those giant\nmountains from whose cones poured tall pillars of smoke, threatening\nshadows of dire events to come, or stood upon the shore of a lake,\nmarvelling to find the water hot instead of cold.\n\nImagine one, agape with curiosity, holding in his hand a dead _kuri_,\ndesigned for dinner. Suddenly, with hiss and roar, a column of water\nshoots hundreds of feet into the air, almost at his elbow. With a cry\nof terror he starts back, losing his grip of the dog, which drops into\nan adjacent pool. Too much afraid to run, our Maori stands trembling,\nand the spouting column presently falls back into the bowels of the\nearth. Marvelling, he gropes in the pool for his dinner, and with\nanother yell withdraws his hand and arm, badly scalded. But he has got\nhis dog and, to his amazement, it is cooked to perfection.\n\nSmall wonder if the Maori muttered a _karakia_, deeming the miracle the\nwork of the demon of the lake. But their fear departed as time went\non, and the hot springs and lakes became health-resorts, where they\nbathed and strove to be rid of the pains and aches their flesh was\nheir to. Those who dwelt within reach of this marvellous region soon\nbecame familiar with its phenomena, and made full use of the natural\nsanatorium and kitchen.\n\nOther immigrants gathered for ornament the precious greenstone from\nthe Middle Island, with blocks of jade and serpentine; the snow-white\nbreast of the albatross; the wings of birds; the tail plumes of the\ninfrequent _huia_;[41] the cruel teeth of the shark. They found\nanother use for the greenstone, fashioning it with infinite toil into\nwar-clubs, or _mere_, too valuable to be used in the shock of battle\nwithout safeguard against possible loss. So a hole was drilled through\nthe handle, and a loop of flax passed through, by which the club was\nsecured to the wrist.\n\nHow in the world could they pierce that defiant mineral--they, who had\nneither iron nor diamonds with which to drill a hole? Their method was\nas ingenious as it was simple. They took a sharp-pointed stick of hard\nwood and half-way up secured two stones, which acted after the manner\nof a flywheel. Above the stones two pieces of string were attached, and\nthese, alternately pulled, imparted a rotatory movement to the stick,\nwhose sharpened point at length pierced the sullen stone.\n\nTheir travels over, the pioneers returned, to be welcomed with tears of\njoy, while prayers were chanted and cherished ornaments offered to the\ngods in thanksgiving for their safe home-coming. They neither embraced\nnor kissed; nor did they shake hands after the European fashion. They\nsaluted one another in a manner all their own. Bending forward, they\n_pressed_ their noses together, sniffing strongly the while; and this\nact of friendly greeting they called the _hongi_--the verb _hongi_\nsignifying \"to smell.\"\n\nOne drawback to residence in these fortunate islands was the scarcity\nof animal food--of red meat there was none, save when a dog was slain\nfor the pot. Still, there was food enough--vegetables and fruit, birds\nand fish, so that starvation was not a common fate, except a man were\nlost in the dense bush, where never sight or sound of life was seen or\nheard.\n\nA real evil was the tendency of the earth to tremble, shake and gape,\nsometimes overthrowing the evidence of years of toil on the part of\nman, and occasionally slapping Nature herself in the face. In other\nwords, a large part of New Zealand being within the \"earthquake zone,\"\nthe country is convulsed from time to time by shocks of greater or\nless severity. Since the arrival of the Pakeha there have been severe\ndisturbances, and one or two heavy shocks have occurred, greatly\ndisfiguring the beautiful face of the land.\n\nIn the North Island are many dormant craters, which have on occasion\nsprung into fierce activity, resulting in widespread devastation and\nsome loss of life. The early Maori were fortunate in escaping eruptions\nof any magnitude, but the North Island, long before their arrival, must\nhave been in a state of intense unrest. The hot springs and lakes, the\ngeysers of Rotomahana and Rotorua, the more than boiling mud among the\nsmouldering hills, the fiercely smoking cones of giant Tongariro, are\nso many evidences of that terrible time of earth-pang and convulsion,\nof belching out of smoke and flame and rended rocks, with vomitings\nof broad rivers of molten lava, which flowed over the land, effacing\neverything in their course.\n\nThis was the land to which the Maori came; a land of \"mountain, lake,\nand stream,\" which, could it have remained as the Children of Maui\nfound it, must have endured \"a thing of beauty and a joy for ever.\"\nBut the blind forces of Nature and the needs of the white population\nhave done much to alter the face of the country, and have shorn it of\nsome of that loveliness which once was almost universal, but of which\nmuch--very much still remains.\n\nIf New Zealand is now so surpassingly beautiful, what must it not\nhave been before thousands of acres of noble forest fell before axe\nand flame; before the mountain, clad from base to summit in primeval\ngrowth, stood bare and grey and grim, pierced with a thousand unsightly\nwounds, deep in which man bends his back and delves for mineral wealth;\nbefore the valleys, radiant with the beauty of fern and flower, were\ntrodden into mud by the marching feet of the \"army of occupation\";\nbefore the rivers, racing towards the shining sea, tumbling merrily\namong rapids, glissading recklessly over the falls, were chained to the\nlog of commerce, their banks shorn of the fringing green to make way\nfor the houses of the moderns, their pure and limpid waters polluted\nby the refuse of factories and the filth of towns? If those who have\nseen it now and love its loveliness could but have seen Maoriland as\nit was then! There is no help for it. It is inevitable that, when Man\nsteps in, Nature must in large measure lose her sceptre and resign her\nsway.\n\nSuch was the land to which the Maori came--a land with no extremes of\nheat or cold, though it sometimes showed a little ill-humour and shook\ndown a house or two; a land which gave them most that they could desire\nand all they really needed, if it denied them overmuch strong animal\nfood; a land in which, but for their turbulent passions and their lust\nfor war, they might have lived out their lives in peace and comfort and\nalmost unqualified happiness; a land of unsurpassed magnificence, of\nradiant beauty, of unbounded fertility.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[Footnote 26: Designated South Island in New Zealand Official Year-Book\nfor 1907.]\n\n[Footnote 27: Te Matanga never had existence outside these pages.\nHe typifies those energetic men, found in every nation, who devote\nthemselves to the service of their fellows. The discoveries attributed\nto Te Matanga were the outcome of the application of many minds to\nvarious problems, as the Maori spread over the country and became\nacquainted with its capacity and products.]\n\n[Footnote 28: _Phormium tenax_, the so-called New Zealand flax,\nflourishes in swampy ground. In appearance it is a collection of broad,\nstiff, upstanding leaves, tough enough to stop a bullet, dense enough\nto conceal a man. Many a fugitive has escaped by dodging from the heart\nof one bush into that of another. Both of the varieties come to highest\nperfection in the north.]\n\n[Footnote 29: The grey rat, which accompanied the Pakeha, exterminated\nthe native rat, and was never eaten by the Maori. Curiously enough,\nduring the wars, the Maori were accustomed to speak of the \"Pakeha\nRat\" just as in the days of the first George, Englishmen spoke of the\n\"Hanoverian Rat,\" and with the same significance.]\n\n[Footnote 30: Not any particular species of lizard, but a generic term\nfor the whole family.]\n\n[Footnote 31: A mythical monster, presumed to have had the shape of a\nsaurian, inhabited the sea and, according to some, the depths of vast\nforests. The powers of this demon for ill were boundless, and it was\nregarded with the deepest awe by every Maori.]\n\n[Footnote 32: A charm.]\n\n[Footnote 33: _Oestrelata neglecta_ (Schlegel's Petrel).]\n\n[Footnote 34: _Dinornis moa._]\n\n[Footnote 35: _Apteryx._]\n\n[Footnote 36: _Dammara australis_, the kauri pine.]\n\n[Footnote 37: This is no exaggeration.]\n\n[Footnote 38: A pine.]\n\n[Footnote 39: Red pine.]\n\n[Footnote 40: Black pine.]\n\n[Footnote 41: _Heteralocha acutirostris._]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nTHE GROWTH OF THE RACE\n\n\nThe various Maori tribes were not bound by any common tie save that\nof race, nor did they own allegiance to a chief chosen by all to rule\nover the whole nation. Their laws and customs were for the most part\nsimilar; but cohesion between them gradually dissolved as each tribe\nrealised its ability to stand alone.\n\nThe tribes (_iwi_) took origin in the family,[42] and were subdivided\ninto sub-tribes (_hapu_), and, if the latter were large, into family\ngroups, also termed _hapu_. Every division had its acknowledged chief,\nand the _ariki_, or chief of the highest class, who by right of birth\nstood at the head of the whole, was styled the Paramount Chief.\n\nPowerful though such a man was, his actions did not go unchecked; for\nthat ancient principle, _noblesse oblige_, was strongly implanted in\nMaori of rank. For a chief to be convicted of lying, of cowardice, of\ntyranny was black disgrace, and were these vices proved against a lord\nparamount or the head of a sub-tribe or _hapu_, action was at once\ntaken. The offender was not deposed, but another man of rank quietly\ntook his place for all practical purposes, save one.\n\nA second check upon the chiefs was that mighty power which has been\nstyled \"the voice of God,\" namely, the voice of the people. General\nassemblies were from time to time convened, at which every man, and\nwoman too, had the right to express opinions.[43] So, if only to escape\nthe shame of exposure, the chiefs strove to conform to the established\ncode of honour; but it is fair to say that they seem to have been\nanimated by higher motives than concern for public opinion.\n\nEach tribe was thus practically a republic, governed by a perpetual\nPresident, whose dignity and office were hereditary, but who was obeyed\nby the people only so long as he continued to deserve their allegiance.\n\nThe _ariki_ was hereditary chief priest as well as chief citizen, and\nwas a man apart. His back was not bent, nor his hands gnarled with\ntoil, his person was inviolable, his sanctity great, and he was all\nin all to his people. He helped and consoled them in time of trouble,\nread their fate in the stars, their future in a host of natural\nobjects, and interpreted their dreams. On one day he saw visions and\nprophesied; on the next he was busy with the work of a Lord Lyon or\nGarter King-of-Arms, instructing the Master of the _Moko_ on behalf of\nsome lusty warrior desirous of commemorating his own doughty deeds;[44]\nwhile he selected on a third a name for an infant, or presided at the\nobsequies of some notable chief or _rangatira_.\n\nIn Maori mythology _Rangi_, Heaven, and _Papa_, Earth, long ago\ndwelt in happiness with their six children, but the brothers, with\nthe exception of the god of winds and storms, rebelled against their\nparents, and cruelly dragged them apart.\n\nYet their love remains unshaken, and Earth's sighs of longing, draped\nin clinging mist, every day ascend to Heaven; while Heaven's tears,\na rain of refreshing dew, fall all night long upon Earth's sorrowful\nbreast.\n\nRangi and Papa were in part avenged. Their dutiful son, Tawhiri-ma-tea,\nrushed against the rebels, thunder rolling, lightning flashing,\nhailstones rattling and hurricanes raging in his van. Scared by this\nstupendous manifestation of wrathful force, Tangaroa hurled himself\ninto the sea, Rongomatane and Haumiatikitiki buried themselves under\nthe earth they had insulted, and Tane Mahuta called upon his forests to\ncover him. Only Tumatauenga, father of men and god of war, stood firm,\nscowling defiance at his brother of the storm.\n\nSo has it been ever since, and Tawhiri-ma-tea, unable to overthrow\nhis brother, continues to take a bitter vengeance upon the war-god's\nchildren. Men, whom he pursues on sea and land with tempest and\ntornado, ever seeking to slay and make an end.\n\nUnder the collective name of _Atua_, the above were the principal gods\nof the Maori. Every tribe possessed an honoured _tohunga-whakairo_,\nor woodcarver; but the quaint finial figures upon the gables of their\nhouses were not adored as gods, the Children of Maui never having been\nidolaters.\n\nThe Maori looked forward to a future existence wherein their state and\ncondition would remain very much as they had been in this world. A\nslave in life continued a slave after death, and, when a great chief\ndied, several of his slaves were slain, that he might not go unattended\namong his fellow shades.\n\nThe abodes of the departed were Rangi, occupied on different planes by\ngods and men of heroic type, and Reinga, under the sea at the extreme\nnorth of the North Island, where dwelt only the spirits of men.\n\nThere was no question of reward or punishment. The dead simply\ncontinued to exist in spirit form, occasionally revisiting the scenes\nof their former life. These visitors preferably occupied the bodies\nof lizards, which explains the abhorrence in which these reptiles\nwere held by the Maori, who, though they revered and prayed to their\nancestors, were terribly afraid of meeting their pale ghosts, or\ntransmigrated souls.\n\nThe _tohunga_, or sorcerers, exercised unbounded influence over the\nminds of the Maori. Their duties on occasion coincided with those of\nthe _ariki_, and their position, too, was hereditary; but, while men\nrevered, and often loved their chief, their respect for the _tohunga_\nwas tinctured with fear and, not seldom, with hate. The chief could\nlay _tapu_ upon a man, which was bad enough; but the _tohunga_ could\nbewitch him outright, condemning the poor wretch to loss of worldly\ngear, aches and pains, and even to death itself. The _ariki_ thought it\nno shame to go in dread of the _tohunga_, while, let the _tutua_, or\ncommon fellow, be once convinced that the malign eye of the wizard had\nbewitched him, and he not infrequently laid him down and died.\n\nThere did not exist among the Maori a middle class as we understand\nthe term. Every Maori whose birth placed him in a position between the\naristocracy and the _tutua_ class was a warrior by choice. Among such\nwere men of property, poets, philosophers, literary men who did not\nwrite, but told their stories to eager audiences--in a word, gentlemen\nof leisure until the need for fighting arose. In the infrequent\nintervals of peace these, if you will, represented the middle class;\nbut, once \"let slip the dogs of war,\" and they cried \"havoc\" with the\nbest of them. The Maori warrior, or _toa_, unlike the Japanese Samurai,\ndid not live for war alone, but was ever ready when it came.\n\nWhen speaking of the conduct and character of the high chiefs, it\nwas mentioned that they were rarely deposed. The reason why, may be\nexpressed in one word--_land_. Bad or good, the chief had a fuller\nknowledge with regard to land than any other person concerned.\n\nIt is necessary clearly to comprehend what follows; for the\nmisunderstandings which arose between the Maori and the colonists over\nthe tenure of land had much to do with the origin of the long strife\nbetween them.\n\nWhen the canoes from Hawaiki had discharged their passengers at the\nvarious spots selected by the chiefs in command, each one of the latter\ntook possession of a district which became his property, and the\nproperty of all his followers, every free male and female among them\nbeing part proprietor. In other words, the land was common to the tribe.\n\nIn consequence of this community of ownership every additional person\nborn claimed ownership by right of descent. As time went on only the\nfew could have told exactly what their rights were; but every Maori was\nassured that the land belonged to him and that it could not be disposed\nof without his sanction.\n\nThe chiefs share was the largest, because of his direct descent from\nthe chief who originally took possession of the district; but even in\nthis distinguished instance the voice of the people made itself heard,\nand the chief himself could not part absolutely with the land unless by\ncommon consent. The land might be leased to strangers, but the only way\nin which the owners could be dispossessed was by conquest.\n\nAs with chiefs, so with humbler folk. The land held by a family was\nnot theirs to dispose of without the consent of the tribe. A family of\none tribe might lease to a family of another tribe; or an entire tribe\nmight transfer its holding; but the land was not given away for ever,\nand could be reclaimed at a future date.\n\nThe colonists could never understand this principle; nor could the\nMaori comprehend that land, once exchanged for money or goods, had for\never passed away from them. Endless difficulties arose with the Pakeha,\nbecause every descendant of the original possessor of land claimed a\nshare of the property and of the price. It is indubitable that this\nconflict of the laws of one race with the law of another caused much of\nthe bitter strife which arose later.\n\nThe position of the chief thus rendered him the person of most\nimportance with regard to land. In his family were kept records, such\nas they were; in his memory were stored facts concerning the district,\nwhich he had received from his father, who, in his day, had received\nthem from his father.\n\nWho, then, so well fitted to decide an argument, adjust disputes,\nsettle the right and wrong of any questions concerning land? The\ndeposition of such a man might have been followed by his withdrawal\nfrom the _hapu_, perhaps from the tribe itself, an irreparable loss\nto those who relied upon him for correct information respecting their\nlanded property.\n\nThe origin of _tapu_, that tremendous engine of power, that law above\nthe law, is lost in obscurity, so very ancient is the custom, and all\nthat we know about its curious working is derived from observations\nmade in the South Sea Islands, where alone it is now found in anything\nlike its old power.\n\nThe law of _tapu_ served as a fairly efficient, if vexatious,\npromoter of law and order. Broadly stated, _tapu_ stood for two\nprinciples--protection and punishment, and the person or thing affected\nby it was a person or thing apart, not even to be touched under pains\nand penalties the most severe.\n\nChiefs were permanently _tapu_, as it was necessary that their exalted\nstate should be clearly recognisable; so they were placed upon a\npinnacle of isolation which extended to their property as well as to\nthemselves.\n\nFood of many kinds was permanently _tapu_; for animal food was always\nscarce, and choice vegetables could be cultivated only after a tough\nstruggle with the land. Therefore, since one tribe frequently infringed\nthe rights of another it became necessary to render the common stock of\nprovisions secure against depredators from within. Ordinary food which\nhappened to come in contact with anything _tapu_, was instantly thrown\naway, lest by touching or eating it some innocent person should himself\nbecome _tapu_.\n\nSwift retribution fell on him who with greed in his heart stole, or\neven touched with itching fingers, the succulent _kumara_, if the\nmark of _tapu_ were upon them. Such a fellow was stripped of his\npossessions, cast out, perhaps, of the tribe, or, for the worst offence\nof all, had his brains deftly scattered by order of his chief.\n\nThe plight of the poor wretch who touched the dead, accidentally or\nin the way of business, was dismal in the extreme. For the dead were\n_tapu_ in an extraordinary degree, and who touched a corpse became as a\nleper, shunned by all, lest they, too, should be tainted. Among other\ndisabilities, such an one must not touch food with his hands. Did he\nso, the food became _tapu_, and was thrown away from the very jaws of\nthe hungry one, who was consequently obliged to put his mouth to the\nplatter and eat like a dog, or else submit to be fed with a very long\nspoon by some friend more sympathetic, or less timid than the majority.\n\nThis principle of _noli me tangere_ was also applied temporarily.\nTrees from which canoes could be made were _tapu_, while stretches\nof coast abounding in shell-fish, the haunts of sea-birds and rich\nfishing-grounds were preserved for the common good. Many customs,\nrelated to _tapu_, were followed in time of war by the warriors,\nwhile non-combatants by prayer, fasting, and the practice of severe\nausterities, proved how closely the idea of _tapu_ was allied with that\nof religion.\n\n_Tapu_ was simply imposed, but its removal was a serious business.\nPrayers were chanted, water freely sprinkled over the person or thing\nto be released, and the ovens were busy cooking food during the whole\ntime of the proceedings. Here it seems possible to trace a connection\nbetween _tapu_ and parts of the Jewish ceremonial law. As sacrifices\nand burnt-offerings were required before an unclean Jew could be\npronounced clean, so among the Maori it was impossible to lift _tapu_\nwithout the simultaneous cooking of food. How, if ever, the Jews\ninfluenced the Malays, Polynesians, and Maori, antiquaries may be able\nsome day to determine.\n\nWhen the Pakeha first came to New Zealand, they often ignorantly\nviolated _tapu_, and how much they suffered in consequence depended\nupon the character and temper of the community. The Maori were not\nungenerous, and in cases of inadvertence frequently made allowances\nand spared accordingly. On the other hand, two great navigators,\nCaptain Cook and Marion du Fresne, were slain because of their trespass\non ground which was _tapu_, and sacred in the eyes of the South Sea\nIslanders.\n\n_Tapa_--to command--was in effect the law of might against right, that\n\n  Good old rule, the simple plan,\n  That they should take who have the power,\n  And they should keep who can.\n\nIn practice it consisted in commanding, or, as we might say,\n\"commandeering\" anything one fancied to one's own use.\n\nIndicating the desired object, the claimant would observe, \"That\nclub\"--or tree, or canoe, or whatever it happened to be, \"is _tapa_\nto me. It is my skull,\" or \"my eye,\" or \"my backbone. I command it to\nmyself.\"\n\nThe article thus denominated was held to belong to the claimant, since\nno one could justly urge that a man's skull, eye or backbone was not\nhis own. Yet, if the practice were abused, an appeal could be made,\nand a chief had power to undo the _tapa_ and order restitution of the\nproperty claimed. After a battle, disputes frequently arose between\nthose who claimed priority in having applied the _tapa_ to articles in\npossession of a foe whom they had then still to vanquish.\n\nThis was the law of _muru_, which the Maori accepted philosophically\nenough, because, though vexatious, it fell with equal severity upon all.\n\nIf a man committed an offence against the community, he was punished by\nthe community, his fellow-tribesmen adjusting the fine and collecting\nit with a generous appreciation of their individual requirements.\n\nFor example, if one accidentally killed another, he was punished for\ndepriving the community of a useful member. If a man carelessly damaged\npublic property, he was punished by the loss of his own. Even if the\ndamage done merely affected another private person, compensation was\nassessed by means of _muru_, and, as no money circulated in those days,\nthe fine was exacted in goods.\n\nThe victim of his own indiscretion, sighing at the crookedness of fate,\nalways made provision against the day of reckoning and, having politely\ninquired on what day _muru_ was to be enforced, issued instructions to\nthe ladies of his family to prepare the best feast possible in the time\nat their command.\n\nOn the appointed day the avengers arrived, yelling \"_Murua! Murua!_\" An\nidea of the justice of what followed may be gathered when it is stated\nthat _muru_ means \"plunder.\"\n\nEach member of the party is armed, and so is the rueful sinner who\nawaits developments with sensations much resembling those of the Jew in\npresence of King John and his rough-and-ready dentists.\n\nA lull occurs in the yelling, and the dolorous knight inquires\ningenuously, \"What is this, O my friends? Why do you brandish spear and\nclub as though to point the road to Reinga?\"\n\n\"You killed my brother!\" a tall fellow shouts in return. \"Now I am\ngoing to kill you. Step forward at once to be killed!\"\n\nWith horrid grimaces the bereaved gentleman capers before the doomed\none, who divests himself of his mat, flourishes his spear, and replies\nwith great fervour, \"Since you so greatly desire to be made mince-meat\nof, you shall not be disappointed. I am for you!\"\n\nWith that the two fall upon one another with frightful ferocity--or so\nit seems. Blows are dealt and thrusts exchanged amid the continuous\nhowling of the champion's bodyguard, who, singularly enough, make no\noffer to rush his antagonist.\n\nWhy not? Because it is point of honour that no great harm is to be\ndone. A gentleman is to receive punishment at the hands of his peers,\nbut life must be left him, though almost everything which makes it\nworth the living is to be snatched from him. So, after a few bruises\nand scratches have been given and taken, the mimic combat ceases.\n\nThere is a short pause while the champion recovers his breath. Then\nhe shouts at the top of his voice, \"_Murua! Murua!_\" which, freely\ntranslated, means \"Loot! Loot!\"--advice which is promptly followed.\n\nAs the sack proceeds the principals chat cheerfully, the plundered\ntaking no notice whatever of the plunderers; for to betray the disgust\nhe feels would be the height of ill-breeding.\n\nAt last, when every article which their unwilling host has thought it\ninjudicious to conceal has been secured, the \"collectors\" reappear,\nlaughing and eagerly expectant of an invitation to dinner.\n\nIt comes. The stricken gentleman courteously expresses his delight at\nthis \"unexpected\" visit. Had he but known earlier he would have made\nadequate preparation. As it is--he waves his hand in the direction of\nthe feast--there it is; and he bids his \"dear friends\" fall to.\n\nGorged and happy, the myrmidons of this queer law depart by and by,\nhaving carried out the _muru_, and left behind them a sorrowful\ngentleman, stripped of worldly gear. However, the unfortunate has\nthe consoling knowledge that he has comported himself under trying\ncircumstances as a man of breeding should, and also that, when\nopportunity shall arise, he will be entitled to go and do unto others\nas they have just done unto him.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[Footnote 42: Shown by the frequency of the prefix _Ngati_, \"children\nof.\" Thus, Ngati-Porou, Ngati-Awa, etc.]\n\n[Footnote 43: New Zealand was one of the first countries--if not\nthe first--to admit women to the franchise and to represent their\nfellow-citizens in municipal affairs. The first instance of a woman\nhaving been elected \"mayor\" occurred in New Zealand, where, perhaps,\nthe spirit of some old-time Maori is awake and influencing his Pakeha\nsuccessors.]\n\n[Footnote 44: The Maori, not content with ordinary tattooing, cut\nand carved intricate designs upon brow and cheek and chin (sometimes\nalso on the hips), thus making it easy for all to read their personal\nhistory and the record of their deeds of derring-do. The absence of\nsuch scars indicated extreme youth, or a lack of courage exceedingly\nrare among the men of the race. Each line had its own significance; and\na celebrated chief who visited England early in the nineteenth century,\ndirected the artist who painted his portrait to \"be sure to copy\naccurately every single mark\" upon his face.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nTHE LIFE OF EVERY DAY\n\n\nThe Maori of old had two habitations--the _kainga_, or village, wherein\nthey dwelt in \"piping time of peace,\" and the _pa_, or fortress,\nin which they shut themselves up when harassed by war's alarms.\nFire-eaters though they were, they had their moons of peace, during\nwhich they accomplished some astonishing results, considering their\nignorance of iron, and that their tools were fashioned out of hard wood\nand yet harder stone. With incredible patience they ground and rubbed\nand sand-polished, until from lumps of greenstone, jasper, or granite\nthey produced bevelled edge and rounded back. The head was drilled\nand fitted to a hardwood handle, and there was axe or adze. Imagine\nthe labour of it, you who put down a piece of money and receive the\nperfected tool of iron!\n\nAxe and adze were blunt enough; yet with them the Maori hewed through\nthe mighty bole of the _kauri_-pine; and it was with tools of stone\nthat they chopped and gouged and scooped, until there lay before them\nthe shell of a canoe, eighty feet in length, and capable of holding\nclose upon a hundred men.\n\nTo work again with knife and awl and chisel, each of stone, and\npresently the stern-post, ornately carved, rises in an elegant curve to\na height of fifteen feet. The prow, too, rises in a curve, but not so\nhigh, and is adorned by a huge, grinning head, correctly tattooed, with\ngoggle eyes and defiantly protruded tongue.\n\nPaddles are shaped from the tough wood of the _ti_-tree, one for each\nof the rowers, who kneel in equal numbers on each side, facing the\nprow, while the steersman wields an oar nine feet in length.\n\nThe canoe is finished--begun, wrought at and completed with never an\niron tool, with not one iron bolt to stay or strengthen. Yet it is\nbeautiful and strong and serviceable, and will skim the stormiest sea\nas safely as would a gull.\n\nThe _whare_ was often rendered attractive on the outside by elaborate\ncarving, and quaint by the grotesque figures surmounting the gables.\nIt was within only a wide, low room, with roof of _raupo_-thatch[45]\nand eaves within three feet of the ground. A stone-lined hole served\nas a fireplace, the floor was strewn with fern upon which were thrown\nthe sleeping-mats, and a sliding panel formed a door, which was blocked\nwhen privacy or warmth was desired. Furniture there was none; but this\nmattered little, since the house was rarely used save as a dormitory,\nor a shelter during cold or wet weather.\n\nWithin the village a piece of ground was set apart for the _marae_,\nor public square, whither folk repaired for gossip or recreation when\nthe work of the day was done. Without the enclosure were home fields of\n_kumara_ and _taro_, where the women laboured as many women labour in\nthe potato and turnip-fields in Scotland.\n\nThe heavy tasks as a rule fell to the men, and were undertaken\ncheerfully enough, though the Maori became less careful in this respect\nafter years of intercourse with the Pakeha. To the men also belonged\nthe duty of supplying the commissariat and, while some hunted or\nfished, others cleared the forest trails, upon which the undergrowth\nreproduced itself with extraordinary rapidity. The question of animal\nfood was always a vital one in the days before the _poaka_, or pig,\nrioted through the bush, and there were many days on which the Maori\nwere forced to content themselves with fern-root and _kanini_ berries\nfor the two meals in which they daily indulged.\n\nThough they had neither books nor writings upon parchment, stone or\npapyrus, the Maori were not without a literature of their own. Great\ndeeds of heroic ancestors, notable events of the past were immortalised\nin song and story, and handed down from generation to generation. On\nsummer nights an eager audience thronged the _marae_, listening, rapt,\nto some \"divine-voiced singer,\" or to some other, who told with every\ntrick and charm of the finished orator the story of \"the brave days of\nold,\" when Ngahue fought in far Hawaiki, or sailed the sea with Te Turi\nto find the land of Maui.\n\nAlways decorous, the listeners applauded discreetly, and chewed\nincessantly the hardened juice of the sow-thistle, the precious gum of\nthe _kauri_, or the _mimiha_, bitumen from the under-sea springs of the\nwest. None of these was harmful like the opium of the Chinaman or the\n_kava_ of the Polynesian. The Maori chewed his gum much as the fair\nAmerican chews hers, or as the youthful Scot surreptitiously sucks his\npeppermint during the Sunday sermon in the kirk.\n\nAs night fell quiet reigned for a time, for night is the council-time\nof the Maori. Encircled by pineknot torches, chiefs and _rangatira_ sat\ntogether, gravely discussing the common weal, or planning great schemes\nof attack or defence. One after another, each stern-visaged councillor\narose, and with dignified gesture and speech rich in metaphor\nexpressed his views, his fellows hearkening with respectful attention,\nexpecting, and receiving, the same when their own turn came to speak.\nSo the discussion went on until the council broke up and the senators\ndispersed, stalking through the double row of armed guards who,\nthemselves out of earshot, had stood like bronze statues throughout the\ndeliberations.\n\nWhen the need for quiet had passed, the warriors gathered together and\nfought their battles o'er again, while those more peacefully inclined\napplauded the efforts of a flautist and a trumpeter, whose instruments\nwere limited to five and two notes respectively.\n\nCareless youth sat here and there, asking and guessing riddles or\nplaying that most ancient game, familiar alike to the English child and\nthe aboriginal of Australia, \"cat's cradle.\" Youngsters stalked upon\nstilts, played at \"knuckle-bones,\" or gambled at \"odd or even,\" and, in\nstrong contrast, a group of philosophers discussed abstruse questions\nwith a keenness and cleverness which amply proved the capacity of the\nMaori brain. Some, too, there were who wandered off, as young folks\nwill, youth and maid together, to whisper of matters unconcerned with\nlogic or philosophy.\n\nThe fires burnt low, the torches sputtered towards extinction, the\nvarious groups dissolved and, as a last good-night, the warriors\nraised their voices in a swelling chant, and from a thousand throats\nthe chorus of triumph or defiance rose and rolled from hill to distant\nhill. A few short moments later the village was hushed and still, only\nthe vigilant sentries giving evidence of the life which slumbered\nwithin its crowded _whare_.\n\nSo the Maori rose and toiled and played and fought, until at last came\nthe time, inevitable for all, when must \"the silver cord be loosed and\nthe golden bowl be broken,\" and potent chief, in common with meanest\nslave, yield up his life to God who gave it.\n\nNo _tangi_ was raised for the slave; but how different when the chief\nset his face to the north and walked with slow and solemn step towards\nthe gates of Reinga. Even as their muffled clang resounded and the\nbreath went out of the chieftain's body, the crowd of mourners who had\ntill then been repeating with fervour the \"last words\" of the dying\nman, burst into noisy lamentations, many of the women gashing their\narms and breasts. In some instances slaves were immediately slain, so\nthat the dead man might not plunge alone into the waters of Reinga, or\ngo unattended in the next world.\n\nThe dead body was exorcised by the priests, dressed in its best, and\nallowed to sit in state. The dried heads and skulls of ancestors\ngrinned from their pedestals at the latest addition to their ranks,\nwho, with face painted, head befeathered, his costly ornaments upon\nhim, his clubs and spears set ready to his hand, stared back at them\nwith unseeing eyes, a lifelike figure enough among those musty relics\nof the long-ago dead.\n\nThe _pihe_, or dirge, was sung, the choir standing before the body, and\ndays went by, during which the long procession of relatives, friends,\nsubjects and delegates from other tribes paid their respects to the\nmighty dead, grasping his cold hand, talking to him as though he were\nalive, speaking panegyrics and chanting laments, often of singular\nbeauty, in his honour.\n\nThen followed the last act but one in the drama of death. \"No useless\ncoffin enclosed the breast\" of the dead man, whose body, wrapped in\nflax mats, was either buried beneath the floor of his house, or hoisted\nto a high stage in the vicinity of the village and allowed to remain\nthere for a twelvemonth.\n\nThe year of mourning over, the dead man's effects, his valuable\ngreenstone clubs, other weapons and ornaments were distributed amongst\nhis heirs.[46] A great feast was also arranged and, while the\nattention of all was occupied with eating and drinking, the priests\nstole away, bearing the remains with them, to hide them for ever in\nsome solitary sepulchre within the scarred bosom of the hills, or deep\nin the green twilight of the silent forests.[47]\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[Footnote 45: _Typha angustifolia._]\n\n[Footnote 46: Some remained undistributed, _tapu_ for ever.]\n\n[Footnote 47: In the case of chiefs of great fame, the remains were\ntwice or thrice exposed to the veneration of the tribe before the final\nsepulture, which might then be delayed longer than is stated above.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nGRIM-VISAGED WAR\n\n\nAnimated, for all one knows, by mere lust of strife, the men of Waikato\non the west soon after their arrival in New Zealand marched across the\nNorth Island to Maketu on the Bay of Plenty, and burned the Arawa canoe.\n\nFrom this outrage arose a war, the end of which was not until\ngenerations later, and from which, as a forest conflagration from a\nspark, arose other wars between tribe and tribe, until from end to end\nof Te Ika A Maui men were in arms against one another.\n\nPeace there was, but more often war; and by the time Captain Cook\nvisited the Islands the village was deserted and the _pa_ predominant.\nLater, peace again prevailed; then wars again; and, as the quarrel with\nthe Pakeha developed, strife filled the land till matters were adjusted\nat the end of the long struggle between Maori and colonist.\n\nThe conditions under which the Maori lived furnished them with plenty\nof excuses to appeal to arms. There was always that burning question\nof animal food, and no more flagrant outrage could be perpetrated by\none tribe than to poach upon the hunting or fishing-grounds of another.\n\nA man might insult one of another tribe by rude word or inconsiderate\ndeed, and the aggrieved party might wipe out the injury by means of\n_utu_--payment or revenge--which was more or less the _lex talionis_ of\nthe Romans. But the individual usually carried his wrongs to his chief,\nwhen the matter became a tribal affair and, unless compensation were\nquickly forthcoming, war resulted between the disputants. Thus, what\noriginated in a petty difference between two hot-headed fellows, might,\nand often did, result in a quarrel which brought hundreds--perhaps\nthousands--into the field.\n\nThe Maori were a military race in which every able-bodied man became a\nwarrior because he possessed an arm strong enough to strike. To lack\ncourage to deliver the blow was to expose himself to the pointing\nfinger of scorn. The man who shirked his military duties could not\nescape exposure. His face betrayed him. If that were bare of designs,\nhe had small chance to establish his claim to be a man of valour, and\nsmaller still to live in honour among his fellows.\n\nFew were courageous enough to be cowards in a race so uniformly brave.\nFew, however much they might prefer peace, ventured to skulk at home\nwhen the war-gong clattered and the huge trumpet brayed its summons.\nThe man who remained deaf to the call to arms incurred the contempt\nof his fellow-men, and knew that the meanest slave would not change\nplaces with him. A solitary life, an unlamented death, his lonely\npassage to Reinga \"unwept, unhonoured, and unsung\"--such was the lot of\nthe Maori who dared to be a coward.\n\nThe Maori fought with frightful ferocity when once the battle was\njoined, but went to work leisurely enough over the preliminaries,\noccupying the time with councils, dances, orations and embassies from\none set of contestants to the other.\n\nThe council was presided over by the principal chief, or by the\nparamount chief when a tribe's interests were involved. If age or\nphysical infirmity prevented him from leading in the day of battle, his\nplace would be filled by one of the \"fighting chiefs,\" men of little\nuse in the Maori \"War Office,\" but terrible in the field.\n\nThe council over, the _tohunga_ was sought and requested to ascertain\nwhether success would attend the arms of the inquirers. As this was\na very important function, the rules of Maori etiquette were rigidly\nobserved in dress and demeanour.\n\nThe high chief was splendidly arrayed. His fine, Roman face, scarred\nwith records of his daring, was set and stern; his dark hair, combed\nand oiled, supported a coronet of _huia_ plumes, and from the lobe of\neach ear dangled a gleaming tooth of the tiger-shark. Around his loins\nhe wore the customary _katika_, or kilt, while a vest of closely woven\nflax covered as with mail the upper part of his body.\n\nA collar of sharks' teeth, or of the teeth of slain foes, encircled\nthe massive column of his neck, and from the former was suspended his\nhousehold _heitiki_,[48] which lay like a locket upon his broad chest.\nIn his hand he held a long spear, elaborately carved, like the rest\nof his wooden weapons, and from his right wrist dangled his favourite\n_mere_, or war-club, of purest greenstone. Upon his shoulders, fastened\nso as to leave the right arm free, he wore the _kaitaka_, the valuable\nrobe of flax already referred to.\n\nBut no matter how sumptuously garbed before the fight began, every\nparticle of clothing was usually discarded at the moment of onset, and\nthe Maori rushed into the fray naked and unashamed.\n\nThe war-dance usually followed a favourable augury, and was heralded\nby a terrific commotion, which drew every inhabitant of the village to\nthe _marae_, in the midst of which a cleared space was occupied by a\nhundred or more lusty warriors.\n\nStripped to the skin, their brown, muscular bodies gleaming, their\nscarred faces aglow with excitement, the warriors stand in two\nlong lines awaiting the signal. Suddenly the long-drawn wail of a\n_tetere_[49] sounds, and a hush falls upon the crowd. A moment, and\nwith a wild yell a magnificent savage rushes from the rear of the\ncolumn to the front, brandishing his spear and hideously contorting his\nface. For a short minute he leaps and capers at the head of the column;\nthen, abruptly coming to rest, sings in a rich bass the first words of\nthe war-song.\n\nAnother short pause and the warriors behind him leap from the ground\nwith a pealing shout, flourish their weapons and set off at the double\nround the court, while from their open throats comes the roaring chorus\nof the chant.\n\nTwice they circle the _marae_; then, forming once more in column, with,\nor without, the soloist for fugleman, they dance in perfect time, but\nwith furious energy, gesticulating, rolling their eyes and protruding\ntheir tongues, while the ground trembles under the heavy tread of so\nmany strong men.\n\nAt last, with a shout so horrible and menacing that the hearts of the\nwatchers beat faster as they hear it, the dance comes to an end as\nabruptly as it began, and on all sides are heard prophecies of success,\nsince no one among the dancers has fallen under the exhausting strain.\n\nFor some time after the opposing forces had come within striking\ndistance of one another, jeers and insults were freely exchanged. The\nchiefs on either side would harangue their men; but rarely were the\ninitial speeches so inflammatory, the early gibes so stinging as to\nprecipitate the conflict. It was almost a point of etiquette to measure\nthe stabbing power of that unruly member, the tongue, before proceeding\nto test the keenness of spear-point, the smashing capacity of club.\n\nBut the tongue was put to another use; for, while eyes were rolled\nand faces contorted in hideous grimaces, _Arero_, The Little, was\npoked farther and farther out of the mouth with telescopic power of\nelongation, till it rested almost upon the broad, scarred chest below\nits proper frontier, the lips. The visage of a Maori at such a moment\nwas indescribably hideous, and would probably have scared away the\nenemy, had it not been that _their_ faces were equally appalling.\n\n_Arero_, the tongue, having played its part in facial distortion,\nwas now drawn back into its proper territory and again put to its\nlegitimate use, abuse of the enemy. Once more the wordy war raged,\ntill some taunt too savage, some sneer too biting, some gesture too\ninsulting, brought the long preliminaries to a sudden, dreadful close,\nand the men of war with startling swiftness broke ranks, and with howls\nof fury clashed together in mortal combat.\n\nFor a few moments all other sounds were drowned by the rattle of\nspear-shafts and the crash and crack of stone axes and clubs, mingled\nwith a ferocious roaring; but a yell of triumph soon rang high above\nthe din, \"_Ki au te Mataika! Mataika! Mataika!_\"[50] The combatants\nfor a single instant held back, while hundreds of envious eyes glared\ntowards the spot whence came the cry. The next, as a huge warrior,\nseizing his opponent's hair with his left hand, dragged back the head\nand with one shrewd blow clubbed out the brains, the roar of battle\nswelled again, and the fight raged with redoubled fury.\n\n\"_Vae victis!_\" growled the old Roman, and these brown men with the\nstern, Roman faces made good the sinister words. A defeat meant not a\nrout, but a slaughter of those who fled and were overtaken, a massacre\nof those who lay wounded, awaiting the death-stroke with a composure\nnot less superb than that of the stricken gladiators in Rome's arena.\n\nThe lives of the wounded were too often taken to the accompaniment of\nshocking barbarities and, when the breath was out of their bodies,\ntheir heads were hacked off and borne away in triumph, to grin from\nspiked palisades at the foe who refused to respect them even in death.\n\nThe victors were careful to decapitate their own dead, whose heads were\ncarried home with every mark of respect and handed over to the nearest\nrelatives of the deceased. It was no disgrace to be slain in battle;\nbut if your head were not returned to the bosom of your family, then\nyour own, and with it the family _mana_, or honour, was gone.\n\nWere a man forced to flee, it was considered an act of the greatest\nfriendship if he delayed to decapitate a dead or wounded comrade, so\nthat, though the latter's body might be rent in pieces, and very likely\nswallowed, his head might suffer no dishonour, and the family _mana_ be\nsaved.\n\nThe heads thus rescued were subjected to prolonged exposure to air and\nsteam and smoke, after which they underwent treatment at the hands of\nexperts. The final result was that the head retained a wonderfully\nlifelike appearance, the _moko_ marks remaining plainly visible. The\nheads were set up in places of honour, with that ceremony which these\npaladins of the South Seas invariably observed, to be handed down from\ngeneration to generation along with stirring tales of the valorous\nwarriors upon whose shoulders they had once sat.\n\nWe are learning that our brown hero was by no means faultless. He was\nnot above insulting his vanquished foe, and saw no reason why he should\nnot do a brave and helpless man to death with revolting tortures. The\nextinction of life did not satisfy him; he must mutilate the bodies of\nthe slain and spurn the dishonoured corpse.\n\nSurely his appetite for revenge must now be glutted; his ingenuity can\nsuggest nothing more in the way of _utu_; his passion-inflamed mind\ndevise no further stroke of insolent hate.\n\nAlas! The violent climax is yet to be reached; the abysmal depth of\ndegradation to be plumbed; the savage nature to be laid bare in all its\nhideousness.\n\nThe pity of it! This man, so strong, so brave, so keen of intelligence;\nthis man with brain so clever and hand so deft that he can fashion that\nwonderful thing, a war-canoe, with nought but tools wrenched from the\nunwilling earth; this man who is a loving husband, a fond father; who\nin future years is destined to take his place beside the white invader\nof his dominion; this man can sink to the level of the beast, which,\nhaving slain, must fall to and eat. Lower, indeed, he descends; for the\nbrute kills that it may satisfy its hunger, but the Maori that he may\ninflict the crowning dishonour upon his dead foe and upon the children\nof the slain.\n\nCannibalism, if not a respectable, is a very ancient practice, for\nHomer and Herodotus mention the _anthropophagi_; but it is impossible\nto say when it originated, and the why and wherefore of the horrid\ncustom can be still less easily come at. Some have argued that it began\nin a craving for animal food; but these seem to have lost sight of the\nfact that there are in Africa cannibals who live in regions teeming\nwith game, just as in the South Sea Islands there are cannibals who\ntill modern times were forced to content themselves with an almost\npurely vegetable diet. If the same motive animated both of these in\ntheir adoption of the practice, that motive can obviously not have been\na hankering after animal food.\n\nNeither does the name throw any light upon the origin of the custom;\nfor the word \"cannibal\" is presumed to be a corruption of \"Caribal,\"\nthat is, \"pertaining to the Caribs,\" a West Indian tribe of man-eaters,\ndiscovered by Columbus in 1493.\n\nThe Malays, or some of them, were cannibals, and the Maori offshoots\nof that race indulged in the habit in those far-off days before\nthey adventured to New Zealand. Their traditions shew that they had\nabandoned the practice before, and that they did not resume it for\nseveral generations after their emigration. Even then they were\ncannibals side by side with the fact that they were warriors and, in\nthe beginning at least, consumed their species less from appetite than\nfrom a desire to humiliate the kindred of the vanquished.\n\nThe Zulus, who used to eat but little meat, were accustomed when\nin view of war to gorge themselves with the flesh of beeves. Then,\nintoxicated, as it were, with the unaccustomed nitrogenous food, they\nswung into battle, careless of disaster or death. The Maori, on the\nother hand, after days of preparation, during which their rule of life\nwas ascetic, urged on the battle fever by rhetoric and oratory of a\nvery high order. They showed so far only their intellectual side; when\nonce the fight was over, cramming themselves with loathsome food, they\nsank below the level of the ravening brute.\n\nIt must be granted, then, that the Maori did not wholly abstain from\nhuman flesh. Against this--save for some notable exceptions--they were\nnot habitually cannibals when at peace. After the shock of war they\nswallowed portions of their dead foes, as much to incorporate the\nothers' courage with their own as from any radical hankering after the\nghastly dish. Let it go at that.\n\nThere is at length a lull in the strife. The stronger are weary of\ndealing blows, the weaker faint with taking them. The time is come when\nboth may rest awhile, if only to husband their strength, so that some\nday they may fight again. After all, one cannot be for ever upon the\nwar-path. The fern-root is maturing, the _kumara_ are ripening in the\nfields, the eels fattening in the creeks. Home-voices are calling, and\nfierce men of war grow sick with longing for sight of wife and child.\nYes; there has been enough of war. Let peace prevail; if not for ever,\nat least until rage, cool now, has had time to blaze up once more;\nuntil arms, stiff and sore with hammering skulls and splitting hearts,\nagain renew their strength. Yes, peace is good. Let us have peace.\n\nSo a herald went forth, bearing a leafy bough, a sign that his mission\nwas _Hohou i te rongo_--to make peace. _Takawaenga_, or \"go-betweens,\"\nhad been busily engaged over the matter for some days past, and the\nherald's very presence proved that the result of his visit was a\nforegone conclusion.\n\nStill, the Maori must always be dramatic, so the herald was met with\ngreat respect and ceremony, and his argument seriously considered\nwith much show of dissent. Then, when the orator had listened with\nbecoming patience to numerous speakers on the other side, and exhausted\nevery trick of voice and gesture on his own, all opposition suddenly\ncollapsed, and peace was concluded amid general rejoicing.\n\nNot many captives were taken in war as a general rule; but, if a man's\nlife were spared, he became a slave. Save that such a man lost all\nsocial status, and was set to tasks to which he had been unaccustomed,\nhis lot was not necessarily very hard. He might, perhaps, be exchanged\nfor some captive taken by his own tribe; but, having once become a\nslave, he usually preferred to remain one; for he was treated with\nrough kindness and consideration. Curiously enough, if he returned to\nhis own tribe, he was invariably slighted because of the experience it\nhad been his misfortune to undergo.\n\nPeace ratified, preparations were made for returning home and, as they\nhad left their village with ceremony, so the victors marched into it\nagain with all the pomp and circumstance of war.\n\nSome few paces in front of the column a single Maori banged lustily\nwith a heavy stick upon a very small drum, while immediately in his\nrear another evoked a succession of jerky notes from a flute formed\nfrom a human thigh-bone. Next in order marched a grim company, who bore\naloft upon rough-hewn pikes the severed heads of foemen. Close behind\nthis grisly vanguard stalked, with heads erect and dignified bearing,\nthe \"Fighting Chiefs,\" their stern, Roman faces heavily scored with\nrecords of their valour, and after them strode the Captain-general,\n\"pride in his port, defiance in his eye,\" a very \"lord of human-kind\"\nas he \"passed by.\" Behind the great leader swaggered the warriors,\nmarching not in step, but with a firm tread and swinging gait,\nimpressive enough. Last of all, laden with spoil, or carrying the arms\nof their masters, the _tutua_ and slaves brought up the rear.\n\nAs the army came within sight of the village, the men broke into a\nroaring chorus anent the land of their birth, that dearly loved land\nwhich they fondly prophesied would be theirs till the end of time.\n\nThe battle-scarred veteran who has led them in so many victorious\ncampaigns turns at the sound, and with a single proud gesture indicates\nthe village. It is enough. The buglers blow discordant blasts, the\ngarrison yell shrilly, and with a thunderous roar of triumph the\nimpatient warriors surge forward, breast the slope and charge furiously\ninto the _marae_. They have returned victorious; they are once more at\npeace--and at home.\n\n  NOTE.--The Maori science of defensive warfare in their _pa_ is dealt\n  with in Part III.\n\n[Illustration: Victors in the fight]\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[Footnote 48: An ornament in the form of an image. Regarded as a most\nvaluable heirloom and, probably, as a talisman.]\n\n[Footnote 49: A wooden trumpet, six feet in length.]\n\n[Footnote 50: The first man to be killed in a fight was called the\n_mataika_. \"I have the _mataika_!\" was the cry of the successful\nslayer, and duels often arose after a battle, owing to disputes among\nthe claimants to the honour.]\n\n\n\n\nPART II\n\nTHE COMING OF THE PAKEHA\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nTHE DUTCHMAN'S LOSS\n\n\nI\n\nIt wanted a couple of hours to sunset. All the way from the rim of the\nworld the blue Pacific waves heaved slumberously towards the shore,\nthundered against the iron rocks, and rolled lazily eastwards into the\ngathering night. The long cloud-shadows chased one another across the\nfern, the silver-winged gulls circled the blue bay, ready to chorus a\nharsh \"good-night,\" and the sinking sun, flinging a challenge to the\ncoming darkness, set the sky ablaze.\n\nNight, swift, inexorable, was not far away; there would be no moon,\nand the _Patupaiarehe_, imps of evil, wander in the dark in search of\nmischief. Luckless the Maori who walks through forest glade or over\nfern-clad hill when they flit on their wicked way.\n\nSo, lest they should be caught by the tricksy sprites, the Maori, who\nwere chatting in the _marae_, rose to disperse. Suddenly, one who had\nbeen looking carelessly about him, uttered a loud yell.\n\n\"_He! He!_\" he cried. \"_Titira! Titira!_\" (Look! Look!).\n\nThe clamour which followed brought the chief--a splendid figure in his\n_kaitaka_ and coronet of _huia_ plumes. Hurried question and excited\nanswer gave him the reason of the commotion, and he, too, looked out to\nsea.\n\nA cry escaped him. Amazement, incredulity, fear were in the tone. \"A\nwhale with white wings![51] What can it mean? It is magic or----\"\n\nHe broke off, staring at his men. His lips were trembling, his eyes\nround. Great chief though he was, fear wrapped him as a garment.\n\nNone answered. Some looked under their lids at the oncoming Thing; some\nfastened their gaze upon the chief, and every man there muttered a\n_karakia_, if so he might avert impending doom.\n\nOn came the marvel, growing ever more distinct, and upon the polished\ndecks the astounded Maori could see beings who looked like men, though\ntheir outward seeming was strangely different from any men whom the\nSons of Maui had ever encountered.\n\nThen a voice was heard, calling something in a strange, harsh tongue. A\nwhistle shrilled; a score or so of the odd forms raced from end to end\nof what the bewildered Maori now decided must be a canoe of some sort,\nand with magical swiftness the \"white wings\" collapsed and lay folded\nupon the long spars. Another call, a loud, rattling noise, something\nfell with a mighty splash into the sea, and the mysterious vessel came\nto rest.\n\nOne minute of tense silence. Then a scream went up from the watching\nMaori.\n\nThe strangely garbed forms were human. But their faces! _Their faces\nwere white!_\n\nIn the extremity of their terror the Maori fled into their _whare_ and\ncovered their heads. It was now only too plain that the _Patupaiarehe_\nwere abroad upon that awful night of nights.\n\nYet worse was to come upon the morrow.\n\n\nII\n\nOn the 14th of August, 1642, the distinguished circumnavigator, Abel\nJanssen Tasman, left Batavia in his yacht _Heemskirk_ with a fly-boat,\n_Zeehaen_ (Sea-hen), dancing in his wake, to investigate the polar\ncontinent which Schouten and Le Maire, his countrymen, claimed to\nhave found, and which they had named Staaten Land. It was on the 13th\nof December in the same year that, after discovering Tasmania, the\ncommodore came one radiant evening within long sight of what he calls a\n\"high, mountainous country.\"\n\nThis was the west coast of the Middle Island, then for the first time\nseen by the eyes of white men, or so it is reasonable to believe; for\nthe claims made by France and Spain to priority of discovery are based\nupon wholly insufficient grounds.\n\nA few days later Tasman cast anchor in the bay to the west of that bay\nwhich bears his name, and at whose south-eastern extremity the town of\nNelson now flourishes. Tasman himself gave a name to the bay in which\nhe anchored, but not until he was about to leave it. A glance at the\nmap will make it clear that both of these bays wash the northern shore\nof the Middle Island, _Te Wai Pounamou_, \"The Waters of Greenstone.\"\n\n\nIII\n\nThe sun had not yet set when Tasman's anchors splashed into the bay\nand the sight of the strange white faces sent the Maori scurrying into\ntheir _whare_. An hour must elapse before the long-lingering day faded\ninto night, and an hour is time and to spare for brave men to recover\ntheir confidence, however badly their nerves have been shaken. So it\ncame about that, before nightfall, the chief and his warriors issued\nfrom their _whare_, and low voices muttered questions which no one\ncould answer.\n\nOne thing, however, had become clear in that time of fear and\nhesitancy. So at length:\n\n\"They are men like ourselves,\" the chief said reassuringly. \"There\nis no doubt about it, for I have been watching them from my\n_matapihi_.[52] Their faces are white and their canoes differ from\nours, but they have no desire to quarrel. On the other hand, they\ncontinually signal, inviting us to visit them. I believe them to be\nfriendly. My children, let us take a nearer look at these Pakeha. Fear\nnought. Atua fights for the Maori. Come!\"\n\nAccustomed to obey the word of their chief, the Maori manned a couple\nof canoes and paddled out towards the ships.\n\nBut the chief was aware that, for all their calm exterior, fear--that\nworst fear of all, fear of the unknown--tugged at his children's\nhearts, and he had no intention of trying them too far. So at his word\nthe huge _tetere_ brayed, \"in sound,\" says Tasman, \"like a Moorish\ntrumpet,\" the Maori shouted, splashing the water with their paddles,\nbut giving no hostile challenge, and the sailors crowded their\nbulwarks, making signs of amity and displaying attractive articles to\nthe brown men.\n\nBut twilight was fading now, and the chief hastened ashore to see\nhis _hapu_ safely housed, and to set a guard, lest these queer white\nfellows should land during the night. The _tetere_ brayed again an\nunmusical \"Lights out!\" and with a great clamour of tongues the Maori\nwithdrew behind their stockade to discuss the most surprising event of\ntheir lives.\n\nThen the day died and the curtain of night came heavily down, to rise\nupon the tragedy of the morning.\n\n\nIV\n\nThe day was not far advanced when a single, small canoe rapidly\napproached the ships, where officers and men ran eagerly to the rail to\nobserve the oncoming Maori.\n\nBut Abel Tasman knew nothing of the addiction of the Sons of\nMaui to forms and ceremonies, nor did the latter allow for their\nvisitor's ignorance. Consequently, there arose at the very outset a\nmisunderstanding, which was to bring about fatal consequences.\n\nOne of the thirteen occupants of the canoe must have been the\nherald,[53] come to announce that his chief would immediately visit the\nstrangers. The rowers lay on their oars within easy distance of the\n_Heemskirk_, while the envoy delivered his message.\n\nMaking no attempt to discover the Maori's meaning, the Dutchmen rather\nstupidly \"kept up a great shouting throughout his oration,\" while they\ndisplayed food, drink and trinkets to the admiring eyes of the rowers,\nwho were sorely tempted to take risks and clamber aboard. But loyalty\nto their chief restrained them, and with dignified gestures and in\nmusical speech they signified their regret at being obliged to decline\nthe Pakeha's invitation. Then, conceiving their message understood,\nthey paddled back to the shore, much to the disappointment of the\nDutchmen.\n\nNo sooner did the solitary canoe swing away from the ship than seven\nothers put off from the shore. As they drew near, six of them slackened\nspeed, while one came on confidently to the _Heemskirk_.\n\nAfter a momentary hesitation, half-a-dozen Maori clambered up the\nside with, according to Tasman, \"fear writ upon their faces.\" This is\nprobable; for here was a clear case of _omne ignotum pro magnifico_;\nbut that these were brave men is proved by the fact that, \"with fear\nwrit upon their faces,\" they showed a bold front to the cause of that\nfear, and boarded the _Heemskirk_.\n\nScarcely had the feet of the brown men touched the deck than Tasman\nseems to have taken fright and, as far as one may judge, lost his head\nand committed a deplorable error.\n\n[Illustration: The fight in Massacre Bay]\n\nHe was, he says, aboard the _Sea-hen_ when the Maori boarded the\n_Heemskirk_ and, without awaiting developments, he manned a boat with\nseven men, whom he sent off to the yacht with a warning to guard\nagainst treachery.\n\nFatal mistake! The kettle of misunderstanding was full to the spout,\nand it now boiled over. Tasman feared that the six attendant canoes\nmeant to attack; the Maori, observing the hurrying boat, instantly\nimagined that their comrades were to be detained on board the yacht as\nhostages.\n\nStirred to action by the cries of their alarmed friends, who had also\nobserved Tasman's action with apprehension, those in the canoes dashed\nto intercept the boat.\n\nWhether by accident or design, the boat crashed into one of the canoes,\nand the Maori, their worst fears confirmed, struck to kill, and did\nkill outright three Dutchmen, mortally wounding a fourth. One poor\ncorpse they carried off, and the Maori on the ship leapt without delay\ninto their own canoe and raced for the shore.\n\n\"We shall get neither wood nor water from this accursed spot,\" said\nTasman, \"for the savages be too adventurous and bloody-minded.\" So he\npricked off the place upon his chart, naming it \"Murderers' Bay,\"[54]\nweighed anchor, and made off in disgust.\n\nWhile he was yet in the bay, a fleet of two-and-twenty canoes, crowded\nwith men, put out after him, with what intention is not known. Tasman\ndoes not appear to have feared an attack, for he tells us that a man in\nthe leading canoe carried a flag of truce. The Maori really held in his\nhand a spear with a pennon of bleached flax; but, if Tasman believed\nthis to be a flag of truce, his action was the more reprehensible.\n\nFor he stopped the pursuit, if pursuit it were, by delivering a\nbroadside which probably equalised the loss he had sustained. At all\nevents, the man with the flag went down, and the Maori, terrified by\nthe noise of the discharge and its deadly effect, turned and sped to\nthe shore.\n\nSo began and ended in bloodshed the first authentic meeting of Maori\nand Pakeha. Had Tasman not been so quick to take alarm, had he allowed\nhis visitors time to realise his friendly intentions, it is highly\nprobable that New Zealand would to-day have been a Dutch colony instead\nof a Dominion of the Empire.\n\nAway went the Dutchman, nursing his wrath and jotting down in his\njournal all sorts of uncomplimentary remarks about the \"bloodthirsty\naborigines,\" and in due course rounded the north of the North Island,\nnaming one of its prominent headlands \"Cape Maria Van Diemen,\" in\ncompliment to the daughter of his patron, Anthony Van Diemen, governor\nof the Dutch East Indies.\n\nA little farther north he made the islands which he charted under the\nname of \"The Three Kings,\" since he discovered them upon the Epiphany,\nand he again endeavoured to obtain \"rest and refreshment.\" But he was\ndisappointed once more, for the same cautiousness which had led him so\nprecipitately to launch the boat on that unhappy day in Massacre Bay,\nnow caused him to sheer off from The Three Kings. Small wonder, though,\nthat he did not stop there to investigate.\n\n\"For we did see,\" he records in his journal, \"thirty-five natives of\nimmense size, who advanced with prodigious long strides, bearing great\nclubs in their hands.\"\n\n\"Valentine,\" \"Jack,\" or any other historic destroyer of the race of\ngiants might well have been excused for showing a clean pair of heels\nin face of such odds. Thirty-five of them! It was too much for Tasman,\nwho, without more ado, bore away for Cocos, where he obtained the \"rest\nand refreshment\" of which he stood so much in need.\n\nSo Abel Tasman never set foot in New Zealand. Having mistaken the\nsouthern extremity of Tasmania for that of Australia, he now fell into\nthe error of believing the land at which he had touched to be part of\nthe polar continent, or Staaten Land. Months later, the mistake was\ncorrected, and Tasman's newest discovery received the name by which it\nhas ever since been known--New Zealand.\n\nIn this manner came the first Pakeha to the country of the Maori,\nand fled in fear, learning nought of the land or of its people. The\nChildren of Maui watched for the return of the men with the strange\nwhite faces; but they came not, neither Tasman nor any other. So the\nvisit of the Pakeha became a memory ever growing fainter, until at\nlast it died, not even tradition keeping it alive.\n\nThen, one hundred and twenty-seven years after Abel Tasman had found\nand seen and gone away, there came a greater than he, one not so easily\nturned back--the captain of the _Endeavour_, James Cook of undying\nmemory.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[Footnote 51: Captain Cook's ship was thus characterised by the Maori\nwho first caught sight of it.]\n\n[Footnote 52: Window.]\n\n[Footnote 53: This, at least, is the writer's view.]\n\n[Footnote 54: Now Massacre Bay.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nTHE BRITON'S GAIN\n\n\nIn the year 1741 a lad was apprenticed to a haberdasher in a small town\nnear Whitby in Yorkshire. His name was James Cook, and he was from\nthe first an example of the square peg in the round hole. So loose\nwas the fit that the peg presently fell out and rolled away. In other\nwords, young Cook, not being cut out for a haberdasher, got himself\napprenticed aboard a collier. His ability to hand, reef and steer was\nso much greater than his aptitude for wielding a yardstick that, as\nsoon as his time was out, he was raised to the position of mate.\n\nIn 1755, before he was twenty-seven, this remarkable youth joined the\nKing's navy as an ordinary seaman. Observe what he accomplished before\nten years were out by his own industry.\n\nStrictly attentive to duty, he rose rapidly, and thrice in succession\nwas master on a sloop of war, the last occasion being when Quebec was\nwrested from the French. That done, he surveyed and charted the St.\nLawrence from Quebec to the sea, although \"up to that time\" he had\n\"scarcely ever used a pencil, and had no knowledge of drawing.\" But\nhe had \"read Euclid\" ever since he joined the navy, and for recreation\nenjoyed \"the study of astronomy and kindred sciences.\" Think of it--the\nhaberdasher's boy, the collier's mate!\n\nThe ten years are not yet past. Our hero helped in 1762 to recapture\nNewfoundland from the French, and before 1763 was out he was back in\nthose cold seas, surveying the coasts. Another twelvemonth saw him\nappointed Marine Surveyor of Newfoundland and Labrador, under the\norders of his old captain, Sir Hugh Palliser.\n\nMr. Cook's astronomical studies now began to bear fruit, and he\nreceived in 1768 his commission as lieutenant and the command of an\nexpedition to the South Seas to observe the transit of Venus. With\nthis and other ends in view, Cook, now forty-one, left England in the\n_Endeavour_, accompanied by the great botanist, Joseph Banks, and other\nmen of science.\n\nThe narrative of the voyages of this famous circumnavigator is so\neasily accessible to all who care to follow \"our rough island story,\"\nthat there is no need to epitomise it here. It is sufficient to say\nthat Cook disproved all which had been previously held proved with\nregard to the \"polar continent,\" and in so doing came into direct and\nnotable relation with the country whose history we are tracing.\n\nIt was the 6th of October, 1769, when the lookout on the _Endeavour_\nsighted the bluff of Kuri--North Island--now known as \"Young Nick's\nHead.\" Supposing the land to be part of that \"Terra Australis\nIncognita\" which he had come to investigate, Cook cast anchor two days\nlater in the Bay of Turanga, or, as he saw fit to designate it owing to\nthe inhospitality of the natives, \"Poverty Bay.\"\n\nAt Otaheite, where he had observed the transit of Venus, Cook had\nshipped a chief named Tupia, who on many occasions proved of the\ngreatest use. He had already voyaged hundreds of miles in the great\ncanoes of the Tahitians, and his father had been an even more intrepid\nsailor. It was Tupia who pointed the way to this island and that,\nand who, owing to the limitations of his own knowledge, related his\nfather's experiences to Cook, assuring him that land lay still farther\nto the south.\n\nIt was Tupia, too, who landed with his leader on the shore at Turanga,\nand addressed the natives in Tahitian, a language which proved\nsufficiently like their own to enable them to understand most of what\nwas said.\n\nBut though Cook offered presents, and though Tupia charmed never so\nwisely with his Tahitian tongue, the Maori would have none of the\nPakeha. They no doubt feared these white visitors. Te Tanewha, a chief\nwho was a boy when Cook paid his first visit, described many years\nlater the astonishment of the Maori at the approach of what they\ntook to be \"a whale with wings.\" Then, as the _Endeavour's_ boats\nwere pulled ashore, the bewilderment of the natives deepened; for it\nappeared to them that the Pakeha had eyes in the back of their heads.\nThis, of course, was due to the position of the rowers, which was\nexactly the reverse of that assumed by the Maori in propelling their\ncanoes.\n\nThe appearance of the natives became threatening, and some of them\ntried to make off with one of the calves of the \"whale with wings,\"\nthat is, with the ship's pinnace. Tupia warned them that they ran the\nrisk of being severely dealt with, but the words of a man of their own\ncolour moved them not at all. Their hostile demonstrations continued,\nand Cook--who was determined to pursue his researches--very reluctantly\ndrove them back with violence.\n\nCook was so kindly, so humane, so unused to oppress another merely\nbecause his skin was coloured, that his action caused comment even in\nhis own day. That the great navigator himself regretted the impulse\nwhich had led him to depart from his usual magnanimous methods, is\nevident from the excuses he afterwards put forward in explanation of\nhis conduct.\n\nDuring the next six months Cook circumnavigated the islands,\ndiscovering the strait which bears his name between the North and the\nMiddle Island. Stewart Island he presumed to be the southern extremity\nof the Middle Island and, as regards the country, this was one of the\nvery few errors he made.\n\nFully alive to the warlike disposition of the Maori, Captain Cook yet\nrecognised their generosity, their agreeable behaviour to strangers who\ndid not presume too far, and the unusual gentleness of their attitude\ntowards their women. \"The Englishman who marries a Maori,\" he tells us,\n\"must first obtain the consent of her parents and, this done, ... is\nobliged to treat her with at least as much delicacy as in England.\"\nIn many passages Cook shows how clearly he perceived the superiority\nof these \"Indians\" over ordinary savages. Moreover, despite certain\npronounced faults, and the prevalence of one odious custom, he readily\nadmits their chivalrous nature.\n\nYet he occasionally fell into the common error of crediting the race\nwith the disposition of the individual, so that, if one lied or\nthieved, the natives in that particular part are set down as \"lying and\nthievish.\" But, though they opposed his efforts to explore the interior\nof the country, and so disappointed him, Captain Cook's experience\namong the Maori left him little to complain of; while the failings they\ndisplayed might well have been recognised as, first, the faults of\ntheir age and race, and second, the faults common to all men, white,\nbrown, yellow, or black.\n\nStill, for all his criticisms, Captain Cook was never personally harsh\nin his dealings with the Maori, and it would have been well had his\nsubordinates imitated more exactly his fine magnanimity. The following\naccount of an Englishman's hasty temper, and the cool judgment, not to\nsay generosity, of the Maori chiefs, is very instructive.\n\nOn one occasion, when a party of Maori visitors were leaving the\nship, Lieutenant Gore missed a piece of calico, which he was possibly\nendeavouring to exchange for native articles. Confident that a certain\nMaori had stolen the stuff, Gore deliberately fired at the man as he\nsat in the canoe, and killed him. The lieutenant was right in his\nbelief, for, when the canoe reached the shore, the blood-stained\ncalico was found beneath the dead man; but his action was that of a\nsavage--worse, since he, no doubt, claimed a higher order of mind. The\nonly excuse that can be offered for Gore is that he lived at a time\nwhen even children were hanged for stealing trifles, and he may have\nbelieved himself entitled to mete out this rough-and-ready justice.\n\nWhat followed? The Maori--admittedly savages--did not at once return\nand clamour for revenge; though an eye for an eye and blood for blood\nwas one of the strongest articles in their creed. No; the chiefs took\nthe matter in hand, calmly and dispassionately judged the dead man and\nfound him guilty of theft. Therefore, they determined that _utu_ should\nnot be exacted on account of the killing of their tribesman. That\nthey were perfectly sincere, and did not seek to disguise sentiments\nof hatred and desire for revenge under a mask of forgiveness, is\nentirely proved by the fact that Captain Cook landed after this unhappy\noccurrence and went about among them just as if nothing had happened.\n\nIt is right to say that Captain Cook was no party to his subordinate's\nimpetuous action, for violence was foreign to his methods. Says one of\nhis biographers--\"It was impossible for any one to excel Captain Cook\nin kindness of disposition, as is evident from the whole tenor of his\nbehaviour, both to his own men and to the many savage tribes with whom\nhe had occasion to interfere.\"\n\nSo convinced was Captain Cook of the advantage this beautiful country\nmust some day prove to Britain, that he took nominal possession of\nthe islands in the name of King George the Third. Yet it was not\nuntil 1787, eight years after the death of Cook, that New Zealand\nwas included by royal commission within the British dominions, while\nanother quarter of a century elapsed before Europe, at the Peace of\n1814, recognised Great Britain's claim.\n\nHow good a use Captain Cook made of the six months he spent in New\nZealand before he sailed to gather fresh laurels in Australia, any one\nmay read for himself in the story of his voyages. On each occasion\nhe introduced useful plants and animals into the islands, and it was\ndue to him that the animal food which the Maori had always lacked,\nbecame so readily procurable in the shape of pigs, which soon after\ntheir introduction ran wild and multiplied. The sweet potato was there\nalready; but it is to Cook that New Zealand owes the ordinary potato,\nthe turnip, cabbage, and other vegetables and fruit.\n\nTe Tanewha described Captain Cook as a reserved man who \"constantly\nwalked apart, swinging his right arm from side to side.\" This has been\nheld to mean that, whenever Captain Cook landed, he scattered the seeds\nof useful plants, in the hope that they would grow and fructify.\n\nThere were further misunderstandings when Cook revisited the Islands\nin 1779, the worst of them being wholly due to the wicked action of\nan English sailor who first robbed and then shot a Maori. With the\nslaughter of the natives which followed Cook had nothing to do; more,\nthe great navigator, who was as true and generous a gentleman as ever\nstepped, completely absolved the Maori from blame.\n\nThis was happily the last difficulty; for Cook arrived at a better\nunderstanding with the Maori and a clearer conception of the fine\ncharacter which underlay their faults. The natives, too, showed\nan ever-increasing confidence in their famous visitor, whom they\naffectionately styled \"Cookie.\" Notwithstanding their regard, they\nnever allowed him to penetrate far inland.\n\nHad Cook not been the just and temperate man he was, he might have\npierced the interior with an armed force, composed of his own men and\naborigines, and depopulated the land.\n\nDuring the period of Captain Cook's visits the Maori were constantly at\nwar, and the unwillingness of the coast tribes to allow him to proceed\ninland was probably due to their fear that he would aid the chiefs\nthere, return, and exterminate them. So they first obstructed the\nprogress of the explorer, and then made certain grim, but exceedingly\npractical, proposals to him.\n\nThese in effect were that Captain Cook should join forces with this\ntribe or that, proceed inland, and duly exterminate--everybody. This\nexcellent scheme, properly carried through, would have left certain of\nthe coast tribes supreme until civil strife began again to divide them.\nBut what if Cook had turned upon them in their turn?\n\nFortunately this was not Captain Cook's way; but that he recognised\nwhat was at the bottom of all these requests for help is clear from his\nown words:--\n\n\"Had I acted as some members of almost every tribe with whom we had\ndealings would have had me act, I might have extirpated the entire New\nZealand race.\"\n\nCould any words more distinctly show the good disposition of Captain\nCook, and at the same time prove how plagued the Maori were with\ninternecine wars?\n\nThe day came at length when this great and good man, who did so much\nfor Britain, must say a last farewell to the country towards which he\nseemed so singularly drawn. For it was written that he should never\nagain see the Waters of Greenstone or the land of his birth, but should\nfall a victim to his own humanity at the hands of savages whom he was\nendeavouring to protect.\n\nSuch was the admiration which this great navigator and good man\ninspired that, when war was declared between England and France in\n1779, the French Minister of Marine issued orders to the navy that, if\nencountered at sea, the ship of Captain Cook was to be treated with\ncourtesy. \"For,\" said he, \"honour, reason, and even interest, dictate\nthis act of respect for humanity; nor should we treat as an enemy the\ncommon benefactor of every European nation.\" The Americans, then at\nthe height of their struggle for freedom, had already anticipated this\ngenerous action by the mouth of their famous citizen, Benjamin Franklin.\n\nCaptain Cook was dead before knowledge of this splendid tribute to his\nservices and to his virtues could reach him; but, being dead, he was\nnot forgotten, for the whole world mourned his loss and honoured his\nmemory, as it has done ever since.\n\nWhen Captain Cook died Britain was just awaking to a realisation of\nthe evils of slavery, and beginning to recognise and endeavour to\nobviate the fact that, when and wherever the white man appeared among\nthe coloured races, the latter invariably suffered. How intensely\nCaptain Cook realised this, how earnestly he set himself to afford a\ngood example to those who should come after him, and how his countrymen\nappreciated his aims and his success, these lines from Hannah More's\npoem on \"Slavery\" show:--\n\n  Had those advent'rous spirits who explore,\n  Thro' ocean's trackless wastes, the far-sought shore,\n  Whether of wealth insatiate, or of power,\n  Conquerors who waste, or ruffians who devour;\n  Had these possessed, O Cook, thy gentle mind,\n  Thy love of arts, thy love of human-kind;\n  Had these pursu'd thy mild and gentle plan,\n  DISCOVERERS had not been a curse to man!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nCLOUDS AT DAWN\n\n\nAs Captain Cook sailed from Doubtless Bay in the North Island to pursue\nhis survey of the coast, Admiral de Surville, of the French navy, cast\nanchor therein. Unlike his great rival, De Surville remained only long\nenough to quarrel with the natives and to kidnap the chief who had\nhospitably entertained him.\n\nThree years later, in 1772, Captain Marion du Fresne, with Captain\nCrozet as his second in command, anchored in the Bay of Islands. Du\nFresne, or Marion, as he is usually styled, was received with great\nfriendliness, and for a month Maori and Pakeha excelled one another in\npoliteness and generosity. Then, quite unexpectedly occurred a shocking\ntragedy.\n\nMarion landed one morning with sixteen officers and men, intent upon\npleasure, and with no foreboding of evil. Night fell, morning broke\nagain, and found them still absent. Yet Crozet felt no suspicion,\nfor there had been no quarrel. But there had been a clear sign that\nsomething was gravely wrong; only neither Marion nor Crozet was\nfamiliar enough with the Maori mind to perceive it.\n\nThe light brightened and, ere the day was many hours old, twelve men\nwent ashore for wood and water. There was no appearance of unrest;\neverything seemed at peace. So the day wore on.\n\nSuddenly all was violently changed. The restful quiet vanished in a\nwhirl of wild commotion. What had happened? Who was the terrified\ncreature who, dripping wet, with torn clothes and blood-streaked face,\nwearily dragged himself over the rail and dropped exhausted upon the\ndeck?\n\nHe was the sole survivor of the twelve who had gone so confidently\nashore; and he told a dreadful tale.\n\nThe natives on the beach, he said, received the boat's crew with their\nusual kindliness, chatting and laughing till the sailormen dispersed\nand got to work. Then the blow fell. The wretched Frenchmen had scarce\ntime to become aware of their murderers ere club and spear had done\ntheir work, and all but one lay dead.\n\nThis one hid himself, but could not hide from his sight the horrid\nsequel; and he told with shaking voice how the Maori had dismembered\nhis unhappy comrades, taken each his load of human flesh and hurried\nfrom the scene.\n\nIncredible all this sounded in face of that pleasant month of\ndalliance; yet the proof was there in that terrified wretch, and\nincredulity gave way to wrath and sentiments of vengeance. The\nprolonged absence of the commander now took on a sinister aspect, and\nCrozet, too, with sixty men, was gone inland to procure a _kauri_-pine.\nWith such a force he could defy attack; but he must be advised of what\nhad happened.\n\nA boat crowded with armed men was pulled ashore, and the march began to\nthe spot where Crozet was making a road for the hauling of the giant\npine. One can imagine his feelings when his comrades arrived with their\nintelligence--the ghastly certainty, the terrible hypothesis.\n\nSorrowful, but grim, the company marched back to the boats, unmolested\nby the mob of natives who shouted the dreadful news that Marion du\nFresne and his escort of sixteen had all been killed and eaten.\n\nNot a word said Crozet until he reached the beach. Then, as the dusky\ncrowd surged forward, he drew a line upon the sand with the butt of a\nmusket. \"Cross that and die!\" he cried. No Maori dared to brave the\ndreaded \"fire-tubes,\" and the Frenchmen embarked and pulled out from\nthe beach.\n\nThen began Crozet's revenge. Safe now from attack, he poured volley\nafter volley into the mob of Islanders, until the last of them had\nfled, shrieking, beyond range. This was not enough. Day followed day\nand Maori were shot and villages burned, until Crozet, his vengeance\nonly partially satisfied, turned in wrath and disgust from the land he\nhad begun to love.\n\nIt all sounds very dreadful. It seems an act of atrocious treachery on\nthe part of the Maori to have masked their hideous design under an\nappearance of friendship; and this was Crozet's view. But was it the\ncorrect view?\n\nThe sign which he and his unfortunate commander had failed to read was\nthis: the Maori, after a month of uninterrupted intercourse, _suddenly\nceased to visit the ships_. It was equivalent to the withdrawal of an\nambassador before the declaration of war. Captain Cook, if he had not\nunderstood, would at least have noticed the sign and been on his guard.\n\nCrozet professed to know of no cause of quarrel, yet the Maori had\nfound one, though not until many years later did the truth come out.\nThe French, both officers and men, had carelessly--in some cases\nwantonly--intruded upon sacred places, destroyed sacred objects,\ntreated with disrespect certain sacred persons. In other words, they\nhad violated _tapu_, and the Maori of that day viewed such behaviour\nas unpardonable and only to be atoned for by death. Bad as the horrid\nbusiness was at the best, it is well to remember the old advice, \"Hear\nthe other side.\"\n\nCrozet's utterances against the Maori were charged with such bitter\nexecration, that for decades no French ship ventured near the island\nhomes of those fierce and terrible cannibals. More, the lurid story\nspread across the Channel, effectually checking any desire on the part\nof the British for closer acquaintance with the wild men of the south.\nThe reputation of the Maori still had power nearly ten years later to\nscare off all but the boldest intruders. Even the worst of criminals\nwere held undeserving of so outrageous a fate as exposure to the chance\nof being devoured by cannibals; and a motion to establish convict\nsettlements in New Zealand was strongly denounced in the House of\nCommons and defeated.\n\nSo New Zealand, fortunately for herself, never knew the convict stain,\nand rogues were packed off to Australia with leave to reform if they\ncould. Some, perhaps, did. Others, pestilential ruffians who could not\nbe tamed even by five hundred lashes on the bare back, were weeded out\nand sent to Norfolk Island, another of Captain Cook's discoveries,\nlying some three days' sail to the north of New Zealand.\n\nThis charming island ought also to have escaped the convict infamy,\nfor it was already occupied by honest settlers. Oddly enough, it was\nthis very occupation, associated with the needs of commerce, which\nhelped to overcome the shyness with which men regarded New Zealand,\nand eventually induced them to people her beautiful bays and fertile\nvalleys.\n\nThe new product, the now famous _Phormium tenax_ or New Zealand flax,\nsamples of which had aroused the greatest enthusiasm in England, set\nmanufacturers longing for a substance which would lend itself to so\nmany useful purposes.\n\nThe manufacturers had to go longing for many years; for the prospect\nof forming the _pi\u00e8ce de r\u00e9sistance_ at the dinner-table of a Maori\nchief failed to attract traders, who left New Zealand severely alone.\nThen came the settlement of Norfolk Island, and men of commerce were\nimmensely cheered; for the much-desired _Phormium tenax_ was found\ngrowing there, wild and in profusion.\n\nBut the Norfolk Island people failed utterly to manipulate the fibre\nas cleverly as the brown men to the south of them, and there was\nlittle use in exporting the fibre in the rough. Besides, their failure\nrendered them uncertain whether they had the right plant.\n\nTwenty years after the death of Marion the effect of his tragic story\nhad not worn off; but instruction being absolutely necessary, and as\nonly Maori could give it, a couple of them were coolly kidnapped and\ncarried off to Norfolk Island.\n\nBut the biters were bit. One Maori is very like another in the eyes of\nthe Pakeha, and the kidnapper ignorantly carried off an _ariki_ and a\n_rangatira_, men utterly unused to manual work. During the six months\nthey spent among their abductors not a word had these two to say upon\nthe all-important subject of cleansing flax-fibre.\n\n\"It is women's work,\" they declared with lofty contempt. \"What should\n_we_ know of it?\"\n\nGovernor King had some compunction at the manner in which things had\nbeen managed, and at last redressed the wrong. He had treated the chief\nand the gentleman with scrupulous courtesy and unvarying kindness\nduring their enforced stay, and now, after heaping presents upon\nthem--not the least of which were a bag of seed corn and a drove of\npigs--he took them back with honour to the Bay of Islands.\n\nGenerous themselves, the Maori responded heartily to Captain King's\nadvances, and their behaviour, together with his own perception of\ntheir unusual intellectuality, induced the Governor to write home\nglowing accounts of the New Zealanders, and warmly recommend the\nestablishment of friendly relations with them. For this good man was\nfar-seeing, and recognised the capacity for civilisation which lay\nbeneath the crust of savagery. Therefore, in agreement with Benjamin\nFranklin's previously expressed opinion, he strongly advised that\nshiploads of useful iron articles be sent to induce the Maori to\nbarter, and not beads and such gewgaws, which they most surely despised.\n\nSo \"out of evil came forth good\" and, as the news of the better\ndisposition of Maori towards Pakeha spread, it was not long before it\nbegan to take effect. And here also Commerce had her say.\n\nEver since the days of Cook a few bold fellows had ventured upon an\noccasional visit to the Dangerous Land in search of whales; for the\nregular fishery had not come so far south. Others now began to follow\nthese adventurers, feeling their way to the good graces of the coast\ntribes. There were no more massacres, whales were found in plenty, and\nword went forth presently that seals, too, abounded on the coast of\nthis new and wondrous land.\n\nThe news brought more hardy fellows in pursuit of fortune, until,\nwhereas in 1790 scarce a white man dared show his face off the coast,\nthe earliest years of the nineteenth century saw a regular trade\nestablished between the whalers and the Maori. The whalers brought the\ndelighted Islanders iron nails, fish-hooks, knives, axes, bracelets of\nmetal and many other articles which pleased them well. The Maori in\nreturn brought pigs, fresh vegetables, flax and tall, straight trees\nfor masts and spars.\n\nAlways brave and bold, delighting to ride the waves in their canoes,\nand in some cases taking a positive delight in danger, the coast Maori\nshowed the keenest interest in whaling, regarding it as splendid sport,\nto enjoy which they readily shipped as harpooners.\n\nThere is no doubt about their aptitude; none about their enjoyment in\nthe pursuit of the monstrous sea mammal. More than one tale is current\nof impatient Maori, fearing to miss the whale even at close quarters,\nhurling themselves astride the creature and driving the harpoon deep\ninto the yielding blubber as the animal dived in a frenzy of terror.\nThen from the reddened foam that crested the tumbling waves the brown\nmen would emerge, clamber aboard the boat and sit dripping, but happy,\nwhile the line ran out like lightning as the stricken whale raced to\nits death.\n\nSo there were bold fellows on either side, each compelling the other's\nrespect and admiration by acts of high courage. In this way confidence\ngrew and friendship followed; so that some of the whites took to\nthemselves Maori women, and dwelt with the tribes to which their wives\nbelonged.\n\nCoarse though this particular variety often was, there is no doubt that\nthese adventurous Pakeha-Maori (or Strangers turned into Maori) sowed\nthe earliest seeds of civilisation among the Maori, though it was long\nbefore the plant became acclimatised and brought forth good fruit.\n\nIt is often the fate of a new country to receive at first the very\nworst elements, and this was the experience of New Zealand. As soon\nas it became known that a man might enter her gates without thereby\nqualifying for the cooking-pot, an eager crowd of depraved humanity\nrushed jostling through. The sealers and whalers were rough, but not a\nfew were honest fellows, while, as a class, they were refined gentlemen\nbeside the mob of escaped murderers, thieves, and panderers to moral\nfilth, which overflowed from the convict-swamped shores of New South\nWales. Had not the Maori, despite their grave faults, been capable\nof much better things, they could never have shaken free from the\ngarments of impurity in which some of the earliest settlers endeavoured\nto clothe them. But there was good stuff in the Maori, and, though\nthey fell often, they continually rose again. One innate virtue they\npossessed--that of sobriety. It was rarely that the Pakeha could induce\nthem to indulge in the \"fire-water\"--\"stink-water\" was their name for\nit--which has been the ruin of more than one coloured race.\n\nBut many years were yet to elapse before the Maori threw off the worst\nof their own bad manners, much less improved upon those of their\nwhite instructors, and scenes of violence and bloodshed were to be\nenacted before the sons of Maui should dwell together in peace among\nthemselves, or bend their stubborn necks beneath the yoke of the\nPakeha. From time to time there were terrible outbreaks, and one of the\nworst of these was that which is evilly remembered as \"The Massacre of\nthe _Boyd_.\"\n\nAs early as 1805 an English gentleman had induced an adventurous Maori\nto accompany him to London, and not a few chiefs had since then paid\nvisits to Sydney, while others of lower rank had embarked under the\nmasters of vessels which touched at the Islands. These last were, of\ncourse, subject to the same discipline as the sailors; but, free and\nindependent as they had always been, this seems to have been a hard\nlesson for them to learn. Hence arose misunderstandings, and from one\nsuch was developed the tragedy of the _Boyd_.\n\nOn her voyage from Sydney to London in 1809 the ship was to call at\nWhangaroa, near the Bay of Islands, to load wood for masts and spars.\nConsequently, several Maori who were stranded in Sydney embraced the\nopportunity to work their passage back to their own country.\n\nAmong these was Tarra, a chief's son, and he, too proud or, as he\naverred, too ill to work, refused to do his duty. Starvation was tried\nas a means of cure; but this failing, young Tarra was twice tied up and\nsoundly flogged.\n\nBoadicea, bleeding from the rods of the Romans, had not more\nindignation than had Tarra when he showed his scars and called upon his\ntribe to avenge him upon those who had inflicted them.\n\nReady enough was the response, for the law of the Maori required them\nto take revenge for every injury. The lure was spread, the master of\nthe _Boyd_ went ashore at Whangaroa with part of his crew, and every\nman of them was slain and eaten.\n\nEven then Tarra's vengeance was not glutted. With his tribe at his\nback he boarded the _Boyd_ and killed every person on the ship with the\nexception of four. A woman and two children hid themselves, and Tarra\nspared the cabin-boy because of some kindness the youngster had once\ndone him.\n\nSingular contrast! The savage, who could go to the most appalling\nextremes to satisfy his hate, was, even at the very height of his\nmurderous wrath, capable of gratitude.\n\nThis awful massacre set back for years the clock which had seemed\nabout to strike the hour for beginning Maori civilisation, while the\nresentment of the whites led to a slaughter as wholesale as that which\nit was intended to revenge.\n\nOn hearing of the massacre of the _Boyd_ a chief named Te Pahi, whose\ndaughter was wedded to an English sailor, hurried to Whangaroa, and was\ninstrumental in saving the lives of the woman and two children. His\ngood deed done, Te Pahi returned to the Bay of Islands, where he lived.\n\nTerrible danger menaced him. In some unexplained way he had got the\ncredit of having engineered the _Boyd_ affair, and the crews of\nfive whaling ships, accepting the rumour for truth, condemned the\nunfortunate chief unheard, and took bitter vengeance upon him.\n\nTheir task was easy, for the village was unfortified and the Maori\nwholly unsuspicious. Fully armed, the whalers fell upon the innocent\npeople, sorely wounded the chief, and slew some two-score persons\nwithout regard to age or sex. Te Pahi himself escaped in the confusion,\nonly to be killed not long afterwards by some of his own race because\nof the help he had given to the survivors of the _Boyd_. Doubly\nunfortunate was poor Te Pahi.\n\nThus bad began and worse remained behind. During the next decade\nnumbers of tribesmen fell beneath the weapons of casual white visitors,\nwhile the Maori, on their side, smote with club and spear, and gathered\nas deadly a toll.\n\nThe country seemed drifting back into that state of savagery whence it\nhad promised a short time before to emerge. It might have done so, but\nthat at this juncture occurred an event which laid the true foundations\nof civilisation, and heralded that peace which, though long in coming,\ncame at last.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nRONGO PAI![55]\n\n\nIn spite of the tragedy of the _Boyd_, in spite of the war of\nindividuals which vexed the coast--though murder was added to murder,\nrevenge piled upon revenge,--more Pakeha filtered into New Zealand,\ncontent to brave death for the chance of obtaining a home and wealth.\n\nOn their part, more Maori deserted their _hapu_ for the great world\noutside their little islands and, needless to say, were gazed at with\nshuddering curiosity. Such as these, taught by experience that there\nexisted a race superior to their own, convinced their countrymen of the\nadvantages to be gained by permanent friendship with the British Pakeha.\n\nSo these played their part in watering the tree of civilisation, whose\nroots now began to take firm hold of the soil; while the white men,\never improving in type and conduct, helped along the great work.\n\nAs yet there was no attempt at systematic colonisation. Scattered over\nthe Islands and wholly dependent upon the good will of their hosts,\nthe Pakeha kept as friendly with the natives as circumstances would\nallow, while they saw to it that musket or rifle stood ever handy to\ntheir grip.\n\nThe taste which the Maori had acquired for wandering outside their own\ncountry at length brought about a remarkable conjunction, destined\nto bear most importantly upon the future of New Zealand. It was\nnothing else than the formation of a friendship between a Christian\nEnglishman of singular nobility of character and a Maori of sanguinary\ndisposition, a warrior notable among a race of warriors and, withal, a\ncannibal of cannibals.\n\nIn the first decade of the years when George the Third was king there\nwas born in Yorkshire a boy who was brought up as a blacksmith. For\nsome time he followed his trade; but, having a strong inclination\ntowards a missionary life, he was ordained a clergyman of the Church of\nEngland, and in due course found himself senior chaplain of the colony\nof New South Wales.\n\nThis man, whose name must be ever honoured in the history of New\nZealand, was Samuel Marsden, who was the first to desire to bring, and\nwho did actually bring the tidings of the Gospel to the land of the\nMaori.\n\nThere were missionaries at work in Tahiti, in the Marquesas and in\nTonga; but New Zealand, the land of the ferocious warrior and savage\ncannibal, had been esteemed an impossible country, or, at all events,\nas not yet prepared for the sowing. So it was left to itself.\n\nThen came a day when Samuel Marsden, walking through the narrow streets\nof Sydney, stopped to gaze at a novel sight. Not far from him stalked\nproudly three splendid-looking men, types of a race with which he was\nunfamiliar.\n\nThey were not Australian aboriginals. That was instantly evident. Their\nfaces were strangely scarred, their heads, held high, were plumed with\nrare feathers, and the outer garment they wore, of some soft, buff\nmaterial, suggested the Roman toga. There was, indeed, something Roman\nabout their appearance, with their fine features, strong noses, and\nsternly compressed lips.\n\nMr. Marsden was from the first strongly attracted to these men and,\nbeing informed that they were New Zealand chiefs, come on a visit to\nSydney, the good man grew sad. That such noble-looking men should be\nheathen and cannibals inexpressibly shocked him, and he determined then\nand there that what one of God's servants might do for the salvation of\nthat proud, intellectual race, that, by the grace of God, he would do.\n\nA man so deeply religious as Samuel Marsden was not likely to waste\ntime over a matter in his judgment so supremely important. The chiefs\nreadily admitted the anarchy induced by the constant friction between\nbrown men and white, though it was not to be expected that they should\nrealise at once their own spiritual darkness. Mr. Marsden was not\ndiscouraged, and set in train a scheme whereby a number of missionaries\nwere to be sent out immediately by the Church Missionary Society, to\nattempt the conversion of the Maori to Christianity.\n\nTwenty-five of these reached Sydney, where men's ears were tingling\nwith the awful details of the massacre of the _Boyd_, and judged the\nrisk too great. So they stayed where they were, and the conversion of\nNew Zealand was delayed for a season.\n\nThe residence of meek and peaceable men among such intractable savages\nwas deemed to be outside the bounds of possibility; but Marsden\nfirmly believed that the way would be opened in God's good time, and\nwaited and watched and prayed, possessing his soul in patience. The\nopportunity which he so confidently expected arrived in 1814.\n\nSome ten years after the birth of Samuel Marsden another boy was born\non the other side of the world. Hongi[56] Ika was his name, a chief and\na chief's son of the great tribe of the Nga-Puhi in the north. Marsden\nhad swung his hammer over the glowing iron and beaten out horse-shoes\nand ploughshares. Hongi, too, swung his hammer; but it was the Hammer\nof Thor. And every time that Hongi's hammer fell, it beat out brains\nand broke men's bones, until none could be found to stand against\nhim. Yet Hongi had a hard knock or two now and then and, being as yet\nuntravelled, gladly assented when his friend Ruatara--who had seen King\nGeorge of England--suggested a visit to Sydney.\n\nHongi found plenty to interest him, and also took a philosopher's\ndelight in arguing the great questions of religion with Mr. Marsden,\nin whose house he and Ruatara abode. Marsden knew the man for what he\nwas, a warrior and a cannibal; but so tactful and persuasive was he\nthat, before his visit ended, Hongi agreed to allow the establishment\nof a missionary settlement at the Bay of Islands, and promised it his\nprotection.\n\nSo the first great step was taken, and Marsden planted his vineyard. He\nwas a wise man and, knowing by report the shortcomings of the land he\ndesired to Christianise, took with him a good supply of animal food,\nand provision for future needs as well, in the shape of sheep and oxen.\nWith a view to the requirements of his lieutenants, he also introduced\na horse or two.\n\nWhat impression the sight of a man on horseback made upon the\nMaori may be gathered from the experience of Mr. Edward Wakefield\ntwenty-seven years later at Whanganui. In this district, which is on\nthe opposite side of the Island to that on which Mr. Marsden landed,\nand considerably farther south, the natives had never seen a horse.\nResult--\"They fled,\" writes Mr. Wakefield, \"in all directions, and, as\nI galloped past those who were running, they fairly lay down on their\nfaces and gave themselves up for lost. I dismounted, and they plucked\nup courage to come and take a look at the _kuri nui_, or 'large dog.'\n'Can he talk?' said one. 'Does he like boiled potatoes?' said another.\nAnd a third, 'Mustn't he have a blanket to lie down on at night?' This\nunbounded respect and adoration lasted all the time that I remained.\nA dozen hands were always offering him Indian corn (maize) and grass,\nand sowthistles, when they had learned what he really did eat; and a\nwooden bowl of water was kept constantly replenished close to him; and\nlittle knots of curious observers sat round the circle of his tether\nrope, remarking and conjecturing and disputing about the meaning and\nintention of every whisk of his tail or shake of his ears.\"\n\nIt was for long all endeavour and little result. But other missionaries\narrived, new stations were erected in various parts of the north, and\nthe Wesleyans, seven years later, imitated the example of the Church\nMissionary Society and sent their contingent to the front.\n\nTo the fighting line these went indeed; for they settled at Whangaroa,\nwhere the sunken hull of the _Boyd_ recalled the horror of twelve years\nbefore. Tarra himself was still there, the memory of his stripes as\ngreen as though he had but yesterday endured the poignant suffering. He\nrendered vain for five long years the efforts of the missionaries, and\nfrom his very deathbed cursed them, urging his tribe to drive them out;\nso that they fled, thankful to escape with their lives--for they saved\nnought else.\n\nThe missionaries of the Church Missionary Society nine years later\nendured a similar hard experience, and were forced to flee from their\nstations at Tauranga and Rotorua. A bishop and a company of priests,\nsent by Pope Gregory XVI., arrived at Hokianga in the year 1838, and\nthese, too, presently learned what it was to suffer for their faith.\n\nBut in spite of hardships--whether stripped of their possessions,\nwhether driven from their homes, whether death met them at every turn,\nthe missionaries, no matter what their creed, persevered. They looked\nnot back to the evil days which lay behind; but faint, yet pursuing,\npushed onward, until the North Island was sprinkled with the white\nhouses of their missions, over which floated the flag of the Prince of\nPeace, emblazoned with His message, \"_Rongo Pai!_\"\n\nThen came the crossing of Cook Strait, and the spiritual conquest\nof the Middle Island. New missionaries constantly arrived, fresh\nrecruits ever enrolled under the banner of the Cross; until, a bare\ntwo-and-twenty years from that Christmas Day when Samuel Marsden\npreached his first sermon in a land where Christianity was not even a\nname, four thousand Maori converts knelt in the House of God.\n\nThis was not accomplished without strenuous effort. The difficulties\nand dangers which confronted the earliest _mihonari_ would have driven\nback all but the most earnest and faithful men. The record of their\nsufferings and struggles would of itself fill a volume. Indeed, only\nthe least suggestion has been made here of what they bore for Christ's\nsake. But their works do follow them, gone to their rest as all of them\nare; and what prouder epitaph can be theirs than this: They came; they\nsaw; and they conquered at last!\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[Footnote 55: Good Tidings!]\n\n[Footnote 56: By his own tribe pronounced \"Shongi.\"]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nTHE WARS OF HONGI IKA\n\n\nIt was necessary to steal a march on time in order to give a connected,\nthough imperfect account of the foundation of Christianity in New\nZealand. Return we to Hongi Ika and his doings.\n\nIf Mr. Marsden hoped to turn the philosopher-warrior-cannibal from the\nerror of his ways, the good man must have been grievously disappointed.\nHongi remained a pagan; but he never broke his promise to the\nmissionary. He was a terrible fellow, but he was not a liar. His word\nwas sacred, and he regretted on his deathbed that the men of Whangaroa\nhad been too strong for him when they drove the Wesleyan missionaries\nfrom their station.\n\nLeaving Mr. Marsden and his colleagues at Rangihoua, Hongi returned to\nhis trade of war, and for five years or so enjoyed himself in his own\nway. Then, tiring again of strife, his thoughts turned once more upon\nforeign travel.\n\nThis time his ambition soared high, and with a fellow chief he sailed\nfor London under the wing of a missionary. He was exceedingly well\nreceived, for the horror and fright with which the New Zealanders had\nbeen regarded was greatly diminished in 1820, and Britons were again\nlooking longingly towards a country so rich in commercial possibilities.\n\nSo Hongi found himself a \"lion,\" and with the adaptability of his\nrace so comported himself, that it occurred to few to identify the\nbright-eyed little fellow with the ample forehead and keen brain with\nthe lusty warrior and ferocious cannibal of whom startling tales had\nbeen told.\n\nEven His Majesty, George the Fourth, did not disdain to receive the\n\"Napoleon of New Zealand,\" and being, perhaps, in a prophetic mood,\npresented the great little man with a suit of armour.\n\nHongi would have preferred a present of the offensive kind in the shape\nof guns and ammunition; for the Nga-Puhi had early gauged the value of\nsuch weapons in settling tribal disputes, and had managed to acquire a\nfew, though not nearly enough to meet the views of Hongi Ika.\n\nThe king had set the fashion, and his subjects followed suit so\nlavishly, that, if Hongi had chosen to lay aside his dignity and open a\ncurio shop, he could have done so. The little man was overjoyed. He was\nrich now, and he gloated over his presents as a means to an end. What a\nwar he could wage, if he could only find a pretext. Pretexts did not,\nas a rule, trouble Hongi; but the eyes of the great were upon him, and\nit would be just as well to consider appearances. As he recrossed the\nocean his active brain was at work planning, planning. Ah, if he could\nbut find a pretext!\n\nHongi had been absent for two years, and with right good will the\ntribes of the north-east wished that he might never return. However,\nwith the dominant personality of the little man lacking to the\nall-conquering Nga-Puhi, there was no knowing what might happen; so\nthe tribes around about the Thames river, whose frith is that thing of\nbeauty, the Hauraki Gulf, took heart of grace, marched to the fight,\nand slew, among other folk, no less a person than Hongi's son-in-law.\n\nHere was indeed a pretext. Hongi clung to it as a dog to his bone. In\nSydney he had melted down, so to speak, his great pile of presents\ninto three hundred stand of arms, which included a goodly share of the\ncoveted _tupara_, or double-barrelled guns. Ammunition was added, and\nthus, with a very arsenal at his command, Hongi Ika came again to his\nnative land.\n\nHe came armed _cap-\u00e0-pie_; for he wore the armour which the king had\ngiven him--and the good _mihonari_ stood aghast at sight of him. \"Even\nnow the tribes are fighting,\" they groaned. \"When is this bitter strife\nto cease?\"\n\nPretext, indeed! To avenge his son-in-law was all very well. _Utu_\nshould be exacted to the full. But here was a pretext beyond all\nothers, and the wily Hongi instantly seized upon it.\n\n\"Fighting! Are they?\" He grinned as only a Maori can grin. \"I will stop\nthese dogs in their worrying. They shall have their fill of fighting.\"\nHe grinned again. \"That will be the surest way, my _mihonari_ friends.\nI will keep them fighting until they have no more stomach for it, and\nso shall there be an end.\" He muttered under his breath, \"because\ntheir tribes shall be even as the _moa_.\"[57] As the _moa_ was extinct,\nthe significance of the addition should be sufficiently clear.\n\nHongi kept his word--he always did that--and sailed for the front in\nthe proudest of his fleet of war-canoes, with a thousand warriors\nbehind him, armed with _mere_ and _patu_ and spear, while in his van\nwent a _garde de corps_ of three hundred picked men, fondling--so\npleased were they--the three hundred muskets and _tupara_ for which\ntheir chief's presents had been exchanged.\n\nSouthward, through the Hauraki Gulf, he sails into the estuary of\nthe Thames, into the Thames itself. One halt and the Totara _pa_ is\ndemolished, and with five hundred of its defenders dead in his rear\nHongi sweeps on, southward still, to Matakitaki. Four to one against\nhim! What care Hongi Ika and his three hundred musketeers? It is the\nsame story--fierce attack and sudden victory, ruthless slaughter of\ntwice a thousand foes, and Hongi, grinning in triumph, ever keeps his\nface to the south and drives his enemies before him as far as the Lake\nof Rotorua.\n\nAt Kawhia, on the west, there lived, when Hongi scourged the land,\nthe hereditary chief, Te Rauparaha, a notable fighter, but a better\ndiplomate. On Te Rauparaha men's eyes were now turned. He will know how\nto deal with the proud Nga-Puhi. Hongi's triumphal progress is nearing\nits end.\n\nNo. Hongi, at Mauinaina, is too close. Besides, he is a demon. He\ncarries a charm which renders him invulnerable. That shining headpiece,\nthat sparkling plate upon his chest--what are they, if not charms to\nkeep him whole and sound? At Totara did not some strong arm deal him a\nbuffet which would have scattered the brains of any mere man? Yet he\ndid but stagger, while all around heard the sullen clang which was the\nhowl of the evil spirit protecting his head. At Matakitaki was not a\nspear driven against his breast which should have split his heart and\nlet out his villainous blood? Yet the point was blunted against the\nchest charm, and the spearman, poor wretch, slain. These things being\nso, who can stand against Hongi?\n\nNot Te Rauparaha. The bold raider's nerves give way, and with black\nrage and hatred in his heart he gathers his followers together and\nflees southward to Otaki, giving as he goes the measure he has\nreceived, and leaving a trail of blood and fire behind him.\n\nHongi \"has made a solitude and calls it--peace\"; he is satisfied for\nthe time being with what he has done and won, and must go home with his\nslaves and his heads and his loot, to enter his village in triumph like\na general of old Rome.\n\nTe Rauparaha, fleeing south, takes vengeance for the wrongs done him by\nHongi upon all who come in his way. To be sure, it is not their affair;\nbut Te Rauparaha cares nothing for that. Vengeance he wants; so hews a\nbloody path from north to south, till stayed by the rippling streak at\nthe end of the land. Beyond that lies Te Wai Pounamou, The Waters of\nGreenstone, the Middle Island, washed by the Tasman Sea.\n\nTe Rauparaha's smouldering rage blazes up again. What! Shall that strip\nof water stop him? Not while he has an arm to strike, and there is a\ncanoe to be had for the striking.\n\nSo again the fearful drama--murder and rapine. The canoes are seized,\nthe owners left stark upon the beach. Then across the strait, where a\nwondering crowd await his coming, not without apprehension. They have\nreason.\n\n\"Who is it that comes?\" \"It is Te Rauparaha!\" In a moment the chief is\namong them. Blood flows again. Te Rauparaha is once more the victor.\nWill it never end?\n\nNot yet. Hongi Ika comes not here to stop fighting by fighting, and Te\nRauparaha has learned the lesson of the _tupara_, for he now has guns.\nOnce more tearing a leaf from Hongi's book, he springs at the cowering\npopulation upon the great plain. Some he slaughters, some he enslaves;\nsome, frantic with terror, braving the heaving Pacific, speed eastwards\nto Wari Kauri (Chatham Islands) six hundred miles away.\n\nAgain we have been obliged to fly ahead of time in order to give full\nimpression--not a complete picture--of these sinister happenings; for\nthe wars of Hongi in the north, and Te Rauparaha's sanguinary progress\nto the south were not over and done with in a month or a year. It was\nin 1821 that Hongi started upon his self-imposed mission to cure like\nwith like, and for the next twenty years--long after the death of\nHongi--quarrel was piled upon quarrel, war led to war, till the whole\nof the north was involved.\n\nWe left Hongi marching home in triumph, unconcerned that his hammering\nof the north had turned loose in the south a devil in the shape of\nTe Rauparaha. He had sustained no serious losses, and for some time\ncontinued pre-eminent. But his many and powerful foes had by now\nappreciated the reason of his success, and provided themselves with\nfirearms. From that time Hongi, though victorious, paid more dearly for\nhis victories.\n\nHongi, when in battle, as a rule shone resplendent in the armour which\nGeorge the Fourth had given him, and which was supposed to render him\ninvulnerable. The belief received justification from the issue of\nHongi's last fight at Hokianga in 1827.\n\nFor some reason the great chief wore only his helmet upon that fatal\nday.\n\n  Ill fared it then with Roderick Dhu,\n  When on the field his targe he threw.\n\nIll fared it with Hongi when he rushed into the fight without his\nshining breastplate; for hardly was the battle joined when a bullet\npassed through his body, and the day of the great Hongi, the Lion of\nthe North, was done.\n\n[Illustration: Hongi's last \"word\" to his people]\n\nFifteen months later, as he lay upon his death mats at Whangaroa,\nfeasting his glazing eyes upon the array of clubs, battleaxes, muskets,\nand _tupara_ set around the bed, he called to him his relatives, his\ndearest friends, and his fighting-chiefs, and spoke to them this\nword:--\n\n\"Children, and you who have carried my arms to victory, this is my word\nto you. I promised long ago to be kind to the _mihonari_, and I have\nkept my promise. It is not my fault if they have not been well treated\nby others. Do as I have done. Let them dwell in peace; for they do no\nharm, and some good.\n\n\"Hear ye this word also. The ends of the world draw together, and men\nof a strong race come ever over the sea to this our land. Let these\nlikewise dwell in peace. Trade with them. Give them your daughters in\nmarriage. Good shall come of it.\n\n\"But, if there come over the sea men in red coats, who neither sow nor\nreap, but ever carry arms in their hands, beware of them. Their trade\nis war and they are paid to kill. Make you war upon them and drive them\nout. Otherwise evil will come of it.\n\n\"Children, and you, my old comrades, be brave and strong in your\ncountry's cause. Let not the land of your ancestors pass into the hands\nof the Pakeha. Behold! I have spoken.\"\n\nWith that the mighty chief Hongi drew the corner of his mat across his\nface and passed through the gates to the waters of Reinga.\n\nSo died Hongi Ika, aged fifty-five, or thereabouts, who had made his\ninfluence felt from his youth until his death, and whose words and acts\ndeeply swayed the fortunes of his country. Paradoxical as it may sound,\nthese combined with the spread of Christianity to render colonisation\npossible, while they helped to foment the discontent with which\nHongi's successors viewed the coming of armed forces, and the gradual\nabsorption of their land by the Pakeha.\n\nIn the first place, Hongi protected the missionaries. In the second\nplace, during his wars and the wars they induced, more than twenty\nthousand Maori fell in the score of years occupied in civil strife.\nConcerned with their own wars, and with numbers thinned, the Maori left\nthe white settlers time and opportunity to increase, whereby they grew\ndaily better able to resist the power of the brown men when this was at\nlast sternly directed against them. In the third place, Hongi's dying\nadvice was without the shadow of a doubt the part cause of Honi Heke's\noutbreak at Kororareka fifteen years later, and of the strife which\nimmediately followed it.\n\nAfter the death of Hongi the leading spirits among the warriors in\nthe neighbourhood of the Bay of Islands were the chiefs Pomare and\nKawiti--the latter a thorn in the colonials' flesh for many a long\nyear; while the Waikato tribe boasted a leader of no ordinary parts in\nTe Wherowhero, whose descendant, the Honourable Mahuta Tawhiao Potatau\nte Wherowhero, sits to-day in the Legislative Council of the Dominion\nof New Zealand.\n\nTe Wherowhero had himself captained the Waikato on that day when Hongi\ndecimated them and cooked two thousand of their slain to celebrate\nhis victory, and a memory so red would not, one would have said, be\nlikely soon to pale. Yet Te Wherowhero led his men not against his old\nenemies, but against the men of Taranaki.\n\nBoth Waikato and Taranaki owed Nga-Puhi a grudge, and reasonable men\nwould have combined against a common foe. But the Maori were ever\nunreasonable where war was concerned, holding tribal grudges more\nimportant than unification of the nation; so, instead of combining\nagainst Nga-Puhi, Waikato and Taranaki warred the one against the other.\n\nThis disunion among the tribes materially assisted the colonists in\ntheir own long struggle for supremacy; for the \"friendly\" Maori often\nhelped their cause not so much from love of them, as from hate of some\ntribe in opposition to British rule.\n\nEven a particular tribe sometimes divided against itself. A civil\nstrife of this nature broke out in 1827 among the Bay of Islands folk.\nIt was a small affair, and is mentioned only to illustrate the chivalry\nwith which the Maori could behave on occasion.\n\nA European settlement had been established at a charming spot, known as\nKororareka. There were decent people there, and a missionary station\nstood hard by; but for the most part drunkenness and profligacy\nprevailed, while Pomare, whose village lay close at hand, pandered to\nthe vices of the whites in return for the coveted _tupara_.\n\nBad as many of the settlers were, they were white men; so when news of\nthe war reached Sydney, Captain Hobson's ship was ordered to Kororareka\nto afford the residents what protection they might require.\n\nBut when H.M.S. _Rattlesnake_ entered the Bay, her decks cleared for\naction, guns frowning through their ports, bare-armed, bare-footed tars\nat quarters, lo! all was peace. Captain Hobson at once went ashore to\nmake inquiries, and was amazed at the information he received.\n\nNot one white settler had been inconvenienced, much less injured. The\ncontending parties, fearing lest one side or the other might be forced\nback upon the settlement, and so bring disaster upon its inhabitants,\nhad by mutual agreement transferred the theatre of war to a spot too\nremote to allow of such a contingency.\n\nAfter this, who shall say that the Maori were deficient in generosity,\ndestitute of chivalry?\n\n  NOTE.--Mr. Augustus Earle, Draughtsman to H.M. Surveying Ship\n  _Beagle_, in 1827, relates that the pagan Maori in the Bay of Islands\n  used to rise at daybreak on Sunday to finish their canoe-building\n  and other work before the whites were astir, thus showing their\n  respect for the reverence in which the Pakeha held the Day. Mr. Earle\n  adds: \"It was more respect than we Europeans pay to any religious\n  ceremony we do not understand. Even their tabooed grounds would not\n  be so respected by us, if we were not quite certain they possessed\n  the power instantly to revenge any affront offered to their sacred\n  places.\"\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[Footnote 57: Maori proverb.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\nVARIOUS RULERS\n\n\nThese wars and rumours of wars had small effect in stopping\nimmigration. Most of the settlers were British; for, though no\nsystematic colonisation had as yet been attempted, the right of Great\nBritain's sovereignty over New Zealand had been recognised at the Peace\nof 1814.\n\nNew South Wales being the nearest approach to a centre of civilisation,\nthe Government in Sydney watched the interests of the settlers on the\neastern edge of the Tasman Sea; but, because of the distance between\nthe two countries, the New Zealand settlers had really to protect\nthemselves from annoyance as best they could. The Maori, predominant in\npower, found little difficulty in safeguarding their own interests.\n\nApart from the efforts of the missionaries, what did most to keep the\npeace was the desire of commercial adventurers to tap the resources of\nthe country. On their side, the Maori were anxious to bargain with the\nPakeha for guns, and very soon learned that any serious breach with the\nwhite men was followed by interruption of profitable intercourse.\n\nThe Pakeha at first took shameful advantage of the natives, purchasing\na shipload of flax for a few old muskets, while a fig of tobacco was\nesteemed by the latter worth almost as much as a gun. But the Maori\nwere never fools, whatever else their failings, and they quickly\ngrew instructed in the commercial value of the articles they had for\ndisposal, for which they were prompt to demand a more adequate return.\n\nThe one point in which they seemed hopelessly to fail was in estimating\nthe value of land. This was because they and the white men approached\nthe subject from absolutely different standpoints, and what the Pakeha\nconcluded they had bought, the Maori imagined they had leased. For\nthe most sacred article in the creed of the Maori was, perhaps, that\nprecluding them from parting in perpetuity with the land which had\ndescended to them from their ancestors.\n\nAn abominable traffic in which the baser sort of white men engaged was\nthat in human heads. The marvellous preservation of the heads of dead\nMaori had excited great interest among scientists, and European museums\nclamoured for specimens. But the loss of the head of one of its male\nmembers brought a peculiar grief and shame to a Maori family, for it\nmeant also the loss of _mana_, or reputation. Consequently, the demand\nfor heads greatly exceeded the supply.\n\nBut if there were base men among the Pakeha, so were there among the\nMaori, and such fellows made nothing of filching the heads of other\npersons' ancestors or defunct relatives, and selling them to the\nsailors frequenting the coast.\n\nThis was bad enough; but, since theft could not accomplish enough,\nmurder stalked upon its heels, and many a wretched slave was slain in\norder that his head might grin from the shelf of a museum, or \"grace\"\nthe library of some curio-hunter.\n\nEfforts were made to stop the disgusting traffic with its lurid\naccompaniments; but the offenders were not easily reached and, had New\nZealand remained uncolonised, the Maori race might by this time have\nbecome extirpated by a gradual process of decapitation. Fortunately, as\nthe white population grew more respectable and responsible, their own\nsense of what was due to themselves choked off the practice.\n\nSuch a shocking story reached the ears of Governor Darling in Sydney,\nthat he issued a proclamation, threatening those engaged in the trade\nwith heavy fines and exposure in the public prints.\n\nTheft and murder accounted for a certain number of heads; but the\nconquerors in battle presently began to offer them in exchange for--as\nalways--guns and ammunition. In the year 1830 a tribe living on the\nshores of the Bay of Plenty defeated certain Nga-Puhi, and sold\nsuch heads as were in proper condition to the master of the next\nvessel which touched at Tauranga. The brig proceeded to the Bay of\nIslands--whence had come the original owners of the heads--and was\nboarded by some of the natives there. The skipper, who seems to have\nbeen drunk, appeared on deck, carrying a large sack, and the Maori\nshrank back, growling and muttering, as the besotted Pakeha tumbled\nout of the bag a dozen human heads. Worse was to come. Some of the\nMaori present were related to those who had gone out to fight and\nhad never returned, and a cry of bitter lamentation arose as these\nrecognised the faces of their dead--one a father, another a brother, a\nthird a son. Others, too, knew their friends, and amid a scene of the\nutmost horror, the outraged Maori, wailing, weeping, howling, rushed\nover the side of the ship and paddled swiftly towards their bewildered\ncomrades who lined the shore, marvelling at the commotion. Drunk or\nsober, the brutal shipmaster knew that he had gone too far, for he\nslipped his cable and fled for his life.\n\nWhen His Excellency heard this atrocious story, he insisted that all\nwho had bought heads from this savage trader should give them up\nto him, in order that they might be returned to the tribes at the\nBay of Islands. How far he succeeded in his endeavour to soothe the\ngrief-stricken and offended Maori is uncertain.\n\nAbout the time of Hongi's visit to Europe a rage for land speculation\narose, and people of all sorts and conditions hastened to offer axes,\nguns, and such merchandise as the Maori valued in exchange for broad\nacres. How far this traffic went is shown by the official statement\nthat one million acres of land were \"purchased\" between 1825 and 1830\nfrom the natives by Sydney speculators. Further, twenty-seven thousand\nsquare miles in the most fertile part of the north were acquired\nbetween 1830 and 1835 by missionaries.\n\n[Illustration: A dreadful recognition]\n\nNews of these transactions excited in England a more active interest in\nNew Zealand, and in 1825 a Company was formed in London with the object\nof colonising the latter country. Sixty people did actually emigrate,\nand on arrival settled around the Hauraki Gulf; but no more followed;\nthe settlement melted away, and with it the aspirations of the Company.\n\n\"He who aims at the sun will shoot higher than he who aims at a\nbush, though he hit never his mark,\" quaintly says Bacon, and Baron\nCharles Hyppolyte de Thierry perhaps had this apophthegm in mind when\nhe proclaimed himself \"Sovereign Chief of New Zealand and King of\nNukahiva\"--one of the Marquesas Islands.\n\nBaron de Thierry--a naturalised Englishman--met the Rev. Mr. Kendall\nand Hongi when the pair were in England, and entrusted the former with\nmerchandise to the value of one thousand pounds, wherewith to purchase\nfor him one of the most valuable areas in New Zealand--the Hokianga\ndistrict, in which flourishes the invaluable _kauri_-pine. The would-be\nsovereign was greatly disappointed to learn that his agent had acquired\nonly forty thousand acres of this superb country, while he was at the\nsame time cheered to know that the immense tract had been \"purchased\"\nat the not excessive price of thirty-six axes!\n\nIs it any wonder that the Maori could not later realise that they had\nparted for ever with their lands for such ridiculous--to use no harsher\nword--equivalents? The land was in their own opinion leased, not sold,\nand the leasing of land was a common enough practice among themselves,\neach party to the transaction thoroughly understanding its nature.\n\nBaron de Thierry neglected his purchase until 1835, when he drifted as\nfar as Tahiti. Thence he forwarded to Mr. Busby, the Resident, a copy\nof his \"proclamation,\" along with the intimation that his \"ship of war\"\nwould presently convey him to his kingdom. The Bay of Islands dovecote\nwas considerably fluttered.\n\nBut Monsieur the \"Sovereign Chief\" did not arrive for three years, and\nthen he suddenly appeared in Hokianga with nearly a hundred followers.\nSettlers and Maori beheld with apprehension this select company; but\nwhen the invader claimed royal honours and nominated the master of\nthe vessel in which he had arrived his \"Lord High Admiral,\" everybody\nlaughed--except the \"Sovereign Chief and King.\"\n\nThe baron soon had reason to weep; for of a sudden came information\nthat Mr. Kendall's thirty-six axes, paid for the forty thousand acres,\nhad been merely a deposit. One is relieved to learn this, but it\nmust have been very depressing news for the would-be proprietor. For\nthe Royal Exchequer was very low, and as the great officers of state\ncould get no pay for the arduous duties they performed, they promptly\nresigned. So, too, did the \"Sovereign Chief,\" and vanished, to reappear\nlater, without the \"purple,\" in the guise of an ordinary and very\nexcellent citizen.\n\nThe settlement at Kororareka has already been referred to as a\nplace in which the orgies of white and brown justified the epithet\n\"scandalous.\" It was not the only spot in this Eden over which lay the\ntrail of the serpent; so, for the sake of morality, as well as for\npolitical reasons, the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Richard Bourke,\nappealed to the British Government to appoint a Resident at the Bay of\nIslands.\n\nMany years had elapsed between the murder of Captain Marion du Fresne\nand the visit of the next French ship. At rare intervals a vessel\ndropped anchor in one of the bays; but there was little sustained\nintercourse. Even as late as 1834, so bitter were their memories of\nthe \"_Wi-Wi_\" (_Oui-Oui_) that the Nga-Puhi chiefs took alarm at the\npersistent rumour of a French occupation of New Zealand, and induced\nthe missionaries to draw up a petition to the \"Gracious Chief of\nEngland,\" William the Fourth, to protect them from \"the tribe of\nMarion.\"\n\nThe Maori had also begun to recognise that the British Pakeha were not\nover clean-handed in their dealings with them; for, in addition to the\nabove, they prayed the \"Gracious Chief\" to prevent his own people from\ndepriving them of their lands.\n\nThe result of this unrest was the appointment of Mr. Busby as British\nResident. He arrived at the Bay of Islands in 1833, and led off in\ngreat style by proposing that all New Zealand should be ruled by a\nParliament of Chiefs, and that the country should adopt a national flag\nto signify its independence.\n\nThe idea caught the fancy of some; the flag arrived from Sydney in\nH.M.S. _Alligator_, and was inaugurated with a salute of twenty-one\nguns. The Parliament of Chiefs took shape a little later, when\nthirty-five hereditary chiefs declared their independence, and received\nthe designation of the \"United Tribes of New Zealand.\"\n\nBarely a year after Mr. Busby's appointment, a \"regrettable incident\"\noccurred, which compelled him to assume the character of \"Vindex,\" in\nwhich neither he, nor those associated with him, showed to advantage.\n\nThe affair gave rise to the employment of British troops for the first\ntime in New Zealand, and arose out of the shipwreck of the _Harriet_ at\nCape Egmont, Taranaki. The sailormen lodged for a fortnight in a Maori\nvillage, and then a quarrel arose. A fight followed, and twelve sailors\nand twice as many Maori were killed.\n\nSince the Maori loss was double that of the ship's company, the account\ncould only be balanced by _utu_; so the surviving whites were held to\nransom, and Guard, the shipmaster, was sent to procure the same.\n\nFive months later, the Government of New South Wales despatched H.M.S.\n_Alligator_ with a company of soldiers on board to bring away the\nprisoners. On her arrival off the scene of the disaster, Guard went\nashore, accompanied by the military, when the Maori at once gave up the\nsailors. All was going well--for Guard was assured of the safety and\nwell-being of his wife and two little ones--when an officer, perhaps\ndeceived by gestures incomprehensible to him, hurled an unfortunate\nchief into the boat and bayoneted him.\n\nThis wrong-headed act was not immediately followed by hostilities,\nthough it interrupted the progress of negotiations. Matters were at\nlast smoothed over, the wounded chief was sent ashore, and Mrs. Guard\nand one of her children brought down to the boat. Then, as the ransom\nwas still unpaid, the second child was carried to the shore upon the\nshoulder of the chief who had cared for it.\n\nThis chief not unreasonably requested permission to carry the child\naboard, and himself receive the stipulated payment; but, when curtly\ninformed that no ransom would be paid, he turned away, still carrying\nthe child. It is dreadful to be obliged to relate that the Maori was\nshot in the back at close quarters, and fell dying to the ground with\nthe little child in his arms. As if this were not enough, his corpse\nwas insulted.\n\nFollowing upon this tragedy, a shot was fired, by whom or from whence\nno one could or would say. The _Alligator_ immediately began to shell\nthe Waimate _Pa_, and the troops played their part. When sufficient\npunishment had been inflicted, the dogs of war were called off and the\nship sailed away.\n\nUnpleasant as is the task, it is right that these dark pictures of\nmistakes and injustice should now and then be shown, if only to\ninduce those whose duty brings them in contact with primitive races\nto remember that the rights of man belong to the coloured as well as\nto the white. It is not denied that the Maori treated their prisoners\nwith consideration, and it is pitiful to learn that Mrs. Guard\nidentified the chief who was the first to be slain as one who had\nbehaved with unvarying kindness to her and to her children. Nor is\nthere any doubt that the British disregarded every claim of justice\nand humanity. Not even common honesty was exhibited; for, although the\nprisoners were given up, the ransom agreed upon was refused.\n\nThe one bright spot in the whole affair was the decision of a committee\nof the House of Commons, condemning the incident, and pointing out\nthat, while the Maori had fulfilled their contract, the British had\nbroken theirs. The committee might with propriety have said a good\ndeal more in the opinion of those whose view was not that of the chief\nwitness, Guard--shipmaster and ex-convict--that \"a musket ball for\nevery Maori was the best method of civilising the country.\"\n\nThese various happenings, good and bad alike, showed that the wind blew\ntowards Britain and British sovereignty. This was bound to come; and\ncome it did at last through the agency of Kororareka of all places in\nthe world!\n\nThings had been going from bad to worse in the \"Cyprus of the South\nSea,\" and its orgies, brawls and revellings had become the scandal of\na community not easily scandalised. Law-breakers laughed at the law,\nand Kororareka at last became too bad even for the Kororarekans. The\ninhabitants of the better sort then drew up a set of rules and banded\nthemselves together under the title of the \"Kororarekan Association.\"\nThe Association approached the Resident, as in duty bound; but when\nMr. Busby would have none of them they resolved to act independently of\nhim.\n\nThe Association went trenchantly to work in quite an American\nspirit--tarring and feathering, riding obnoxious individuals out of the\ntown on rails, and purging the place of its worst elements. The scared\nResident portrayed it in such vivid colours that the Home Government\ntook alarm, and came to the somewhat belated conclusion that it was\ntime for Britain to assert the rights she had possessed by discovery\nsince 1769, and by the recognition of Europe since the Peace of 1814.\n\nAnother factor had meanwhile arisen which still further demonstrated\nthe necessity for expedition on the part of the British Government.\n\nThe New Zealand Association had been formed in 1836, but had received\nlittle support; for it was suspected that their motives were not so\npure as they declared them to be. The missionaries hailed invective\nupon them, the Duke of Wellington asserted in his \"iron\" way that\n\"Britain had enough colonies already,\" and so violent was the general\nopposition that the Association was dissolved.\n\nAnother Company was formed with very little delay under the title\nof the New Zealand Land Company, whose Directors determined to act\nindependently of the Crown, and to establish settlements wheresoever\nthey chose in the country which Britain seemed unable or disinclined to\nappreciate at its proper worth. Their ship had actually sailed before\nthe astonished Government were informed by the London Directors of the\nintentions of the Company.\n\nThere were some big names controlling this venture. At the head of the\nlist stood that of the Earl of Durham, Governor of the Company and,\nuntil just before its formation, Governor-General of Canada. Colonel\nWakefield, one of an indefatigable family, was the Company's agent;\nand the long list of Directors included the names of Petre, Baring,\nBoulcott, Hutt, Molesworth, and others destined to influence the future\nof New Zealand.\n\nThe Government were at last roused to action. They informed the\nDirectors that it was for the Crown to make colonies, not for private\nindividuals, and without more ado sent Captain Hobson of the Royal\nNavy to New Zealand as \"Consul.\" He was instructed to consider himself\nsubordinate to the Governor of New South Wales; and he carried with him\nhis commission as Lieutenant-Governor.\n\nThus, after many vicissitudes, New Zealand found herself, in the year\nof grace 1839, within measurable distance of becoming a British Colony.\nBut she had still to run the gauntlet of one more danger, which, had\nshe not escaped it, must have changed the whole course of her history.\n\n\n\n\nPART III\n\nPAKEHA AND MAORI\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\nGREAT BRITAIN WINS\n\n\nWe are arrived at a pass when the good ship _Tory_ is hurrying\nsouthwards, bearing to the goal of all their hopes the preliminary\nexpedition of the New Zealand Land Company. On the track of the _Tory_\nfollows in dignified pursuit Her Majesty's ship _Druid_, proud of her\ndistinguished burden, the first Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony\nthat is soon to be. The air is filled with rumours of the impending\nformation of a colony by France; and, indeed, a French ship presently\nflies in the wake of the _Tory_ and the _Druid_, bound, they say, for\nAkaroa in the Middle Island, where many thousands of goodly acres are\nalready in one Frenchman's hands. New Zealand herself, precious object\nof the desire of so many, sits upon her sea-girt throne and lifts\nanxious eyes to the scales of Fate, watching the quivering balance. One\narm must soon descend, weighted with her destiny. Which?\n\nFortunately for New Zealand, Britain had a fair start of France in\nthe race for possession. Unfortunately for many colonists, then\nand to be, the New Zealand Company ran well ahead of the British\nGovernment in the race for the acquisition of land. Most fortunately\nfor all concerned, Her Majesty's representatives were men not afraid\nto undo the tangle caused by the early dealings in land. They were men\ndetermined to adjust upon an equitable basis all land transactions\nbetween the white population and the brown. They were men who insisted\nthat the Maori, ignorant at first of the value of that with which\nthey parted so lightly, should not be driven from their ancestral\npossessions for the price of a few old muskets, a handful of red\nsealing-wax, or even an orchestra of Jew's-harps and tin bugles.\n\nIt would be improper to refer otherwise than delicately to a past so\nrecent. Something must be said, but not without consideration for the\nfeelings of others. Moreover, the subject of the proceedings of the New\nZealand Land Company is so difficult and involved, that, save in the\nbriefest manner, it does not fall to be dealt with in a history of this\nnature.\n\nWhile the _Tory_ was ploughing through girdling oceans north and south,\nthe Directors of the New Zealand Company were doing all they could to\nattract a good class of emigrants. They described in glowing terms the\nsituation, scenery, and climate of the country, eulogised their system\nof colonisation, and offered, by lottery, land at popular prices, which\nincluded the passage out of the emigrant and his household.\n\nFifty thousand acres in the North Island were at first offered by the\nCompany for purchase, and over eleven hundred emigrants--purchasers,\nlabourers, and their families--sailed within six months for New\nZealand, full of hope in the future.\n\nThe startling feature of the story is that the Company had no title to\nland in New Zealand, nor any right to sell it. The significant lines\ndid not occur to them, \"The man that once did sell the lion's skin\nwhile the beast lived, was killed with hunting him.\"\n\nAfter a voyage of four months, the _Tory_ dropped anchor in Port\nNicholson on the 20th of September, 1839. The shores of Cook Strait\nhad been for many a year the scene of fighting among the Maori and, as\nfirst one and then another tribe came uppermost in the struggle, the\nquestion of the actual ownership of the land became decidedly matter\nfor argument. It will be remembered that, by Maori law, conquest of\nland constituted ownership. True; but if the conquerors of to-day were\nlikely to be turned out to-morrow by the recently vanquished, or by\nanother set of combatants, it does not need much demonstration to show\nthat intending purchasers would require to be very careful as to the\nsoundness of their own right and title, or entirely careless of any law\nbut that of possession.\n\nThe Company's agent stayed not to inquire as to Maori disputes\nregarding land. He ascertained through an interpreter the names of\nthis cape, that river, those islands, and yonder mountain, and asked\nthe chiefs Epuni and Wharepori of the Ngati-Awa, who had come aboard,\nwhether they would sell the entire landscape.\n\n\"Yes,\" answered the chiefs, who had little better title to the land\nthan had the Company who had sold it before buying it. And so, for\na collection of articles which included blankets, guns of various\nsorts, axes, spades, and fish-hooks--not to speak of Jew's-harps,\nsoap, trousers, pencils, sealing-wax and cartridge-paper, the Company\nacquired (justly, perhaps, in their opinion) a territory about the size\nof Ireland, embracing both the east and west coasts of New Zealand.\n\nThis astonishing bargain, begun on the deck of the _Tory_, took some\nmonths to complete, and by that time the agent had taken formal\npossession of the fine bay known as Port Nicholson--Poneki in the Maori\ntongue--and planned out the settlement of Britannia at the entrance\nto the charming valley of the Eritonga, better known now--if not so\nmusically named--as the Hutt river.\n\nFast in the wake of the _Tory_ followed the _Aurora_ with the first\ninstalment of immigrants, whose feelings may be imagined, when they\nrealised that nobody could give or sell to them the right and title\nto the lands they desired to call their own. They learned this much\nin March 1840 from the Maori themselves, when, owing to its faulty\nposition, the settlement on the Hutt was abandoned, and the town of\nWellington founded upon the flats of Thorndon and Te Aro, which lay in\na more sheltered bay of the great basin of Port Nicholson.\n\nOther emigrants from England and elsewhere soon arrived; the first\nsteamer puffed and churned its way into the harbour; and the astounded\nMaori demanded anxiously whether \"all the tribes had left England and\ncome to settle among them?\" They were not disinclined to welcome the\nsettlers; but Puakawa and other chiefs strongly objected to part with\ntheir lands, which they averred had been sold by people who had no\nright to dispose of them.\n\nThis was sad hearing; but, if a Company choose to \"buy\" twenty million\nacres from some fifty people whose right to sell them is hotly\ndisputed, it is to be expected that the ten thousand or so who claim\nownership of those acres will have something to say on the subject.\n\nMercifully for the settlers, the Maori near Wellington had no objection\nto their lands being occupied, but merely wished to make it clear that\nthey had not been sold outright. So the settlers became aware before\nlong that the Company's purchases were not good, and that, if they, the\nimmigrants, bought land of the Company, their own title to it would\nbe equally not good, and would in the natural course of events become\nliable to investigation.\n\nBut why this concern about right and title? On the one hand are white\nmen desirous of acquiring land, and, on the other, coloured men who\nhave felt the touch of civilisation without having been greatly\ninfluenced thereby, and who, while undeniably owning the land, use\nbut little of it. Why bother about their rights? Why not oppose to\nthe protests of the brown man the impudence of the white man, whose\nargument has too often been, \"What I desire I take, and what I have I\nhold\"?\n\nBecause--and it is with keen pleasure that one can write this\ntruth--the story of colonisation in New Zealand is honourably\ndistinguished from that in some other portions of the globe, by the\nrighteous attitude of most of the early settlers towards the native\npopulation in possession, and by the fact that the rights of the\noriginal owners of the soil were clearly recognised, and forcibly\ninsisted upon by those in power. And the same principle is at work\nto-day.\n\nTrue, there were many who shamelessly swindled the Maori out of their\nland; but with a number of these the Crown eventually dealt very\neffectually. True, also, there were not wanting those who--as ever in\na new country--advocated lead and steel as the best means of combating\nobjections to land transfer, and, incidentally, of \"civilising\" the\nMaori. But of such there were too few thoroughly to leaven the lump,\nand the general attitude of the white men was one of honest desire to\ndeal justly with the brown. Serious differences arose, but the guiding\nprinciple was there and, despite wars and contentions, there was never\nabroad that spirit of hatred which has marked some contests between the\nwhite and the coloured races. Pakeha and Maori as a rule fought out\ntheir quarrel fairly, with the result that they now live at peace, the\nwhite men respecting and caring for the needs of the brown, the brown\nmen content to recognise the superiority of the white, and taking an\nintelligent share with them in the ruling of their ancient heritage.\n\nThe Maori have been represented for many years in the Parliament of\nNew Zealand by men of their own race; men, too, directly descended\nfrom powerful chiefs who strenuously opposed the Pakeha's rule. The\nnewspapers announced a few months ago[58] that a full-blooded Red\nIndian had for the first time in the history of the United States taken\nhis seat in Congress. Comment is needless.\n\nWhatever their title, the Company's settlers remained where they were\nfor the present, and for the better ordering of matters in which all\nwere concerned, quickly formed a \"Provisional Government,\" with the\nenergetic and sunny-tempered Colonel Wakefield as its first president.\n\nSo, leaving the Company's settlers in Wellington to argue questions of\ntitle with their keen-witted opponents, let us follow the fortunes of\nLieutenant-Governor Hobson from the time of his arrival in Sydney.\n\nHaving paid his respects to his chief, Sir George Gipps, Governor of\nNew South Wales, Captain Hobson sailed for the Bay of Islands, where he\narrived on the 29th of January, 1840. He immediately exhibited three\ndocuments, which gave the settlers plenty to think about.\n\nThe first was his commission as Lieutenant-Governor over _whatever\nparts of New Zealand might be thereafter added to Queen Victoria's\ndominions_; the second asserted Her Majesty's authority over all\nher subjects then resident in New Zealand; the third--note it\nwell--proclaimed that the Queen would acknowledge no titles to land\nother than those derived from Crown grants, that to purchase land from\nthe natives would after that date be illegal, and that a Commission\nwould investigate all land purchases already made.\n\nWhile Lieutenant-Governor Hobson was familiarising the Kororarekans\nwith this last intimation, the agent of the New Zealand Company at\nWellington continued to acquire land from the Maori, irrespective of\nnative right and title; while immigrants as eagerly besieged genial\nColonel Wakefield for town lots and country lands, careless of _his_\nright and title and, apparently, of their own insecure tenure.\n\nSo, with Captain Hobson proclaiming himself Governor over territory\nyet to be acquired; with the Company selling, and the immigrants\nbuying, land to which neither had a proper title, the materials for the\nproduction of a very difficult and unpleasant situation were apparent\neven to inexperienced eyes.\n\nThey were so apparent to Captain Hobson, that he took with creditable\npromptitude two decided steps. First, he convened at Waitangi--the\nlovely \"Weeping Water\" in the Bay of Islands--a meeting of powerful\nhereditary chiefs, to whom he proposed an agreement, historically known\nas the Treaty of Waitangi.\n\nThe chiefs of the United Tribes of New Zealand by this treaty ceded\nto Queen Victoria the sovereignty of their territories, and agreed\nto sell lands to no other purchaser than the Crown. Queen Victoria,\nin consideration of this cession of sovereignty, agreed to extend\nher royal protection to the Maori, and to confer upon them all the\nprivileges of British subjects.\n\n[Illustration: Signing the Treaty of Waitangi]\n\nThis important treaty was not carried through off-hand. Shrewd chiefs\nopposed it, though the greater number present argued in its favour,\namong them Hongi's veteran lieutenant, Tomati Waka Nene (Thomas\nWalker), afterwards our strong ally. No conclusion was come to until\nnext day, when forty-six prominent chiefs signed the treaty in presence\nof a great following.\n\nForty-six being a small proportion of the number of chiefs of rank in\nthe North Island, Governor Hobson circulated the treaty by the hands of\ntrusted agents. The first signatures were appended early in February,\n1840, and over five hundred chiefs had signed before the end of June,\nvery few of them accepting the presents offered by the agents, lest it\nshould be considered that they had been bribed into taking so important\na step.\n\nThus encouraged, the Governor executed the great measure which caution\nhad bidden him postpone, and on the 21st of May, 1840, proclaimed Queen\nVictoria's sovereignty over the Islands of New Zealand. To make matters\nsure, sovereignty over the Middle Island was separately proclaimed on\nthe 17th of June.\n\nGovernor Hobson now took his second step. The proclamation of the\nsole right of the Crown to purchase land from the natives plainly\ngave him control of the acquisitions of the New Zealand Company; the\nproclamation of the Queen's sovereignty over the Islands justified him\nin repudiating the Provisional Government formed at Wellington. Of the\nlatter he made short work, sending Mr. Shortland, R.N., the Colonial\nSecretary, and a company of soldiers to haul down the Company's flag\nand replace it by the standard of Britain. The act was natural and\ninevitable; but it made the Company and their representative very\nbitter against Captain Hobson.\n\nThe declaration of sovereignty over the Middle Island came none too\nsoon; for the French emigrant ship _Comte de Paris_, convoyed by the\nfrigate _L'Aube_, arrived less than two months later at Akaroa, and\nfifty-seven immigrants disembarked. The British flag had been hoisted\nforty-eight hours earlier by Captain Stanley, R.N., and when, in face\nof this, the French frigate landed six field-pieces, the captain\nof H.M.S. _Britomart_ thought it time to protest. He protested so\neffectually, that the French commander acknowledged his immigrants to\nbe settlers in a British Colony, reshipped his twenty-four pounders,\nand the incident closed.\n\nThus New Zealand, after long delays, became a British Colony, with\nher status established not only before her own motherland, but in\nthe eyes of Europe as well. It remained for her to shake off the\npartial allegiance she owed to New South Wales, and then, with all the\nconfidence of youth and sturdy independence, go proudly down the path\nof the future to the high destiny which awaited her.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[Footnote 58: Autumn, 1907.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV\n\nINDEPENDENCE AND ARGUMENT\n\n\nMost people agree that the method adopted by the New Zealand Company\nin their anxiety to acquire land might have been improved upon, but\nfew will deny them the credit which is theirs in the matter of actual\ncolonisation. They were the first to colonise systematically; they\nwere careful in the selection of their colonists, striving after the\nfiner types of manhood; and they planted settlements with extraordinary\nrapidity, considering the difficulties of transit and transport.\n\nIt was the destiny of the Islands of the South to be colonised by the\npeople of Great Britain and, since this was so, it was best that the\ninfant colonies should be cared for by those capable of the task.\nAustralia--in part--and Tasmania suffered from the obnoxious policy\nwhich used them as pits into which was swept the refuse of the British\npeople. From this fate, its terrible results, and the long purification\nit necessitated, New Zealand happily escaped. That she did so was in\nno small measure due to the efforts of the Company, whose powerful\nDirectors strenuously opposed the project in their day, just as the\nhumane impulse of the British had opposed it in cannibal days.\n\nThe Company were very active in the first year of their existence.\nA twelvemonth after the founding of Wellington they had three new\nsettlements to their credit and, before two years were out, they had\nadded a fourth. There might have been a fifth, but, owing to the\ninability of the Company to furnish titles, only one shipload of\nimmigrants disembarked at Manukau, and the idea of forming a settlement\nthere was abandoned. Manukau is six miles west of, and almost opposite\nto, Auckland, to which it forms a second harbour, the land portage\nbetween the two inlets being barely a mile across.\n\nAfraid to purchase land without a title, yet receiving from the Company\nthe offer of no other in that locality, a couple of hundred immigrants\nremoved themselves to Whanganui, on the west coast, one hundred and\ntwenty miles north of Wellington. If the Company owned the land which\nthe settlers took up there, the latter were hardly allowed to possess\nit in peace; for Whanganui was for years after its settlement in a\nstate of unrest, and the pages of its history contain the record of\nat least one dreadful tragedy. The beautiful river--the Rhine of New\nZealand--enters the sea close by the town, forming a waterway by which\nthe Maori of the interior could easily approach and as easily withdraw;\na condition of things of which they took full advantage in turbulent\ntimes. The Company's settlers called the town they founded \"Petre,\" but\nthe picturesque Maori name has survived.\n\nThe Company presently turned their attention to the Middle Island, and\nthere decided upon two hundred thousand acres of land bordering Tasman\nBay and its neighbourhood. The lots were eagerly bought in England;\nCaptain Arthur Wakefield, R.N., a brother of the tactful Colonel, was\nappointed commander of the expedition and resident agent, and two\nshiploads of emigrants sailed for the new settlement, which was to be\nnamed Nelson.\n\nWhile these preliminaries were being arranged, more immigrants arrived\nat Taranaki, or New Plymouth, the \"Garden of New Zealand,\" where the\nCompany claimed ownership of sixty miles of coast by a stretch of\ntwenty miles inland. We saw this place when we stood with Te Turi and\nhis followers and gazed from afar at the snowpeak of Mount Egmont.\nHither, too, came Hongi and his conquering Nga-Puhi and, after him,\nWaikato's champion, Te Wherowhero of the red robe, who between them\nmade an end of the men of Taranaki, enslaving those they left alive.\n\nEven while the new arrivals were parcelling out the land and grumbling\nat the lack of a good harbour, back came the manumitted slaves, ancient\nowners of Taranaki, and stood aghast to see what changes time had\nwrought. Their feeble protest availed them nothing. Whether the Company\nhad purchased the land or not, Governor Hobson now owned it under the\nCrown's right of preemption, and the poor men of Taranaki were forced\nto hide their twice diminished heads.\n\nThe ships bound for the Middle Island had by this time arrived at\nWellington, whence, after some delay, the immigrants were carried\nacross the strait to Tasman Bay. The native chiefs courteously received\nthem; but, when Captain Wakefield promised gifts as soon as the land\nbought by the Colonel should be occupied, the Maori stood silent.\nHad they said aught, it would probably have been a Maori version of\n_Timemus exules, et dona ferentes_.\n\nHowever, they professed to welcome the white men; whereupon the agent\nsmiled, the anxious would-be settlers cheered, surveyors were landed,\nand the town of Nelson was founded on the 1st of February, 1842.\n\nDo you who read remember how, when Hongi pressed him hard, Te Rauparaha\nof the Ngati-Toa fled headlong with his tribe along a path of blood\nto the south, and how he crossed the strait, and burned and slew and\nate? He is still a force to be reckoned with, this Te Rauparaha. He\nis getting on in years, and lives with his tribe in the neighbourhood\nof Otaki on the west, north of Wellington. But he can look thence\nacross the strait towards the lands he conquered not so long ago, and\ndissentingly shakes his head as the Nelson-bound ships pass on their\nway, while he openly expresses his disgust at the coming of so many\nmore Pakeha.\n\nAs Captain Wakefield parted from the little warrior-diplomatist with\nthe twinkling eyes and broad forehead, no prophetic vision came to him\nof the fearful scene to be enacted a year later in the valley of the\nWairau, when the price of the land was to be exacted in blood--his own.\n\nAs at Wellington, as at Whanganui, as at Taranaki, so at Nelson\ndisputes soon began between Maori and colonist, the theme being\never the ownership of the land. Words led to blows, blows to sullen\nmutterings of _utu_ and, so far as the Company's settlers were\nconcerned, it seemed as if harmonious intercourse and continued\nagreement with the natives were outside the range of possible things.\n\nWhile this bickering was going on, Governor Hobson had founded a town\nat his end of the North Island. Auckland he named the city in embryo;\n_Akarana_ the Maori called it; and from first to last the Company had\nnothing to do with it. They were, in fact, extremely jealous of its\nprogress.\n\nThe site of a capital had not been selected till then. The seat of\ngovernment was where the Governor happened to reside; but a spot was\nchosen at the head of the beautiful Hauraki Gulf, where the British\nflag was hoisted on the 18th of September, 1840, and the Governor's\nresidence established at what has grown to be the splendid city of\nAuckland.\n\nA finer or more charming situation could hardly have been found than\nthis on the right of the Waitemata, or \"Glittering Water,\" with the\nsuperb Hauraki Gulf to the east, the harbour of Manukau to the west,\nand waterways in all directions to the south. How wise was this choice\nof a site is proved to-day by the great and prosperous city, in touch\nwith all the world, which now gives a home to eighty thousand of\nBritain's sons.\n\nThere was clamour over the Governor's selection. Wellington urged\nits elder birth, its central position, its magnificent harbour; but\nCaptain Hobson abode by his choice. Russell, hard by Kororareka, made\nbitter plaint; for the glory of becoming the chief city of the State\nhad been dangled before it, and visions of political prominence had\nintoxicated it. Now that its chance was irretrievably gone, the fickle\ncrowd deserted it and pitched their tents in Auckland. So Russell\nwilted away. Once again it was to blaze into brief, and rather ghastly,\nnotoriety, and then to sink into oblivion.\n\nWhile these rival cities were in the making, Captain Hobson rigorously\nenforced the right of the Crown to be the sole purchaser of land from\nthe natives, and set going the examination into purchases already made.\nAs usual, the innocent suffered with the guilty, and many who had\nbought land in perfect good faith found their purchases diminished by\nhalf, or altogether invalid.\n\nThese were consequently ruined; but their sufferings did not affect the\nforward movement. Systematic colonisation had begun, and in the capable\nhands of the Anglo-Saxon was bound to go on. A check here, a dispute\nthere, a few hundred ruined in the process, never yet stopped the\nexpansion of the British Empire, and, unless the character of her sons\nchanges greatly, never will.\n\nQueen Victoria's sovereignty over the islands was formally proclaimed\nin 1840 and, before the end of 1842, eleven thousand settlers had cast\ntheir fortunes in the colony, distributing themselves among the eight\nsettlements of Wellington, Auckland, Nelson, Taranaki (New Plymouth),\nRussell (or Kororareka), Hokianga, Whanganui, and Akaroa, which was\nlargely French.\n\nThe long civil war originated by Hongi was now over, the Maori were\nlooking favourably upon the white men, and were growing inclined to\nadopt their ways and imitate their methods. Yet, though Christianity\nand its milder influences were spreading, the brown men had still to\ntread a long path before they reached the goal of civilisation. The\nPakeha appreciated this, and noted with apprehension that the Maori\nseldom visited the settlements unless armed with the guns which the\nfolly or greed of commercial adventurers had placed within their reach.\n\nYet \"ever upon the topmost roof our banner of England blew,\" and, as\nship followed ship, bringing new settlers, every day saw the Pakeha\ngrow stronger, though the natives were still predominant.\n\nA new country is usually \"go-ahead,\" but New Zealand was remarkably so,\nnor has she in this respect ever fallen short of her beginning.\n\nWithin a year of her \"declaration of independence,\" though things were\nvery much in the rough, there was promise of that colonial splendour\nwhich has since--in the short space of sixty-eight years--been amply\nfulfilled.\n\nThe difficulties were grave indeed. The land question was a source\nof constant friction, and of ready money there was little or none.\nNotwithstanding fairly substantial help from the mother country, in\nspite of the newly imposed customs dues and the sale of Crown lands,\nthe new country's imports surpassed the exports nearly ten times over.\nNo wonder money was scarce and, owing to the paucity of meat other than\npork, food very dear.\n\nBut these drawbacks could not stifle enthusiasm, and in each of\nthe towns--now rapidly casting behind them the character of mere\nsettlements--growth was steady, and the energy of the inhabitants\nastonishing.\n\nThe mineral wealth of the colony was attracting attention--iron,\ncopper, manganese, coal and lime were known to exist; the great variety\nof magnificent timber trees promised to become an important source of\nrevenue, and New Zealand flax had already established a reputation\nwhich it has never lost. The character of the land in parts was such\nas led some even then to prophesy that New Zealand would become one of\nthe grazing grounds of the world; though it is doubtful if the prophets\nforesaw the immense revenue which was to be derived later from the\nexportation of meat for consumption by the hungry folk in the northern\nhemisphere. With the future so rose-tinted, it is no wonder that\nthe shadows of the present had little power to depress the sanguine\ncolonists.\n\nThe Legislative Council had lost no time in passing beneficial Acts,\nthe citizens were inclined to be law-abiding, and trade, of a sort,\nflourished. The architecture in the towns was not exactly classic;\nbut all looked confidently forward to the time when the weather-board\nhouse with from two to six rooms should be replaced by the mansion,\nand the tiny general store make way for the splendid palace of the\nmerchant prince. Compare pictures of a street in Auckland or Wellington\nin 1842 with photographs of the same street to-day, and admit that the\nexpectation has been fulfilled.\n\nThe children who had accompanied their parents to the new land were\nnot allowed to run wild, and education was not entirely neglected. The\npower of the Press, too, had already made itself felt by the issue of\nnine newspapers. These had neither the dignity nor the imposing size\nof the mighty dailies of to-day, being for the most part smaller than\na single page of any of them, while one, at least, was printed in a\nmangle! Yet there they were and, if most of them died, they have left\ndescendants to be proud of.\n\nKeeping in view that these forward steps of the infant colony were made\nwithin one year of her assumption of independence, that the colonists\nhad to struggle against real financial troubles, that, in many cases,\ntheir claim to the land they had bought was disputed, and--most\nsinister obstacle of all--that they were face to face with a proud,\nintellectual, warlike race, not altogether friendly, and outnumbering\nthem by five to one,--keeping all this in view, is it not admirable\nthat those strenuous men of yesterday and their worthy descendants of\nto-day should, in little more than half a century, have raised New\nZealand from a tiny colony of eight scattered settlements to a dominion\nof the Empire?\n\nWe have seen how Governor Hobson opposed what he held to be the\nillegal acts of a Company engineered by men not likely to take blows\n\"lying down.\" The Directors in England represented their case as just,\nand claimed some twenty million acres as fairly purchased. The British\nGovernment accepted their statement, allowed the claim, and on the 12th\nof February, 1841, gave the Company a Royal Charter of Incorporation.\n\nThe Company were jubilant. It now mattered not if grumbling Maori\nshould declare that their lands had been unfairly acquired, and aver,\nas they did aver, that the purchases of the Company were \"thievish\nbargains\"; the power of Britain was behind the Company, who could\nhenceforth defy opponents of whatever colour.\n\nNot quite. There was Governor Hobson to be reckoned with, and his\ncounterblast was terribly effective. He refused--under the proclamation\nof the previous year--to give the Company Crown grants for any of their\npurchases.\n\nThe long wrangle began again, and the upshot of it all was that,\nafter interminable argument, the British Government peremptorily\nextinguished the Company's title to all land acquired from the Maori,\nand a commissioner was appointed to examine all claims of purchasers of\nland from the Company. There could be only one result to action of this\nsort. The Company fought hard for existence, but in 1850 surrendered to\nthe Imperial Government their charter and all their interests in the\nColony of New Zealand, and died hard after a turbulent life.\n\nWe have anticipated somewhat, for we are still at the point where the\nCompany received a Charter of Incorporation. But the exultation of the\nCompany was as nothing beside that of the young colony on the 3rd of\nMay, 1841, when New Zealand, till then but an extension of New South\nWales, was declared by the Imperial Government independent of the\nolder colony, and given permission to steer her own course through the\ndifficult shallows of organisation to the distant ocean of completion\nand greatness.\n\nIn the first flush of joy at escaping from control, very little heed\nwas taken of difficulties. It seemed as if the infant State had only\nwaited for its independence in order to make a forward bound; for all\nthat pertained to the old order of things was, as far as possible,\nswept away.\n\nThe three islands were renamed New Ulster, New Munster, and New\nLeinster. The Governor became Commander-in-Chief of the one hundred\nand fifty men of the 80th Regiment who formed the \"standing army.\"\nTwo Councils were nominated--an Executive and a Legislative, with His\nExcellency at the head of each; a Chief Justice was appointed and the\ngreat offices of the Law filled; while the then predominance of the\nChurch of England was recognised by the creation of a bishop, whose see\nwas the colony.\n\nThe first bishop, Dr. Selwyn, was a remarkable man, and it is probable\nthat among all the English clergy no one could have been found so well\nsuited for the pioneer work and rough experiences inseparable from\nthe lot of the first Bishop of New Zealand. He was in very truth a\nmissionary bishop, and his athletic youth and manhood had served to\nprepare him for the duties he was now called upon to perform, which\nwere by no means confined to the wearing of lawn sleeves, gaiters, and\napron.\n\nDr. Selwyn's Eton training stood him in good stead in the wilds,\nand very soon after his arrival in May, 1842, he convinced men that\nhe was a man as well as a divine. Who worked with Selwyn must work\nwith all their might; nor did he shirk his own share. He worked with\nhis coat off, literally as well as metaphorically, though no man\nliving possessed a finer dignity of appearance and manner. Hardy\nsettlers, Maori inured to effort and fatigue, confessed that, when\nthey accompanied the stalwart _pikopo_ (bishop) on his expeditions by\nmountain, bush, or river, it was their legs, not his, which first gave\nout, their muscular frames which clamoured for rest, while his was as\nyet untired.\n\nAs an example of his energy, it is only necessary to point out that,\nwithin five years of his arrival, he founded, built, and got into\nfirst-rate working order at Auckland the College of St. John, for the\neducation of youth of both races, and had already instituted those\npilgrimages among the islands which later made his name so famous and\nbeloved.\n\nThe rejoicings over New Zealand's improved status were barely over\nbefore there were ominous signs that contact with his white brother\nhad not yet completely softened the Maori. Moreover, a dispute between\ntwo Maori tribes, occurring, as it did, under the very shadow of the\nnew Executive, showed that the chiefs were not yet wholly prepared\nto acknowledge the sovereignty of Britain, nor to tolerate the\ninterference of the Pakeha in their own quarrels.\n\nTaraia, a chief of a tribe in the neighbourhood of the Thames river,\nhaving successfully assaulted the _pa_ of a Tauranga tribe, cooked and\nate the bodies of two of the slain chiefs, after the old manner of the\nMaori at the conclusion of a successful battle.\n\nThe Tauranga folk were Christians, while Taraia and his party were not.\nReturning home, drunk with success--the Maori were not often drunk with\nthe products of grape or corn--Taraia and his people desecrated the\nsmall church in their neighbourhood. The Christian congregation were\ngathered together for evening prayer when, to the horror of all, two\nhideous objects rolled into their midst, came to rest and grinned up at\nthem. They were the heads of the chiefs who had been slain at Tauranga.\n\nBloodthirsty as he must appear to those long since emerged from\nsavagery, Taraia's behaviour at the _pa_ of Erongo was neither savage\nnor illegal from his point of view. He merely claimed _utu_, as his\nrace had done from time immemorial, his contention being that, whatever\nthe law of the white man, the Maori had their own law and meant to\nabide by it. He actually put his views before the Governor, who was\nabout to despatch a punitive expedition, and demanded by what right\nHis Excellency proposed to interfere in a purely native quarrel.\n\"Your wisest plan will be to let the matter drop,\" advised Taraia,\n\"considering how very few Maori chiefs in the interior have signed the\nTreaty of Waitangi and admitted the sovereignty of Queen Wikitoria.\"\n\nThis was a palpable hit; the Governor altered his mind, and sent\nmissionaries instead of soldiers. Taraia readily expressed his\nwillingness to compensate the Tauranga people for the slaughter of\ntheir relatives; \"but first,\" said he, \"let them compensate me. Did\nthey not eat my mother?\" The argument was incontrovertible, and the\ndreadful incident closed.\n\nTaraia's defiance took on a new significance when it was realised\nhow many chiefs were opposed to the dominion of the Pakeha. Besides,\nnumbers of Maori in the north remembered the words of the dying Hongi,\nand viewed with sullen disapproval the transference of so much land\nto the white men. Captain Hobson had neither the will nor the power\nto operate upon a large scale and so enforce submission, and his\ndisappointment at the failure of his hopes was keen indeed.\n\nThe Governor's pacific demeanour pleased nobody; and even in Auckland,\nwhere his attitude towards the Company had at first won him general\nesteem, men now turned upon him and blamed his policy for almost every\ndisagreeable thing which happened. \"He will neither allow the Company\nto buy from the natives, nor will he himself buy,\" they snarled; and\npetitions, representations to the Home Government, and even threats of\npersonal violence, made the Governor's life miserable.\n\nHe was not long so tried, for he died on the 10th of September, 1842,\nand after his death some, at least, had the grace to be ashamed of\ntheir behaviour towards a man who had honestly striven to do his best\nin a most difficult situation. The Maori, with clearer vision than the\nself-swayed Pakeha, saw the good that was in Captain Hobson. It is\nsignificant that, when petitioning Her Majesty for a new Governor, the\nfriendly chiefs wrote, \"Give us a good man, like him who is dead.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV\n\nTE RAUPARAHA AND HONI HEKE\n\n\nCaptain Hobson was succeeded as Acting-Governor by Lieutenant\nShortland, R.N., the Colonial Secretary, whose administration was\nmarked by one awful tragedy, which stained blood-red the short chapter\nof New Zealand's history with which he was concerned.\n\nAt Nelson, as over the whole of the Company's domain, disputes\nconstantly arose between Maori and Pakeha. The Company's settlers\nappealed to the law, which had little choice but to decide against\nthem; the natives went about their operations in a manner peculiar to\nthemselves.\n\nFinding it impossible to prevent the newcomers from occupying land\nwhich they insisted had been bought, the Maori took to destroying the\nhabitations of the invaders, though they rarely used violence towards\nindividuals, and scrupulously abstained from theft. It was unlikely\nthat this system of incessant pin-pricking by either side would result\nin anything but poisoned wounds, and the fears of those who had\nanticipated this result presently received fearful justification.\n\nThe turbulent Te Rauparaha was, by right of conquest, one of the great\nlandowners on the southern side of the strait, and with him was his\nson-in-law, Rangihaeata, a chief of fierce, untamed passions, obsessed\nby an intense, almost insane, hatred of the Pakeha, and the last man\nto submit tamely to their aggression. Rangihaeata had, too, a bitter\ngrievance against the whites, since a woman related to him had been\nkilled by a settler, whom the Supreme Court acquitted of wilful murder.\nWith two such men in opposition to the business-like unsentimental\nCompany, a peaceful solution of the difficult land question was not\nlikely to be found.\n\nSome sixty miles east of Nelson is the fertile valley of the Wairau,\nabutting on the shores of Cloudy Bay. Having distributed the town\nsections at Nelson, the Company decided upon this valley as suitable\nfor country lots, and sent their surveyors to fix boundaries and\nprepare the land for delivery to colonists. Though instantly warned off\nby the natives occupying the land, the Company's officials proceeded\nwith their work.\n\nWhat makes the singular persistence of the Company in this case so\ndifficult to understand is the fact that Te Rauparaha and his ally,\nRangihaeata, were at that very time attending the Court of the\nCommissioner of Land Claims at Wellington, and they had agreed to meet\nthis high functionary a few days later at Cloudy Bay, in order that the\ndispute about this particular valley might be adjusted. Naturally, on\nhearing of the presence of surveyors on the land they regarded as their\nown, the two chiefs hastened across the strait and gave the officials\nthe choice between suspending operations, pending the Commissioner's\ndecision, or being turned off.\n\nAs no attention was paid to them, Rauparaha and Rangihaeata burned down\nthe hut of the chief surveyor; but, in order to show that they had no\ndesire to deal unjustly with men who were, after all, only carrying out\ntheir employers' orders, the two Maori collected the property of the\noperators and rendered it to the owners. A warrant against the chiefs\nfor robbery and arson was immediately issued, and Mr. Thompson, the\npolice magistrate, determined to execute the same in person.\n\nA day or two later Mr. Thompson started for the Wairau with fifty\npersons, including the Company's agent, Captain Wakefield, R.N.;\nCaptain England, J.P.; Mr. Richardson, Crown Prosecutor; Mr. Howard,\nthe Company's store-keeper; Mr. Cotterell, assistant surveyor; an\ninterpreter, four constables, twelve special constables, and some armed\nlabourers. The aspect of the expedition was aggressive, and from the\nMaori point of view constituted a _taua_, or war-party.\n\nAs the boats conveying the force up the Wairau river came within\nhostile country, all through the long day Maori scouts watched their\ncourse, and runners continually sped to the headquarters of the chiefs,\ncarrying the news of the approach of Pakeha with guns.\n\nOn the following day, Friday, the 16th of June, 1843, the Maori\ncamp was reached and, as usual, was found to have been chosen with\nconsummate skill; for its front was protected by a fairly deep, if\nnarrow stream, while the flanks and rear were covered by dense scrub.\n\nThe white men--whose boats had been left some six miles in their\nrear--halted upon the left bank, opposite to the watchful Maori.\nPuaha, a Christian native, who had all along attempted to dissuade Mr.\nThompson from bearding Te Rauparaha in his den, made a last effort to\ninduce the magistrate to turn back, but was impatiently waved aside.\nThe escort were then formed in two divisions under Captain England and\nMr. Howard, their instructions being that no one was to fire without\norders.\n\nAthwart the stream lay a large canoe and, being permitted to use this\nas a bridge, Mr. Thompson, Captain Wakefield and others crossed over.\nThe magistrate then produced his warrant and called upon Te Rauparaha\nto surrender and yield to his authority.\n\n\"Why so?\" demanded the chief.\n\n\"For burning the surveyor's hut,\" was the answer.\n\n\"I will not,\" replied Te Rauparaha. \"The huts were my property, and\nwhatever within them belonged to the surveyors I was careful to\nrestore. I do not wish to fight, as you must know, since I have already\nreferred my claim to the Commissioner for adjustment.\"\n\n\"Then I shall compel you to come with me,\" Mr. Thompson cried\nexcitedly. \"I have the means, you see,\" and he pointed to the escort\nacross the stream.\n\nTe Rauparaha growled. \"Nevertheless, I will not go,\" he began, when\nRangihaeata, his passion in strong contrast to Te Rauparaha's\ncoolness, burst into view and dared Mr. Thompson to do his worst.\n\n\"Advance with your men, Captain England,\" shouted Mr. Thompson, \"and\nteach these----\"\n\nBefore he could say more every Maori there leaped to his feet, and with\ndefiant shouts vanished into the bush.\n\nThen followed one of those fatal errors by which great catastrophes\nhave often been precipitated. As Mr. Thompson's party hurried\ntowards the canoe-bridge, the escort rushing down to meet them,\nsome one--probably highly excited and unconscious of what he was\nabout--fired a shot.\n\nNot a Maori was to be seen; but from the dark scrub came a rattling\nvolley, which was instantly responded to by the whites. The action\nat once became general, and men fell on both sides of the stream.\nAccording to the natives' version, one of the first to be slain--by\na chance shot--was one of Rangihaeata's wives, and this misfortune\ninflamed to madness the already incensed chief.\n\nThe escort was mostly composed of civilians who had never seen a shot\nfired in anger, so that it is less remarkable that they should have\nyielded to panic fear and fled, leaving their comrades to shift for\nthemselves. Had they even for a few minutes shown a bold front, the\naffair would probably have ended disastrously, but not so tragically.\n\nBut the chance was gone; and when Rauparaha and Rangihaeata--the battle\nfever on them now--rushed pell-mell over the canoe and made for the\ndeserted leaders, these had no choice but to throw down their arms and\nyield to a superior force.\n\nTe Rauparaha, who was somewhat in advance, checked his rush as he noted\nthis, and Mr. Thompson, extending empty hands, called out, \"Let there\nbe peace!\"\n\nDiplomatist that he was, Te Rauparaha, even in the flush of successful\nfight, probably realised the danger to the Maori cause which further\nviolence must entail; for he came to a halt with a growl, \"It is peace!\"\n\nBut Rangihaeata dashed by him, yelling, \"This is the second time the\nPakeha have wounded me by slaying my relatives. Rauparaha, remember my\nwife, your daughter!\" flung himself at Captain England and slew him\nwith one stroke of his tomahawk.\n\nThen the rage of the Maori broke forth in all its dreadful force.\nRangihaeata, an enormously powerful man, went mad with battle fury\nand with his own hand killed Captain Wakefield, Mr. Thompson, Mr.\nRichardson, Mr. Cotterell, John Brooks, and others, while his men\nrushed right and left among the defenceless crowd and smote to slay.\n\nTwenty-two of Mr. Thompson's expedition were slain in this terrible\naffair, seventeen of them in the massacre which followed the fight.\nA few days later a Wesleyan clergyman, escorted by two boats' crews\nof whalers, arrived at the scene of the tragedy, and buried the dead\nwho had fallen in the fight where they lay on the banks of the Tau\nMarina. For the others, who had gone down before the murderous rage of\nRangihaeata, another resting-place was chosen on a gentle rise, whence\ncan be seen the valley of the Wairau, cause of all the trouble and its\nmelancholy end.\n\nThere could be only one issue to an affair of this sort. The prestige\nof the white men was lost for the time being, and the Maori mind\nbecame inflamed with hope that the Pakeha would realise the futility\nof further contention, and leave the land to those who had originally\nowned it.\n\nThe colonists were divided in opinion as to the apportionment of the\nblame. In and about Nelson there was, of course, only one view; but the\nlocal authorities were elsewhere censured for their too precipitate\naction. The Acting-Governor, reporting the affair to the British\nGovernment, distinctly stated that Mr. Thompson had acted not only\nwithout his sanction, but in direct opposition to his instructions;\nthat the measures taken were in the highest degree unjustifiable,\ninasmuch as the question of ownership of the Wairau land was unsettled,\nand actually on the point of being considered by the Commissioner.\n\nAll this is true; but no one will feel disposed to blame the rash\nEnglishmen, considering the price they paid for their indiscretion,\nwhile, all other sentiments apart, nothing bad enough can be said of\nRangihaeata for his savage slaughter of a band of helpless men--men who\nhad flung down their arms and begged for peace.\n\nWhen the news of the Wairau fight and massacre reached England, a\ncondition of mind was produced something similar to that which\nfollowed the arrival of Crozet in France after the murder of Marion.\nEmigration was for a time suspended; for Te Rauparaha's threat, that if\nreprisals were attempted, they would be countered by the massacre of\nevery settler in the colony, did not encourage those who had thought of\nmaking New Zealand their home.\n\nTo all this confusion of circumstance was added the distress of\nsomething very like a financial crisis. The colony had no money, and\nlenders were nowhere forthcoming. There were many brave hearts who\nfaced these and other difficulties staunchly enough; but even these\nadmitted that New Zealand, as a settler's country, was in a parlous\nstate, and that very little capital except Hope remained upon which to\ncome and go.\n\nIt was hardly to be expected that those who had acquired land under\nthe Company should see eye to eye with those who argued that, even\nafter an affair so shocking as that of the Wairau, the Maori had still\na claim to receive justice at the hands of the Pakeha. So, when the\nnew Governor, Captain Robert Fitzroy, R.N., personally inquired into\nthe incident, seven months after its occurrence, it was not wonderful\nthat the address which the colonists presented to him at Wellington\nshould have been charged with the gall of bitterness. Nor was it\nsurprising that the natives, on their part, should have accused their\nwhite neighbours of studied hostility towards them. Lastly, when it\nwas understood that the Governor laid the weight of the blame upon the\nCompany and their settlers, and almost exonerated Te Rauparaha and\nRangihaeata, the indignation of the former knew no bounds, and was\nexpressed in language both foolish and unjust.\n\nCaptain Fitzroy undoubtedly decided according to his conscience, and\nwith a view to safeguard the interests of the colonists, whom he\ncorrectly judged to be too weak to risk a conflict with well-armed\nnatives, thoroughly versed in their own methods of warfare.\nUnfortunately, the Governor's choice of words when conveying his\ndecision, while it irritated the whites, conveyed to the Maori an\nimpression that fear, not policy, had dictated clemency, and their\nbearing in consequence became arrogant.\n\nThe Maori were now alive to the value of their land, and of money as a\npurchasing agent. Skilled mind-readers, they played upon the Governor's\nfears, and compelled him to allow the colonists to buy land direct from\nthem instead of through the Crown. Captain Fitzroy yielded; but, as he\nendeavoured to compromise by extracting a tax on every acre purchased,\nthe Maori did not make as much as they had hoped to make, and the\nunfortunate Viceroy again managed to please nobody. What between the\nMaori, who used him for their own ends, and the colonists, who called\nhim mad, the Governor's lot was anything but happy.\n\nFor all their shrewdness and intelligence, the Maori were not yet\nsufficiently educated in the ways of the Pakeha to appreciate the\nniceties of civil government, which, it seemed to them, drove away the\nflourishing trade which had been theirs while yet their ports were all\nin their own hands, and when every port was free. These sentiments,\nskilfully fostered by unscrupulous traders, paved the way for an\noutbreak. And as Kororareka had furnished excuse for the establishment\nof British sovereignty, so it now provided an occasion of war, and\nwitnessed the first determined act of opposition to the power of the\nBritish rule.\n\nIt was a bitter blow to traders, who had been accustomed to traffic\nwithout let or hindrance in the Bay of Islands, to find Kororareka\nflaunting the British flag and demanding customs dues. Nor were the\nMaori any more contented; for they had now to pay a higher price for\ntobacco, blankets, and other luxuries which they had once acquired so\ncheaply. Therefore, since political economy was still beyond them, they\nlooked elsewhere for the explanation of the change, and found it--in\nthe flagstaff on the hill outside Kororareka.\n\nThe flag which floated there was indeed the symbol of British\nauthority, and on that account sufficiently hated by the more\nintelligent of the patriotic Maori, who desired to preserve their\nindependence; but among the ignorant natives there were not a few who\nwere convinced that the flagstaff itself was the very cause of the\ncustoms dues and the irritating restrictions placed upon trade.\n\nTherefore, when Honi (John) Heke, who had married the beautiful\ndaughter of the famous Hongi Ika, announced his intention of cutting\ndown the hated staff, he did not lack volunteers to help him in what\nhe, at least, intended as a deliberate defiance of Britain. For Honi\nHeke was far too astute to look upon the flagstaff as anything but\nwhat it was--a wooden pole.\n\nUnder the old Maori law a woman who married beneath her raised her\nhusband to her level; wherefore Honi Heke, though not himself a chief,\nbecame elevated to the ranks of the aristocracy upon his marriage with\nthe \"daughter of a hundred earls.\" The upstart was not received with\nopen arms by the true nobility, though they tolerated him for his\nfather-in-law's sake. Had he been one of themselves, and thus able to\ncommand their allegiance, Heke, skilled as he was in war, might have\nbrought the hated Pakeha face to face with fearful odds and, perhaps,\nchanged the course of history in New Zealand.\n\nHeke, like his predecessor Hongi, was a born soldier. In his boyhood he\nfell into Mr. Marsden's hands, who took him to Sydney and endeavoured\nto teach him a trade. But trade was not for Heke, who was often found\nin the barrack-square feasting his eyes upon the soldiers, and keenly\nwatching their drill. Association with Mr. Marsden and the tuition\nhe received from the missionary enabled Heke to read and write, and\ndeveloped a mind already dangerously rich in qualities which make for\nleadership.\n\nReturning to his native land, Heke joined himself to Hongi, who,\nfinding him an apt pupil, gladly instructed him in a sterner science\nthan any which good Mr. Marsden had taught him. So pleased was Hongi\nwith his prot\u00e9g\u00e9 that he gave him his daughter in marriage, and it\nwas upon Heke that the great chief's dying eyes were turned when he\nfaltered out his last advice to his followers and bade them beware of\nthe Pakeha in red. Deep into Heke's heart sank that advice, and it was\nwith Hongi's \"word\" upon his lips that he struck his first blow against\nthe might of Britain.\n\nBut he had a yet more sinister word of his own for the ears of the\nPakeha, hardly recovered from the shock of the Wairau massacre. \"Is Te\nRauparaha to have all the honour of killing the Pakeha?\" he exclaimed\nas he marched his men to the flagstaff hill. \"We shall see!\"\n\nThis insulting speech was, perhaps, uttered deliberately, in order to\nsting the Kororarekans into resistance, and thus provide Heke with\nexcuse and opportunity to rival the southern leader. If that were so,\nhe was disappointed; for, at the earnest insistence of the Police\nMagistrate, the residents looked on from afar while Heke and his two\nhundred malcontents hewed down the obnoxious staff and carried off the\nsignal balls, used to communicate with shipping outside the bay.\n\nWroth at this reception of his policy of conciliation, Captain Fitzroy\nsent an urgent appeal for help to the Governor of New South Wales. The\nanswer came at once and, less than five weeks after the fall of the\nflagstaff, one hundred and fifty men of the 99th Regiment, with two\nfield guns, landed at Kororareka and encamped there. H.M.S. _Hazard_\npresently lent all the sailors who could be spared, and the little army\nprepared to invade Heke's country.\n\nAnd now the little influence which Hongi's son-in-law possessed over\nthe great chiefs was speedily and fortunately demonstrated. Instead\nof flocking to his aid, the high chiefs besought the Governor not to\nengage in war, and offered to keep Heke in order for the future. They\nprobably overestimated their power in this direction; but the Governor\nwas satisfied, and Thomas Walker Nene and twenty-three other chiefs of\nnote made orations at a great _korero_,[59] and declared their loyalty\nto Queen Wikitoria.\n\nThe flagstaff was then re-erected, the borrowed troops returned to\nSydney, Kororareka was again made a free port and, as the year 1844\ndrew to a close, the country reeled to the very edge of the pit of\nbankruptcy.\n\nExtraordinary efforts were made to avert this calamity. Auckland,\nlike Kororareka, was declared a free port, thousands of pounds' worth\nof debentures were issued and declared a legal tender and, as a last\nresource, the Governor abolished the customs dues all over the colony.\n\nIt seemed as if no one, either on the spot or in England, quite knew\nwhat to do for or with New Zealand and, to crown all the trouble,\nthe sempiternal land question once more poked up its ugly head. The\nnatives grew suspicious and resentful; settlers were ejected and their\nhomes destroyed, on the ground that they occupied debatable land, or\nland actually claimed by the Maori, and everywhere was unrest and\napprehension.\n\nHeke, who knew very much better, pointed to the flagstaff at Kororareka\nas the cause of all this worry and, barely six months after his first\nexploit, back he came with his merry men, and for the second time\nlevelled the detested pole. Though he was not expected--as he had been\non the first occasion,--the signal station was guarded by friendly\nnatives. These, however, belonged to the tribe of the turbulent Heke;\nso they merely made a show of resistance, and retired to protest that\nit would have been a sin and a shame to shed any man's blood for the\nsake of a bit of wood. So Honi Heke triumphed for the second time.\n\nThe belligerent operations at Kororareka had so far been in\nthemselves, apart from their consequences, somewhat farcical; but the\n\"curtain-raisers\" were over, and tragic drama was to be presented after\nan interval of little more than a month.\n\n  NOTE.--The private soldiers, who found a nickname for everybody,\n  styled Honi Heke \"Johnny Hicky.\" From this arose an absurd story that\n  Heke was an Irishman, who had taken service with the Maori in order\n  to avenge his country's wrongs!\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[Footnote 59: \"Palaver.\"]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI\n\nTHE FALL OF KORORAREKA\n\n\nGovernor Fitzroy once again appealed to New South Wales for aid and, on\nthe very day on which the soldiers sailed from Sydney, Heke opened his\ncampaign and scored his first success at Kororareka.\n\nA serious attack does not seem to have been anticipated; but a stockade\nhad been erected for the benefit of the women and children, some light\nguns had been mounted, and the place garrisoned by half a company of\nregulars and a number of settlers. In addition, H.M.S. _Hazard_ was in\nthe bay, her guns trained upon the approaches to the town.\n\nHeke first gave evidence of his presence by capturing Lieutenant G.\nPhillpotts of the _Hazard_, though he almost immediately released the\ngallant officer, in proof, he said, of his pacific intentions. Then,\nin spite of the watch kept upon his movements, the Maori warrior\nout-generalled the watchers, and sprung a surprise upon the town.\n\nLate on the night of the 10th of March, 1845, two columns of Maori\nunder Heke and old Kawiti--Hongi's fighting chief--landed at Onoroa and\nMatavia, close by Kororareka. Heke ambushed his men amid the deep fern\nin rear of Signal Hill, almost within touch of the blockhouse, while\nKawiti disposed his party about the Matavia Pass, on the opposite side\nof the town. So quietly were these manoeuvres executed, that neither\nthe soldiers in the upper blockhouse, nor the sailors under Captain\nRobertson of the _Hazard_ on the Matavia side, nor the civilians in the\nstockade and lower blockhouse had any idea that they were ringed round\nby a cordon of fighting men under two of the most experienced warriors\nof their day. Not by the slightest sound did the Maori indicate their\npresence; not even for the sake of capturing one of the officers who\nwalked through their lines, wholly unsuspicious of their proximity. It\nwas Heke's intention to surprise his foes, and he succeeded perfectly.\n\nAs day broke, cloudy and raw, on the 11th, the lieutenant of the\nregulars went to the barracks to turn out his men. His second in\ncommand, a young ensign, who was in charge of the upper blockhouse, by\nthe flagstaff, thereupon left his post under guard of a corporal and\nfifteen men, and proceeded with a few soldiers to complete an earthwork\noverlooking Onoroa Bay. Captain Robertson occupied a similar position\non an opposite hill overlooking Matavia Bay.\n\nNo sooner was the ensign out of sight than a sham attack was begun on\nthe Matavia side, and the young soldier very properly fell back towards\nthe blockhouse. At the same moment the corporal, believing his officer\ntrapped, left three or four men in the blockhouse, and raced with the\nrest to the ensign's support. He soon realised that the firing was\nfrom the Matavia side of the town, wheeled his men and hurried back\ntowards Signal Hill.\n\nBut a cloud of Maori sprang without the least warning from the fern\nand, yelling discordantly, began to harass the little company. Others\nrushed the blockhouse and slew the few defenders, while their heavy\nfire convinced the corporal that to regain the place was impossible,\nand that his wisest move would be to join forces with the ensign.\nHe effected this; but when the officer endeavoured to retake the\nblockhouse, he was not only held off by the captors of the post, but\nhad much ado to break through the Maori who were stealing round to cut\nhim off from the lower blockhouse.\n\nThe action had by this time become general, and the British, though\nfighting bravely, were getting the worst of it, owing to inferiority of\nnumbers and lack of ammunition.\n\nThe British fought sturdily and with dogged persistence, after their\nusual fashion, and the Maori, brave themselves, never hesitated to give\ncredit to their valorous foes. For years after this historic engagement\nthey told the story of Captain Robertson's fight, how he felled with\nhis own hand five stalwart Maori, one of them a chief of note. Then the\ngallant sailor dropped to the ground, sorely wounded, while Lieutenant\nBarclay very reluctantly fell back just in time upon the town, and\nthence reached the lower blockhouse.\n\nFor the Maori had seized the barracks and, surging round the\nblockhouse, threatened to make an end. But the \"Tommies\" and the \"handy\nmen\" were not yet done with, and these, sweeping out without orders,\ncleared their front of the triumphant foe.\n\n\"So all day long the noise of battle rolled\"; but nightfall saw the\ntown evacuated, and the women and children safe on board the _Hazard_\nand other ships in harbour, whose crews had looked on wonderingly at\nthe success of primitive warriors against disciplined soldiers. Numbers\nmust always count for something; but the \"way of the Britisher,\" which\nis ever to underrate a foe, particularly if he be of dark complexion,\naccounts for the success of the Maori that day.\n\nVictory was no sooner assured than the Maori swept down upon the town,\nlooted and burnt it to ashes. Yet so generous--or so stupid, from\nthe soldiers' point of view--were they that they allowed many of the\ntownspeople, with whom they considered they had no quarrel, to take\nwhat goods they could and go unhindered. It was as if they had said,\n\"Our dispute is with the authorities. Go you in peace, and learn that\nthe savage Maori can be as chivalrous as the civilised Briton.\"\n\nWere there present at the sack of the town any of the grosser sort of\nMaori, who might have been inclined to defy their chiefs and commit\nthose excesses too often associated with the victory of the savage,\nthere were yet two men there to hold their passions in check. For, in\nand out of the flaming houses, and here and there among the wounded,\nunmoved by the riot and confusion around them, went all day long Bishop\nSelwyn of the English and Bishop Pompallier of the Catholic Church,\ntheir differences forgot as they united in acts of Christian charity\nand corporal works of mercy.\n\nSo fell Kororareka, with the loss of a dozen killed and a score or so\nwounded on the side of the defenders, while the Maori lost--so they\nsaid--ten or twelve more. But, in addition, the town was destroyed, and\nalong with it fifty thousand pounds' worth of property. It was a signal\ntriumph for Heke and Kawiti, and, worse than all, it taught the Maori\nto disbelieve in the invincibility of the Pakeha.\n\nSo fell Kororareka, one of the oldest settlements--if not the\noldest--in New Zealand; nor were there wanting those who averred that\nthe place had brought its fate upon itself and, like a latter-day \"city\nof the plain,\" thoroughly deserved its downfall.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII\n\nHEKE AND KAWITI ON THE WARPATH\n\n\nKororareka was done with; but not so Honi Heke, outlawed now with his\ncomrade old Kawiti, and the whites around Auckland went in terror of\nthe victorious pair. For Heke had threatened to assault the capital\nat the next full moon. Some watched for his coming as apprehensively\nas did ever Roman for the approach of Lars Porsena and his Etruscans,\nwhile to others the mention of the Black Douglas was not more prophetic\nof disaster than was that of Honi Heke. Many of these last migrated to\nmore peaceful shores, despairing of rest anywhere in the land where the\nMaori were predominant.\n\nAfter all, Heke never came. The Maori leader had his hands full; for\nTomati Waka Nene, throwing in his lot with the British, marched into\nHeke's country, and kept the victor busy while the Pakeha drew breath.\n\nThe Governor, worried almost out of his senses by the bitter attacks\nmade upon him, hurriedly collected all the soldiers who could be spared\nand despatched them under the command of Colonel Hulme of the 99th\nRegiment to the support of Waka Nene. The expedition reached the Bay\nof Islands on the 28th of April, 1845, a guard of honour disembarked,\nand the British flag was once more hoisted over what remained of\nKororareka.\n\nThen came Waka Nene, advising immediate advance upon Heke, to which\nColonel Hulme agreed; but he made before starting one of those errors\nwhich have more than once lowered our character for absolutely fair\ndealing in the eyes of native races. The chief, Pomare, was taken\nprisoner under a flag of truce and packed off to Auckland, while his\n_pa_ was burnt. It is useless to reproach savages with treachery if\nwe ourselves are guilty of it. When the story came to his ears, the\nmuch-abused Governor released Pomare with an apology, and soothed his\ninjured feelings by the gift of a sailing-boat, always a delightful\npresent to a Maori.\n\nHeke had established himself at Te Ahuahu, not far from Okaihau, in\na _pa_ belonging to Kawiti; and here he waited till early in May for\nColonel Hulme, whose force of white men, swollen by the addition of\nseamen and marines from the _Hazard_, had increased to four hundred.\nHeke was said to have twelve hundred fighting men; but Waka Nene's\neight hundred \"friendlies\" equalised matters as far as numbers went.\n\nAs soon as Heke had ascertained that Colonel Hulme had left Auckland,\nhe withdrew from Te Ahuahu and built a new _pa_ near Taumata Tutu,\nsignificantly enough, on the spot where the famous Hongi had spoken his\nlast \"word\" to his people. This _pa_ he named Te Kahika, or the \"White\nPine _Pa_.\"\n\nThere was a good deal of the pagan left in Heke, or, at least, he\nstill preserved a considerable respect for the old religion. It is,\ntherefore, not wonderful that Te Atua Wera, the famous _tohunga_ of\nthe Nga-Puhi, should have been with him in camp, or that the commander\nshould have prayed the magician to put heart into his men. This Te\nAtua Wera proceeded to do very diplomatically, advising the pagans\nto stick to paganism, the Christians to Christianity, and impressing\nupon each the absolute necessity for making no mistakes. \"Do nothing,\"\nhe cautioned, \"to make the European God angry, and be careful not to\noffend the Maori gods. It is good to have more than one god to trust\nto.\" On these conditions he promised success and guaranteed to turn\naside the shot from the big guns.\n\nThere were no big guns, as it happened; for when Colonel Hulme's column\narrived at Okaihau on the 7th of May, they had only a few rockets. It\nwas resolved to use these for the moral effect it was hoped they would\nproduce.\n\nWaka Nene's Maori had mounted a white headband to distinguish them\nfrom the foe; but, as a matter of fact, they took little part in\nthe conflict, their superstitious fears having been aroused by the\ncarelessness of the soldiers and sailors regarding omens.\n\n\"They are eating their breakfast standing up!\" one Maori exclaimed in\nhorror. \"Don't they know how unlucky it is to eat standing just before\na battle?\"\n\n\"They have no _tohunga_ with them,\" another remarked, shaking his head.\n\"I threw a _rakau_ (divining dart) for them this morning,\" a third\nsaid gloomily, \"and it turned wrong side up as it fell. Many will die\nto-day.\"\n\n\"True,\" assented a fourth. \"Look at them now. They are carrying\nlitters, as if they were already dead. They ought to be told how\nunlucky that is.\"\n\nAnd Nene's fighting chiefs did actually warn the British officers that\nthey were behaving very foolishly and, being laughed at for their\npains, begged the soldiers to throw away the litters, by carrying which\nthey were really asking for death. But the soldiers, too, laughed and\nmarched on, as the Maori fully believed, to their death.\n\nThis was too much for the friendlies. \"We are not going to take part in\na funeral procession,\" they declared and, with the exception of a score\nor two of Nene's relations, withdrew to the top of Taumata Kakaramu, a\nneighbouring hill, to watch the fight.\n\n\"If the soldiers win to-day,\" they declared, \"we will always help them.\nBut how can they possibly win?\"\n\nThe reasons given by the friendlies for their abstention were genuine;\nbut underlying them was another, unconfessed. Like those with Heke,\nthey were Nga-Puhi, and in times of stress the claims of kinship have a\nway of making themselves heard.\n\nHeke had taken the precaution to cover the roofs within the _pa_ with\nflax to protect them from the sparks of the rockets, and the first of\nthese presently came roaring and hissing at its mark. All held their\nbreath; for the friendlies, watching from the hill-top, knew as well\nas those within the _pa_ that the _tohunga_ had promised immunity from\nthis very danger.\n\nHeke came out just at this moment to observe the effect of the\nmissiles. Determined to be on the safe side, he had put up a Christian\nsupplication, and now stood repeating with great unction a Maori prayer.\n\nOn came the rocket; but Heke never moved. Many thought that he must\nbe hit; but the missile struck the ground and ricochetted over the\nfort--greatly, no doubt, to the relief of the venturesome leader, who,\nwhen a second shot behaved in like manner, yelled defiance and stalked\nunder cover.\n\nKawiti had meanwhile laid a clever ambush. When the rockets had been\nfired, a rush was made on the rear of the _pa_, and Heke, leaving\nsufficient to defend the walls, sallied from the front and had nearly\nsucceeded in effecting a junction with Kawiti, when a friendly saw him\nstealing through the bush and yelled an alarm. In consequence, Kawiti's\nflank attack was repulsed, his son being among the slain.\n\nThe old warrior attempted a second flank attack, but was driven back\nby the British, who, as they chased the Maori, swore at them after the\nimmemorial fashion of Thomas Atkins. This annoyed the Maori more than\nany drubbing; for they complained that they had done nothing wrong, and\nto be treated to such vulgar abuse was an outrage. Such behaviour was\nindeed utterly opposed to the Maori idea of courtesy, and a deputation\nonce approached the Governor, protesting against the Pakeha's habit\nof swearing at them, and praying His Excellency to discourage the\noffensive practice!\n\nColonel Hulme concluded as night fell that he could not take the _pa_\nwith the force at his command. He believed that he had punished the\nenemy in the open; but his own loss was fourteen killed and thirty-two\nwounded. Having neither ammunition nor food remaining, the colonel\nmarched away, leaving Heke in possession of the field.\n\nThe Maori chief some days later received a visit from Archdeacon\nWilliams, who urged him to yield and go into exile for a year, after\nwhich his offences might possibly be pardoned. Heke declined the\nmissionary's kind offices, and wrote the Governor a letter which was\nvery far from being that of a fool.\n\n\"Friend, the Governor,\" said Heke, \"where is the good will of\nEngland? In her great guns? In her Congreve rockets?... Is it shown\nin Englishmen calling us slaves? Or in their regard for our sacred\nplaces?... The Europeans taunt us. They say, 'Port Jackson, China, the\nIslands are but a precedent for this country. That flag of England\nwhich takes your country is the commencement.' The French and, after\nthem, the Americans, told us the same thing.... We said, 'We will die\nfor the country which God has given us.' ... If you demand our land,\nwhere are we to go?... Waka Nene's fighting for you is nothing. He is\ncoaxing you for land, that you may say he is faithful.... Were anything\nto happen to me, the natives would kill in all directions. I alone\nrestrain them. If you say fight, I am agreeable; if you say make peace,\nI am equally agreeable.... I say to you, leave Waka and me to fight.\nWe are both Maori. You fight your own colour. Peace must be determined\nby you, the Governor.--From me, John William Pokai[60] (Heke).\"\n\nPublic confidence in the security of life and property was by no means\nincreased by the retreat of the British from Okaihau, while the Maori\nnot unnaturally assumed airs which intensely irritated the colonists,\nthough they wisely ignored them.\n\nThe Governor, standing at bay between the scornful Maori and the\nindignant colonists, who gave him a large share of the blame for the\nmisfortunes which had befallen the colony, made vigorous efforts to\norganise another expedition which must crush Heke and Kawiti. While\nthis was preparing, Heke kept his hand in by attacking Waka Nene's\n_pa_, where he received a bullet in the thigh. The British, not to be\noutdone, went in boats up the Waikari river, to find the fort they\ndesigned to attack deserted by the nimble foe.\n\nAll was ready by the 16th of June, and Colonel Despard of the 99th\nRegiment began the second campaign against Heke, who had withdrawn to a\n_pa_ of immense strength at Oheawai, sixteen miles inland from the Bay\nof Islands. The colonel, an experienced soldier, commanded a force of\nsix hundred and forty regulars from the 58th, 96th, and 99th Regiments;\nsailors from the _Hazard_; a company of one hundred volunteers, and\ntwo hundred and fifty friendly Maori. Four guns were with infinite\npains hauled along the difficult track, through mud of a depth rarely\nseen in Britain, and over creeks and rivers with steep, defiant banks,\nbetween which the water often rushed in flood. June is midwinter in New\nZealand, and no worse time could have been chosen for the expedition.\nYet, in the judgment of those most deeply concerned with the colony's\nfortunes, it had to be undertaken.\n\nThe force encamped near the mission-station on the Waimate or River\nof Tears, and on the 23rd of June marched to Oheawai, where a small\ngarrison under Kawiti and Pene awaited their attack. Heke was still\nincapacitated.\n\nThe night was spent in preparing batteries for the \"potato pots,\" as\nthe Maori styled the mortars with which it was intended on the morrow\nto breach the palisades of the _pa_,--four barricades of massive\nlogs,[61] twenty feet in height, with a broad ditch between the first\nand the second. Some heavy hammering would be necessary before a\npath could be smashed through those tremendous defences. Yet it was\nconfidently expected that the mortars would accomplish their part of\nthe programme of attack.\n\nWhen they had turned in, the experience of the rest of the night must\nhave been weird to the unseasoned British. Throughout the long, dark\nwatches the comforting \"All's well!\" of the sentinels was drowned by\nthe oft-repeated challenge, thundered by the guards in the _pa_, \"Come\non, O _hoia_![62] Come on and revenge your dead of Okaihau! Come on!\nCome on!\" And the deep-toned, defiant watch-cry of Waka Nene's men from\ntheir hill, \"Come on, O Nga-Puhi! Come on for your revenge! We have\nslain you in heaps ere now! Come on! Come on!\"\n\nThe bombardment began on the morning of the 24th, and for six days\nthereafter was continued. The round shot bowled through palisades\none, two, three and four, or stuck fast in the giant posts; but never\na trunk was shaken down, never one so hopelessly smashed as to open\nthe door of that much-desired way. The enemy, safe in their cunningly\ncontrived rifle-pits, meantime kept up a galling fire, which more than\nonce caused a shifting of the positions of the batteries.\n\nThis ineffectual bombardment went on day after day, till Colonel\nDespard lost patience and suggested an assault, breach or no breach.\nBut to this talk the Maori would not listen, and Waka Nene, wise in\nwar, implored the colonel not to dream of an attempt which must result\nin the slaughter of almost every one concerned in it. The officers,\nbrave though they proved themselves to be, supported Waka. Then Colonel\nDespard, angry, ashamed--for it was known how small a force held the\n_pa_,--and well-nigh disheartened, was cheered by a gleam of hope. Why\nnot send to the _Hazard_ for a thirty-two-pounder gun, which would\ncertainly breach those defiant palisades? And send he did.\n\nWe know what bluejackets can do; but it is difficult for any one\nunfamiliar with the country to realise the enormous pains and labour\nexpended in dragging that thirty-two-pounder the fifteen miles which\nlay between the ship and the camp. It was done, though, and the great\ngun crowned the hill and frowned down upon the _pa_, threatening\nterrible probabilities for the morrow.\n\nAt ten o'clock next morning the new gun roared its first message. It\nwas posted only a hundred yards from the fort; yet, astonishing to\nrelate, those massive trunks groaned and quivered under the shock\nof impact, but as sullenly as ever refused to fall, declined to be\nsmashed. But the defenders must have been apprehensive for the fate\nof their stockade; for, while the great gun went on booming, Kawiti\nand a chosen band of thirty stole out of the _pa_, and made their way\nunperceived to a thick wood close to, and in rear of the battery.\n\nNo one was prepared for this, even the friendlies' sharp ears and keen\neyes being occupied with the banging of the guns, the thumping of the\nheavy shot against the palisades, and the splinters flying in all\ndirections from the stubborn trunks. Wild, indeed, was the surprise of\nthose on the hill, when old Kawiti and his band burst from the wood and\ncharged down upon them.\n\nBack reeled Waka's irregulars; down the hill in headlong flight raced\ngallant Colonel Despard and his officers, forced to \"run away\" in order\nthat they might \"live to fight another day,\" and upon that thundering\nmonster and his small six-pounder orderly swooped Kawiti and his men. A\nfew minutes more and the guns would have gone off in a fashion unusual\nwith them; but a number of the brave 58th came charging up the hill,\nflung themselves upon the assailants, and drove them back with nothing\nbut a small union-jack for their pains.\n\nYet the sight of that little flag, hoisted below the Maori colours in\nthe _pa_, stung Colonel Despard to madness, or, rather, into issuing\na mad order which cost the lives of many brave men. Twenty-six shot\nhad been fired from the big gun which Commander Johnston had brought,\nand, though an impression had been made upon the palisades, the Maori\nmaintained that much remained to be done before it would be safe\nto assault the _pa_. Waka Nene threw his influence into the scale\nagainst the proposition, but, finding the colonel determined, very\ngenerously offered to lead a simultaneous attack upon another face of\nthe _pa_--which was built in parallelogram. Twenty bold spirits among\nhis men asked leave to accompany the soldiers; but the colonel refused\nall help from his friendlies on the ground that, when they got inside\nthe _pa_, the soldiers might mistake them for hostiles. Thus, the men\nwho had had most experience in assaulting a _pa_, and who were willing\nfor once \"to walk in a funeral procession,\" were forced to remain\nspectators of an assault which they knew could have but one issue.\n\nOne made his last charge that fatal afternoon whom the hostile Maori\nwould fain have spared if they could. He was Lieutenant Phillpotts\nof the _Hazard_, or \"Toby,\" as the Maori affectionately styled him.\nHere, at Oheawai, he showed his usual cool courage, walking up to the\nstockade and along it, examining as he went, and all the time under\nfire of the sharpshooters in the pits. When these recognised the bold\nintruder, they ceased firing, calling out, \"_Kapai_, Toby! Hurrah for\nToby! Go back, Toby! We don't want to hurt you.\" But the lieutenant\nfinished his examination, returned and reported to Colonel Despard that\nwithout further breaching assault was impossible. But the colonel was\nadamant.\n\nThe assault by escalade was fixed for three in the afternoon of the\n1st of July, and one hundred and sixty gallant fellows under Majors\nMacpherson and Bridge, along with forty eager tars under brave\nPhillpotts, paraded at eighty yards from the _pa_, and stood staring at\ndeath.\n\nFor a few minutes the silence is intense. Even the Maori in the _pa_\ncease firing, unable to believe their eyes as they note the axes and\nropes in the hands of the men. Then the hush is broken by a pealing\nbugle-call--\"Advance!\" A roaring chorus of cheers bursts from the\ndevoted band--\"_Ave, Desparde! Morituri te salutant!_\" it should have\nsounded to the colonel,--and they race to cover those eighty yards and\nreach what is indeed the \"imminent, deadly breach.\"\n\nWhere is the brave fellow who a moment ago gave his bluejackets a last\ncheering word? Where is Phillpotts? There he is--back behind the big\ngun, thumping in a few more shots at the palisade, if so he may give\nhis men a chance for their lives.\n\nHe recoils suddenly from the gun, staring. Is he dreaming? The storming\nparty is not making for that part of the palisade at which the monster\nhas been hurling its iron wrath, but for the strongest section of the\n_pa_, at which never a shot has been fired, whence never a spicule\nof wood has been torn. What can it mean? \"Are they all gone mad?\" he\ngroans; and a wrathful growl answers him, \"Colonel's orders, sir.\"[63]\n\nPhillpotts scarcely hears. If his men are to be sent to death in that\nfashion, he is not going to lag behind. On he runs. His men have\ncovered half of the distance; but he is close upon them, and catches\nback his breath for an encouraging shout, when a line of light sparkles\nalong the ground in front, and from under the _pekerangi_, or outer\nfence, a hundred balls of lead, invisible, but whining viciously, speed\ntowards their billets.\n\nThe foremost soldiers are down. Some of the sailors go down, too. But\nPhillpotts is up with them now; no--ahead of them, where he wished to\nbe, and his cheery voice comes to them through the din, \"Keep at it,\nmen! Down with those palisades!\" And with one long, strong pull the\ntars bring down full fifty feet of the _pekerangi_.\n\nAlas! that does but little good; for they are face to face with those\nmighty tree-trunks, whose fellows not even the great gun has been\nable to demolish. This fence is set so deeply in the soil that human\nstrength avails not to pull it down. It is loopholed, too, and every\naperture spits death at the brave fellows who fall and fall and fall;\nbut will not run.\n\nAh! What is that? A roar, as of a wild beast springing upon its prey,\nand a big gun, unsuspected before, belches from an embrasure round\nshot and chain and scrap iron almost in the faces of the bewildered\nmen. The space between the two fences is a shambles now; but they will\nnot run, and Phillpotts is on his feet still.\n\nThey might go now. They have done enough for honour. Why does not the\nbugler blow the \"Retire\"? If he does, those stern fighters do not hear\nit; or, if they hear, they do not heed; for Phillpotts is running along\nthat impassable fence, seeking for a way through.\n\nBy Heaven! He has found one! But what a way! The embrasure through\nwhich but now a heavy gun poked its ugly muzzle. Hardly large enough\nfor a child to climb through, much less a man. But with a shout to his\ntars Phillpotts is up and wriggling through, and his cheering men are\nunder him, each striving to be the first up and after his leader.\n\nPhillpotts is almost through, and a dozen muskets are emptied in his\nface. But such is the perturbation of the Maori at sight of that\nsolitary, well-known figure, threatening now to leap into their midst,\nand shouting \"Follow, lads! Follow!\" that every man there misses him.\nAnd still he struggles in that narrow way, shouting \"Follow!\"\n\nA single shot rings out, clearly heard in a momentary cessation of\nthe hideous din. It is fired by a mere boy; but it does its work, and\nPhillpotts without a cry falls dead, still grasping his sword.\n\n[Illustration: Phillpotts at Oheawai]\n\nHe lies somewhat apart; but Captain Grant of the 58th is not far away,\na ball in his heart, and Beattie, subaltern of the 99th, is dying.\nTwo sergeants have fought their last fight, and thirty of rank and\nfile--the brave unnamed--will never charge again. Macpherson, leader of\nthis forlornest of forlorn hopes, is grievously wounded; so are Ensign\nO'Reilly and Interpreter Clarke. Three sergeants and seventy-five of\nthe rank and file are down. Not ten minutes at it, and three-fourths of\nthe one hundred and sixty who started have fallen, dead or wounded; and\nof them all not one has passed that cruel fence. Will that bugle never\nblow?\n\nAh! At last--\"Retire!\" The man watching from the hill, the man who\ncommands, realises now that he has demanded the impossible, has set his\nmen to take an impregnable fortress. And again, as if imploring them to\nobey, the bugle wails--\"Retire!\"\n\nThe assault by escalade upon Oheawai is over, and the Maori has once\nagain repulsed the Briton.\n\nBut whose is the fault?\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[Footnote 60: His father's name.]\n\n[Footnote 61: Some of which required thirty men to raise them by means\nof ropes.]\n\n[Footnote 62: Soldiers.]\n\n[Footnote 63: Statement of one who fought on that day.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII\n\nTHE FALL OF THE BAT'S NEST\n\n\nWhen Colonel Despard about a fortnight later turned his back upon\nOheawai, he left the _pa_ in flames behind him. At no time had much\nbeen seen of the enemy, except during Kawiti's dash and that fatal\nten minutes of assault; so the quiet aspect of the _pa_ attracted no\nparticular attention. Then Waka's men noticed one night that their\nchallenging watch-cries were not answered, though the howling of dogs\nsuggested that the place was still occupied. Cautious investigation\nbefore dawn revealed the state of matters. Several dogs were tied up to\nposts, so that their howling might deceive the besiegers; but the enemy\nhad stolen away, leaving an immense amount of material behind them,\nprobably with the intention of tempting Waka's men and so checking\nimmediate pursuit. Without more ado the _pa_ was burnt and the return\nto Waimate begun.\n\nThe storm of popular indignation now broke out anew, not only on\naccount of Colonel Despard's failure--for it was failure, the Maori\ncounting as nothing the evacuation of a _pa_ in time of war,--but\nbecause the Governor listened to the advice of Mr. George Clarke,\nChief Protector of Aborigines, and refused to prosecute the war until\nit should be seen whether Heke and Kawiti would sue for peace. They did\nnothing of the sort and, when it became known that Kawiti was building\na _pa_ which he boasted would defy any number of big guns, the Governor\nwas popularly called upon to resign.\n\nCaptain Fitzroy refused to resign, and it was not long before petitions\nreached England, praying the Colonial Office to deal with him and to\nrelieve the depressed state of the colony.\n\nNo one in England had any very clear idea of what to do for New\nZealand; but Lord Stanley shook his head when the New Zealand Company\nsuggested the establishment of a proprietary government on the model\nof the early colonies in North America. Captain Fitzroy was, however,\nrelieved of his office and, when the colonists learned that Captain\nGeorge Grey, Governor of South Australia, was to take his place, there\nwas general jubilation; \"for now,\" people said, \"they have at last sent\nus a man!\"\n\nFor George Grey was not untried in the art of governing men of\ndifferent races, living in the same land; nor was he without experience\nof troubles such as were then oppressing New Zealand. He had dealt\nin South Australia with precisely such problems, and had in five\nyears brought order out of chaos. Nor would he come unprepared to\nargue matters with the New Zealand Company; for the South Australian\nColonisation Association oddly enough derived its existence, and in\na measure took its methods, from Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield, the\nright-hand man of the New Zealand Land Company.\n\nWhen Captain Grey became Governor of South Australia in 1839, the\ncountry was almost bankrupt from much the same causes (the native\nquestion excepted) as had brought New Zealand to the verge of ruin.\nBefore the Governor left, South Australia was in a flourishing\ncondition; by the aid and liberality of their chief the colonists had\novercome their difficulties, and the prosperity of the colony seemed\nestablished. Is it any wonder, then, that the New Zealanders joyfully\nanticipated Captain Grey's arrival, and looked to him to do for them\nwhat he had done for their cousins on the other side of the Tasman Sea?\n\nMoreover, Captain George Grey was believed to know more than any man\nliving about native races, and how to induce them to adopt the manners\nand customs of civilised man. If there were some who shook their heads\nand declared that George Grey was \"too much inclined to see that\nniggers got their rights,\" their growls were lost in the shriller\nchorus of satisfaction.\n\nCaptain Grey arrived on the 14th of November, 1845, at Auckland.\nWithout loss of time he quieted the financial panic, smoothed away for\nthe moment the land difficulty, and assured all loyal natives of the\nQueen's favour and protection. Then, having ascertained that Heke and\nKawiti were still in arms, he sent them a message that, unless they\nsued for peace before a fixed date, he would again set the war dogs\nat their throats. As a gentle hint to all concerned, he immediately\npassed a bill to prevent Maori from purchasing munitions of war.\n\nWhile Heke and Kawiti, unused to such swift decision, debated the\nquestion, the time limit expired, and their spies raced to them\nwith the news that the _Kawana_ (Governor) was sending against\nthem the greatest \"war-party\" which the \"Pakeha Chiefs\" had ever\nput together. Heke was still forced by his wound to abstain from\nactive participation; but old Kawiti had finished his strong _pa_,\nRuapekapeka--\"The Bat's Nest,\"--and retired thither, convinced that it\nwould be impossible for the British to dislodge him.\n\nKawiti felt both complacent and apprehensive. The _pa_ he had built was\nimmensely strong and provided with every means of scientific defence,\nand five hundred good fighting men lay behind its massive fences.\nColonel Despard, on the other hand, commanded close upon twelve hundred\nmen, with eleven guns, two of them being thirty-two-pounders. For the\nodds Kawiti cared not at all; but the prospect of so many guns pounding\nat him all at once did not please him. There was no help for it. The\nwar-party was at his gates, which he did not mean to open without a\nstruggle.\n\nColonel Despard, getting his first glimpse of \"The Bat's Nest,\" made\nup his mind that he would reduce it by means of regular sap work, if\nit cost him a year. He had not to wait nearly so long; but neither he\nnor Kawiti had the least presentiment how swift was to be the fall of a\nfortress which at first sight looked impregnable.\n\nIt was now summer, and the dreadful mud and angry rivers were no longer\nto be feared; yet there were difficulties in getting into position, for\nold Kawiti had chosen his site with consummate skill. The troops left\nKororareka on the 8th of December, and four days later reached the _pa_\nof a friendly chief, Tamati Pukutetu, whence Ruapekapeka could be seen,\nnine miles away. Only nine miles; yet it cost those twelve hundred men\nnine days to cross the intervening strip of country between Pukutetu's\n_pa_ and their camp before Ruapekapeka, and another nine days elapsed\nbefore the whole of the guns and ammunition could be got up. Kawiti\nmade no attempt to harass the troops. The country fought for him and,\nbesides, he was in no hurry to begin. No Maori ever was.\n\nThe British camp lay distant eight hundred yards from Ruapekapeka,\nwhich stood on the side of a hill, surrounded by dense forest. A\nquarter of a mile of space had been cleared all around of bush, leaving\na formidable glacis, which must be crossed before the massive palisades\ncould be reached. Not that the colonel intended to cross it until he\nhad sent ahead of him a good many iron notes of interrogation.\n\nFor the _pa_ itself, with its one hundred and seventy yards of frontage\nand seventy yards of depth, all broken into flanks, if a purely\ntechnical description were to be given of its figure--the stockaded\ndivisions of the enceinte, the curtains with their huge piquets, the\ntrenches and covered ways, the loopholes on the ground-level for\nmusket fire, the traverses, the subtle division of the interior into\ncompartments so that the loss of one should not necessitate the loss\nof the rest, the subterranean cells, the bomb-proof shelters,--were\nthese to be detailed, even a soldier would stare and, while still his\nwonder grew, ask not only how old Kawiti's head could carry all it knew\nof the science of defensive warfare, but also, to adapt a famous query,\n\"Where the deuce got he that knowledge?\"\n\nThe bombardment began long before all the guns were up. Moses Tawhai,\none of the allied chiefs, just before daylight on the 29th of December\nstole through the thick bush with his men to a position six hundred\nyards from the _pa_. Ere the enemy detected their daring approach,\nthey had \"rushed up\" a temporary stockade, and into this two hundred\nsoldiers and a couple of guns were promptly conveyed.\n\nTwo days later, even as the enemy, as if inviting a beginning, hoisted\ntheir standard, every British gun in position--big guns, brass guns,\nlittle guns, mortars, rockets--roared, banged, cracked and fizzed an\ninstant response. When the very first shot--fired from the gun served\nby the contingent from H.M.S. _Racehorse_, under Lieutenant Bland--cut\nthe flagstaff in two and brought down the flag, \"even the ranks of\nTuscany could scarce forbear to cheer.\" Which is to say, the chivalrous\ngentlemen defending the _pa_ were as ungrudging in their admiration of\nthe successful marksman as were the besiegers.\n\nNext day, the 1st of January, 1846, the guns again roared out in\nchorus, this time in salute to the New Year; and old Kawiti, on the\n2nd, tried one of his famous flank rushes. But the British were ready\nfor him and drove him back with loss, so that he kept behind his\ndefences for the remainder of the siege.\n\nSo the days wore on until the 10th, by which time every gun, heavy and\nlight, was in position. All day long they thundered and crashed, and\nshot and shell thumped and smacked against the wooden walls with much\nmore visible effect than at Oheawai, so that two very obvious breaches\nhad been made by nightfall.\n\nHeke arrived that night with a reinforcement, having dodged a column\nof friendlies who were blocking him in his home at Okerangi. When he\nsaw the condition of things, he gave the very sound advice that the\n_pa_ should be evacuated before further mischief was done. \"There is\nno sense in remaining here to be killed,\" he urged. \"Let them have the\n_pa_ and, if they follow us into the bush, we shall have _them_; for\nthey cannot bring their big guns there.\"\n\nPeople who have for nearly a fortnight endured a bombardment do not\nrequire much persuasion to change their quarters, and the majority then\nand there followed Heke out into the dense bush in rear of the _pa_.\n\nBut it was different with old Kawiti. Ruapekapeka was his very own,\nthe offspring of his own science and skill. He would not leave the\n_pa_ while hope remained of saving it. So he threw his oratory into\nthe scale against Heke's arguments, and prevailed upon a few devoted\nadherents to share his fortune for good or ill.\n\nSo the 10th of January closed without the British being aware that\nHeke and the bulk of the garrison had slipped away to safety.\n\nThe end came on the next day, and from one point of view rather\npathetically. It was Sunday, and if there was one principle more than\nanother which the _mihonari_ had impressed upon their converts, it was\nthat no work of any kind must be done upon God's Day of Rest. Most\nof those who were left in Ruapekapeka were Christians, and these,\nbelieving that the British would be similarly employed, assembled\nfor divine service under cover of some rising ground outside, and in\nrear of the _pa_. Kawiti and the few who remained inside were asleep\nin the trenches; for they, too, had assumed that no attack would be\ndelivered on that Day of days. Heke might have warned them; for he had\nread the lives of Wellington and Napoleon, and knew that Sunday never\nyet stopped a fight. But Heke and his people were also busy at their\ndevotions in the shelter of the forest.\n\nHad the British been alone nothing might have happened; but the\nfriendlies made a shrewd guess at the cause of the unusual quietude\nwithin the _pa_, and Wiremu Waka Turau (William Walker), Waka Nene's\nbrother, stole up to the breaches and cautiously peeped through. As he\nhad expected, he could see no one; so signalled his brother.\n\nNene communicated the news, and Captain Denny and men of the 58th\ninstantly hurried up with the _hapu_ of Nene and Tao Nui at their\nheels. As they burst into the silent fortress, old Kawiti awoke and\nwith a handful of followers made a brief defence. But the assailants\npoured in, the odds were too great, and the old warrior, knowing that\nthe game was up, turned and fled out at the rear of the _pa_ and joined\nHeke in the bush, calling upon him to return with his Nga-Puhi and\nretake Ruapekapeka.\n\nThe face of the situation was thus entirely changed. The fort was\noccupied by the British and their allies, and the Nga-Puhi were\nhopelessly attempting to re-enter it at the rear. Their attack was\nreally a feint, intended to lure the soldiers to Heke's ambush; but\nwhen the Nga-Puhi skirmishers at last fell back towards the bush,\nstrict orders were given against pursuit. Here, again, it was the\nadvice of the friendly chiefs which prevented the conversion of an\nunexpected success into a disaster.\n\n\"Ah! The soldiers care nothing for Sunday when there's any fighting\nto be done,\" observed a rueful Nga-Puhi prisoner after the fight.\n\"It's only when there's nothing else to do that they go and say their\nprayers!\"\n\nSo, on the 11th of January, 1846, fell Ruapekapeka _pa_, \"The Bat's\nNest,\" at a cost to the British of twelve killed and thirty-one\nwounded--how different from those ten awful minutes at Oheawai!--and\nwith it fell the hopes of Heke and Kawiti, who presently tendered their\nsubmission and swore allegiance to Britain.\n\nAnd so ended the first sustained war between Maori and Pakeha.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX\n\nTHE WAR IN THE SOUTH\n\n\n\"Luck!\" said the stupid. \"Foresight!\" declared the wise. \"George Grey\nall over!\" chuckled the knowing ones. But the fact remained that\nCaptain Grey had in less than two months partially disentangled the\neconomic knot, had done something towards smoothing the political\nsituation, and had brought about the end of a war which for a year and\na half had vexed the peace of New Zealand.\n\nThere were not wanting malcontents who prophesied all sorts of evil\nbecause Captain Grey had accepted the submission of Kawiti and Heke,\npardoned them unconditionally, relieved the north of martial law, and\nleft only a nominal garrison at the Bay of Islands.\n\nBut the Governor already knew the Maori well enough to feel sure that a\ngenerous confidence in their honour would strongly appeal to them. And,\nbesides, when George Grey had resolved upon a course, he held to his\nresolution, unstimulated by the smiles of flatterers, unvexed by the\nsneers of the envious, undeterred by the expressed opinion, good, bad,\nor indifferent, of any living being.\n\nKawiti was seventy-two when he rushed the British with his favourite\nflank attacks. A week after the destruction of his famous fortress,\nRuapekapeka, he wrote to the Governor, proposing peace in a letter very\ncharacteristic of himself, and particularly impressing one fact upon\nHis Excellency. \"Let us have peace between you and me,\" he wrote, \"_for\nI am filled with your riches_\" (he meant, \"I have had enough of your\ncannon-balls\"). \"Therefore, I say, let you and I make peace. Will you\nnot? Yes!\"\n\nHoni Heke professed not to wish to make peace, and so long as he\nactually refused submission, so long was there danger that, if\nopportunity served, he would break out again. Once he had submitted,\nthat possibility would cease to exist; for he had never been known to\nbreak his pledged word.\n\nWaka Nene paid him a visit one day and attempted to talk him over.\nHeke admitted that he had every desire for peace, but that, as he\nwas a great chief (which he was not, save by marriage, as Waka knew\nvery well), and as he had only fought in defence of his land and his\nliberty, which no one should convince him was wrong, he would only\nsubmit if the _Kawana_ came and asked him to do so.\n\nPerhaps no one was more surprised than Heke when the Governor came\nand frankly offered him his hand. In the Maori code, the chief who\ngoes first to the other, or who first sends a \"go-between,\" is held to\nbe the one who sues for peace. So Heke shook hands with the Governor\nand tried to be condescending. But he knew in his heart that he was\ndealing with a shrewder man than himself, and one who would never\nhesitate to make a small and not dishonourable concession for the sake\nof a great public good. Heke knew that he had received the shadow, and\nlooked content; Governor Grey was fully aware that he had gained the\nsubstance, and _was_ content.\n\nThe conclusion of the whole matter came in May, when old Kawiti boarded\nH.M.S. _Diver_, then in the Bay of Islands, and formally tendered his\nsubmission to the Governor, expressing his regret for the trouble he\nhad given, and his gratitude for the consideration with which he had\nbeen treated. The scene was watched by Waka Nene and other chiefs who\nhad helped to lay the axe to the root of this venerable tree; but, true\nto his course, Governor Grey's reception of him was so cordial and\nkind, that the old warrior soon forgot his humiliation, and remembered\nonly that he stood in the presence of a friend. _O si sic semper!_\n\n\"Jack\" Maori did not allow the Governor much breathing time. The\nsouth was seething with discontent. Some of the colonists had never\nforgiven the Executive for treating the Massacre of the Wairau as a\npolitical rather than as a personal incident and, since Te Rauparaha\nand Rangihaeata were living in the neighbourhood of Wellington, people\nthere were apprehensive of similar happenings. The Maori, too--and\nparticularly the restless pair just mentioned--continually grumbled,\nand the burden of their lament was, as ever, \"Land! Land! Land!\"\nMoreover, men of their type were not likely to be heedless of the\ndoings farther north. Colonists knew this, and conceived their fears\nwell grounded.\n\nThey were indeed. Neither Te Rauparaha nor his friend, Rangihaeata,\nwere men to be trusted should power, linked with opportunity, come\ntheir way. They had already scored heavily off the Pakeha, and their\nattitude was closely watched and imitated by their countrymen. A few\nmiles outside Wellington settlers were treated with an insolence\nwhich enraged them, but which they dared not resent as they would\nhave done had their numbers been greater and their dwellings less\nscattered. Their indignation at the behaviour of the Maori was the\ngreater, because they now felt it to be justified; for the land most in\ndispute--the valley of the Hutt--had been bought by Governor Fitzroy,\nand the money paid over to Te Rauparaha. Whether he had or had not made\na fair division with Rangihaeata was not the settlers' affair.\n\nBut the \"Tiger of the Wairau,\" as Rangihaeata had come to be styled,\nchose to think otherwise and, having secured a partner to his liking in\nhis friend Mamaku, demonstrated his views in his own objectionable way.\nTe Rauparaha, the diplomatist, kept himself in the background, though\nit is certain that his advice counted for much; and even Rangihaeata\ndid not at first make himself conspicuous, allowing his brigadier,\nMamaku, to harass the settlers in the valley of the Hutt and its\nneighbourhood.\n\nPerhaps too close a watch was kept upon Rangihaeata, and Mamaku\nreckoned at less than his proper value. At all events, after a few\nmonths of desultory fighting, it was Mamaku with a hundred men who\nattacked a force of British regulars with a dash and spirit seldom seen\nin the wars between Maori and Pakeha.\n\nBoulcott's Farm was the advanced post of the British stockade of\nFort Richmond, on the Hutt, and was held in May, 1846, by Lieutenant\nPage of the 58th Regiment and fifty men. The post consisted of a\nwooden cottage, several huts and a barn adjoining, which last had\nbeen rendered bullet-proof, and was the only fortified portion of the\ncluster of buildings. The ground had been cleared for some little\ndistance all around, and beyond, on every side, spread the noble forest\nfor which this region was then famous. The River Hutt was not far away,\nand somewhere in the thick scrub beyond the opposite bank lurked the\nenemy. So Boulcott's Farm kept wide awake.\n\nThe night of the 15th of May passed quietly. The careful officer made\nhis rounds, and to every challenge had for answer, \"All's well!\" For\nnone could know that from the fringing scrub on the other side of the\nriver dark faces peered, and fierce eyes watched the glimmering lantern\nas the rounds swung back to quarters, thankful for the prospect of a\nquiet night's rest.\n\nBut so it was. Mamaku and his stalwarts were there, watching and\nwaiting their opportunity to cross the stream and spring upon an easy\nprey.\n\nThe night wore on; a new day was born, but still the darkness lingered.\nThe song of a bird, the ring of a settler's axe, the crash of some\ngiant tree falling from the ranks of its comrades, these were the few\nand infrequent sounds which broke the silence of the Hutt at that\ndate; but, as the stars began to pale before the dawn of the 16th, the\nstillness seemed intensified. The men of the inlying picket felt the\ninfluence of the deep silence of the bush as they had never felt it\nbefore.\n\nThe sentry, suspicious of he knew not what, peered at the forms of his\ncomrades, indistinct in the gloom, and his nerves thrilled as he caught\nsight of a standing figure in their rear. The challenge was on his lips\nwhen the figure slowly, but not stealthily, advanced a pace or two, and\nthe sentry recognised Allen, the bugler, a boy of fifteen. With a sigh\nof relief the sentry turned and peered again into the darkness of the\nclearing to his front.\n\nPaler grew the stars, some flickered out low down upon the horizon; but\nstill the darkness and the silence held and---- What was that?\n\nThat deep silence was broken at last, but by a sound so faint that only\ntensely strained nerves could have caught it. A rustle, nothing more,\nas if the first light breath of the morning wind stirred the tiniest\nfronds of the fern. Yet the sentry heard it and, with his musket at the\nready, stared into the gloom and prayed for light.\n\nAgain! This time he was sure it was no wind, and his eyeballs ached\nwith the effort to discover the cause of that gentle and, it might be,\nominous rustling. But absolute silence had fallen again.\n\nHe glanced at Allen. The lad's figure was more distinct, and the\nsentry saw that he was leaning slightly forward, his hand to his ear.\nSo he, too, had heard that soft stir, and was still unsatisfied.\n\nThen, as the sentry watched his young comrade, the thick darkness\nyielded to the touch of the invisible day, and the black curtain was\nchanged to sullen grey.\n\nAgain a sigh of relief passed the sentry's lips as he swung round to\nhis front. Light was coming at last and---- Ah! Look!\n\nNo sound this time. Something crept stealthily, slowly--how\nslowly!--towards him. Something crouched close to the cleared ground\nand moved with infinite patience through the fern.\n\n\"My God! They're on us!\"\n\nWith the exclamation--perhaps it was also a prayer--the sentry threw\nforward his musket and fired--hurriedly, blindly, hitting no one;\nand the report was almost drowned in the wild uproar which instantly\nfollowed.\n\nThe sentry shrieked a warning; the men of the picket discharged their\nmuskets and swung them up by the barrel, as half a hundred naked Maori,\nupspringing from the fern, yelled and howled with fury, realising that\nthey had been seen just a moment too soon.\n\nBut one sound topped all others. Clear and shrill on the air of that\npallid morning rang the notes of the \"alarm,\" as young Allen blew with\nall the power of his lungs--not so much to summon, as to save, his\nsleeping comrades.\n\nDown went the sentry with a bullet in his brain. The men of the picket\nreeled to the ground shot, or stabbed, or tomahawked, and still young\nAllen blew--\"Awake! Awake!\"\n\nA huge Maori rushed at him and snatched at the bugle. Still holding the\nmouthpiece to his lips, Allen dodged him and--ran? No; stood still and\nblew, clear and sharp, \"Awake! Awake!\"\n\nWith a grunt of wrath the savage raised his tomahawk and smote strongly\ndownwards. The keen steel almost shore the lad's arm from his shoulder,\nand the bugle dropped from his nerveless fingers. But, ere it fell, the\nbrave boy caught it in his left hand, set it again to his lips, and for\nthe last time blew the quavering notes--\"Awake! Awake!\"\n\nThen the Maori struck once more, and Allen died.\n\nMany a brave man wears the proud cross \"For Valour.\" Was it ever better\ndeserved than by the boy who sleeps forgotten in a far-off land, and\nwho simply did his duty?\n\nWhile this tragedy was being enacted, a fierce attack was made upon\nthe defenceless quarter of the farm, whence Lieutenant Page, aroused\nby poor Allen's last bugle call, rushed with two of his startled men.\nThey were immediately driven back; but presently, while the sergeant\nwith a handful kept the Maori at bay, Page and six men, carrying three\nwounded under a hot fire, managed to reach the stockaded barn and join\nforces with the bulk of the command. The end of the affair soon came\nafter that. The British poured out of the barn, led by their officer,\nand Mamaku and his Maori, having no liking for cold steel, scampered\nacross the river, having killed six and wounded four of the small\ncompany of soldiers. Lieutenant Page was subsequently promoted for his\ngallantry in beating off a force twice as great as his own.\n\n[Illustration: A boy's heroism. \"Awake! Awake!\"]\n\nWhether \"Ould Rapparee,\" as the soldiers called Te Rauparaha, was\nreally Rangihaeata's chief adviser in all this mischief, the \"Fighting\nGovernor\"[64] suspected him of being so, and determined to put him\nwhere he could do no more harm for a time. \"Ould Rap\" was living not\nfar from Porirua, near Wellington on the west, without the faintest\nsuspicion that the _Kawana's_ keen eye was upon him, and a most\nindignant man was he when he awoke in the grey of a winter dawn to find\nhimself in the grasp of a number of sturdy tars. The little old fellow\nwriggled like an eel, fought, kicked, and bit, shouting lustily the\nwhile, \"Ngati-Toa! Ngati-Toa to the rescue!\" But the Ngati-Toa, seeing\nwhat was toward, judged it wiser to remain a little longer on their\nsleeping mats, and the warrior was carried off into what he chose to\nconsider durance vile. Since he was treated as a State prisoner, and\nmerely detained on board a ship of war for a year, he had only the fact\nof his captivity to complain of; and for this he had himself to thank.\n\nGovernor Grey now turned his attention to Rangihaeata, who had\nwithdrawn to the Horokiwi valley, a most impracticable region, densely\nwooded, midway between Porirua and Pahatanui. Here he had retired\nbehind a stockade of immense strength, upon which, by Captain Grey's\nadvice, no assault was made. New tactics of blockade were tried, a\nmethod of warfare which the Tiger of the Wairau relished as little as\nhe had expected it: for there had been no time to lay in supplies.\nConsequently, he and his men were soon starved out and dispersed; nor\ndid Rangihaeata ever again appear in arms against the Government.\n\nTrouble arose early in 1847 at Whanganui. Disputes regarding land\ntenure had been frequent and acute; but it would not be fair to ascribe\nto that ever-burning question the shocking massacre and the outbreak\nwhich followed it. It was a boyish prank which this time fired the\ntrain of events and once more set Maori and Pakeha face to face in\narmed opposition.\n\nOn the 18th of April a youthful midshipman of the _Calliope_ was\n\"fooling\" with a pistol, which exploded and wounded a Putiki chief\nin the face. The wound was attended to by the English surgeon, and\nthe chief made light of the matter; but certain \"irreconcilables\"\nproclaimed the middy's act an attempt at deliberate murder, and swore\nto take _utu_. That these men were actuated by sheer hate of the Pakeha\nis clear from the fact that, not being related to the Putiki chief,\nthey had no right to exact vengeance on his behalf. Yet revenge him\nthey did, and in atrocious fashion.\n\nA settler named Gilfinnan, his wife and eight children, lived at\nMatarana, a lonely spot five miles from Whanganui. Six natives\ndescended upon this solitary homestead two days after the midshipman's\nunlucky prank, and barbarously murdered Mrs. Gilfinnan, two young boys\nand a girl of fourteen. The eldest daughter was severely injured and\nGilfinnan, bleeding from a tomahawk gash in the neck, staggered into\nthe town with the dismal information.\n\nThen Honi Wiremu (John Williams), a Christian chief, called upon six\nother young men to follow him, and without an hour's delay sped up\nthe river in pursuit of those who had dishonoured the Maori name. The\nmurderers had made fifty miles when the canoe of the avengers dashed\ninto sight and swiftly came abreast of their own. Before the assassins\ncould lift a hand, Patapo, a young chief, gripping his tomahawk between\nhis teeth, sprang into their canoe, instantly upsetting it, and in a\nfew minutes the ruffians were dragged from the water, handcuffed and\ncarried prisoners to Whanganui.\n\nThe district being at that time under martial law, Captain Laye of the\n58th Regiment made short work of the murderers, four of whom he hanged\nout of hand, after general court-martial, while the fifth, a mere boy,\nwas transported for life.\n\nThe torch was alight now: but it was three weeks later before the\nsettlers saw the surrounding hills dark with hostile Maori, who opened\nfire on the town, the stockade and, impudently enough, on the gunboat\nin the river. The defence was too weak to allow of operations by\ndaylight; but, after nightfall, when the natives thought that they\nmight safely loot outlying houses, the soldiers, undismayed by superior\nnumbers, chased them from the town, routing them utterly and slaying,\nwith many more, their old chief, Maketu, a man of note.\n\nEarly in June reinforcements were dispatched to the Whanganui post, and\nthe \"Fighting Governor\" himself arrived. How useful Captain Grey could\nbe in a crisis such as this, and how intimate was his knowledge of\nhuman nature, is evidenced by what occurred shortly after his arrival,\nwhen a deputation waited on him with the request that he would remove\nthe inhabitants from Whanganui and transfer them to Wellington.\n\nCaptain Grey studied the faces of the men for a few moments, and then\nreplied, \"How many of you really wish to effect this change? Let all\nwho desire _to run away from the natives_ cross to the other side of\nthe room.\"\n\nNot a man stirred from his place and, though some did eventually leave\nWhanganui, the settlement was not deserted. To-day Whanganui is the\ncentre of one of the finest pastoral districts in New Zealand.\n\nThroughout June, Colonel McCleverty tried without success to lure the\nMaori from their strong entrenchments; but towards the end of the month\nhe made a demonstration in their front and, after some skirmishing,\nplayed the old trick of seeming to retreat in disorder. The enemy\nwere outside their works in a twinkling, yelling triumphantly; but\nthe soldiers turned at bay and drove them back over their breastworks\nat the point of the bayonet. This was the last of it. Winter had\nset in and the Maori, having had enough of fighting combined with\nsemi-starvation, came in under a flag of truce and proposed peace on\nthe ground that they considered they had killed sufficient soldiers!\n\nKnowing the Maori mind, the Governor appeared to resent this remark and\nreplied that, though he would discontinue fighting, he would blockade\nthe river until peace was sued for in more seemly phrase. Spring was\nwell advanced before the haughty chiefs crushed down their pride, and\nnot a craft of any sort had been allowed up stream since the _Kawana's_\nfiat went forth. So, being unable to obtain tobacco, tea, sugar, and\nother luxuries, they swallowed humble pie, and wrote begging His\nExcellency to proclaim peace.\n\nNumbers of Maori could by this time read and write their own language,\nand many had become proficient in English. A news-sheet in their own\nlanguage gave them information regarding current events; the Bible and\nsome other books had been rendered into Maori, and in spite of wars and\nrumours of wars, civilisation advanced apace.\n\nWith the conflicts round Whanganui terminated the first period of the\nlong struggle between Maori and Pakeha. It had lasted over two years,\nit had made its influence felt from Auckland in the north to Wellington\nin the south, and it had demonstrated to the Pakeha that there were\nmore ways of fighting than were to be found between the covers of the\nRed Book. Would the Pakeha remember that lesson when they next met the\nMaori in the field?\n\nThe meeting was to come; but not until eleven years of fruitful peace\nhad passed, bringing with them all the beneficial changes which make\nfor the future greatness of a young country. And for those quiet\nyears with all their opportunities, he would be ungenerous indeed\nwho would not give the credit and the thanks in large--perhaps in\nlargest--measure to the Governor, Captain George Grey.\n\nHe had not yet been two years in the colony which he had found in\nsuch a parlous state; yet, as once before, in South Australia, he had\nbrought order out of disorder, and by his firmness and consummate tact\neffected a by no means sham reconciliation between his own proud race\nand the equally proud, and far more turbulent, Maori folk. So far\nhis greatest honours had been won in time of war. Let us see how he\ncomported himself during the next six years which remained to him of\nthat peace which he had done so much to bring about.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[Footnote 64: Captain Grey was styled the \"Fighting Governor\" by the\nMaori because of his frequent presence at the military operations\nagainst them, where, it was said of him, \"he carried the spirit of\npeace into the councils of war.\"]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XX\n\nBUILDING AND UPSETTING\n\n\nIn August, 1846, the Imperial Parliament passed \"The New Zealand\nGovernment Act,\" dividing the colony into two provinces and granting\nrepresentative institutions. It was on New Year's Day, 1848, that the\nQueen's will was made known to her people in her youngest colony, and\nCaptain Grey was sworn in anew--this time as Governor-in-Chief of the\nIslands of New Zealand, and also as Governor of the Province of New\nUlster and New Munster, the new division of New Zealand proper. In\nthe same month Major-General Pitt and Mr. E.J. Eyre were appointed\nLieutenant-Governors of New Ulster and New Munster respectively.\n\nThe exultation of the colonists over their improved status was suddenly\nchecked when they learned that Sir George Grey--now a Knight Commander\nof the Bath--had determined to withhold the franchise from them for a\nreason which seemed to him to justify this serious step.\n\nThe new Act conferred the franchise upon all who could read and write\nEnglish, which, of course, excluded the great majority of Maori. Sir\nGeorge Grey feared that, when the natives appreciated the great\npower which the exercise of the franchise would confer upon the\nwhite population, still greatly in the minority, and realised the\ndisadvantages to themselves, discontent would be excited amongst them,\nand trouble break out afresh. For this reason he suspended that part\nof the charter dealing with the franchise until he should receive an\nanswer from the Colonial Office to the communication he had made on the\nsubject.\n\nStrong man as he was, Sir George Grey was forced to bow before the\nstorm of popular indignation which his action aroused. He held out\nuntil November; but he was one, and his opponents were very many, so in\nthat month he wrote again to the Colonial Secretary, withdrawing from\nthe position he had taken up. Meantime, he gave the public a portion of\nwhat was demanded in the shape of a provincial representative ordinance.\n\nThis came to nothing, for the Imperial Parliament was preparing a fresh\ncharter for New Zealand. But, owing to the time which must elapse on\neach occasion before those so far divided could learn one another's\nviews, it was not until the 30th of June, 1852, that the Constitution\nAct for New Zealand was passed. As in those days the voyage to New\nZealand was a much longer affair than it is now, the new Constitution\nwas not promulgated in the colony until January, 1853, in March of\nwhich year Sir George Grey assumed his new duties.\n\nThe Constitution Act gave representative institutions to the colony,\nwhich was divided anew into the six Provinces of Auckland, Wellington\nand Taranaki in the North Island, and Nelson, Otago and Canterbury in\nthe Middle Island. The Chief Executive was to be the Governor of the\ncolony, and the office of Lieutenant-Governor was done away with.\n\nEach Province was to be administered by a Superintendent, whose\nelection the Governor had power to veto. Each Province was to make its\nown laws (save those which affected the colony as a whole) by means of\nan elected council. The whole colony was to be ruled by a Governor;\na Legislative Council of ten, appointed for life by the Crown; and a\nHouse of Representatives of from twenty-four to forty members, to be\nelected every five years by the people. The Governor possessed the\nright to veto laws made by the Provincial Councils, while the Crown\nmight exercise the same right with regard to the Colonial Parliament.\nThe franchise included all British subjects--irrespective of\ncolour--twenty-one years of age and having certain very easy property\nqualifications.\n\nThere were many more clauses, and, of course, the Constitution did not\nsuit everybody. Still, it was on the whole a large and liberal measure,\nand time would show its working and where the need for alteration lay.\n\nWhile all this was under discussion, matters were not standing still\nin other directions. Emigration revived upon the establishment of\npeace, and New Zealand became once more the Mecca of many a poor man's\nhopes. So firm, indeed, was faith in the future of the colony that\nwithin three years of the cessation of trouble in Whanganui, two new\nsettlements had been planted in the Middle Island.\n\nThe earlier of these, Otago, was founded in March, 1848, under the\nauspices of the Free Church of Scotland, itself a new institution,\nformed by secession from the Established Church. The Company had a\nhand in the matter; but it was now a chastened Company, and the scheme\nwhich was drafted in view of founding Otago was not marked by such\nimperfections as had marred the success of earlier operations.\n\nThe agent, in this instance, was a man whose memory is yet green in\nOtago--Captain William Cargill of the 74th Regiment, retired, who\nhad served with distinction in the Peninsular wars, and was reputed\na descendant of David Cargill, the Covenanter. Otago never knew the\ndesolation which had been the lot of her northern sisters and, in no\nvery long time, the chief city had been founded under the reminiscent\nname of Dunedin, while the Port was called \"Chalmers,\" after the great\nleader of the Disruption.\n\nThe principle of imitation possibly influenced the Church of England\nto follow the example of the Scotch seceders. Canterbury was founded\nin December, 1850, under the auspices of the Establishment, and it\nwas Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield who obtained for the Canterbury\nAssociation a ten years' charter of incorporation from Her Majesty's\nGovernment. Moreover, land was purchased from the not yet defunct\nCompany, and the emigrants, who were styled in England \"Canterbury\nPilgrims,\" arrived in due course. As a whole, they were as fine a set\nof people as ever young colony could desire. Their ideas were at first\na little high-flown; but they soon got rid of initial absurdities, and\nCanterbury is to-day not the least in the Dominion of New Zealand.\n\nEverything was going very well indeed, and men began to tell one\nanother that, now that the native trouble was over, there was nothing\nmore to be feared, nothing to prevent active colonisation, nothing\nto interfere with the rapid growth of the towns already founded. One\nmight almost assert that New Zealand was a land without drawbacks. So\nthey talked and hoped and planned, forgetting all the while that they\nlived--or some of them--within that sinister belt which straggles round\nthe globe under the name of the \"earthquake zone.\" They were sharply\nreminded of it on the 16th of October, 1848.\n\nIt was about two in the morning when people were suddenly awakened\nby--they knew not what. Simply, they were awakened. Some lay still,\nwondering why sleep had so abruptly departed; others, suspicious of\ntrouble, rose and began to dress; only the few were aware of the\ntrue cause of that untimely awakening, and these rushed out of their\ndwellings and shouted an alarm. As the cries were in their mouths,\nthere came a dull, far-away rumbling, a shudder shook the earth, and\nevery house in Wellington rocked to and fro. Then people knew what was\nhappening, and for a time all was confusion. The earth-pang was upon\nthem, and folk ran hither and thither, crying aloud in their terror,\nseeking aid of those who sought it as eagerly, bewailing their ruined\nhomes while shock after shock convulsed the earth, shaking down walls,\nsplitting gaps in houses and cleaving fissures in the solid ground.\n\nFrom Banks Peninsula on the east of the Middle Island to the Peninsula\nof Taranaki on the west and White Island on the east of the North\nIsland, the two \"isles shivered and shook like a man in a mortal\naffright.\" The plains gaped, the mountains reverberated to the crash of\ngreat masses of rock thundering down into their valleys, and for nearly\na month from the time of the first tremor this whole area was full of\ndiminishing unrest.\n\nMost of the houses in the Wellington district were built of wood,\nthough not a few were of brick, and it was discovered that those of\nwood which were built upon a brick foundation resisted the shocks\nbetter than those where only one of these materials had been used.\nWellington suffered most, losing some sixteen thousand pounds' worth\nof property, while the fall of the ordnance store there buried in its\nruins Sergeant Lovell and his two children.[65]\n\nThis was bad enough; but, as many of us know, it takes more than an\nearthquake to drive people from the land in which they have made their\nhome. So most folk stayed where they were, and a shock of a more\npleasurable kind presently confirmed them in their judgment.\n\nThis was nothing less than the discovery of gold. Men rejoiced, because\nthey knew that, with such a magnet, it would not be long ere the colony\nattracted to her shores the increased population which she required for\nher better development.\n\nThere was reason to rejoice over the finding of gold at home, the more\nbecause, when news arrived of the Californian discoveries in 1849, no\nfewer than a thousand colonists had emigrated thither from New Zealand,\nwhence so many able-bodied men could ill be spared. Two years later\ncame the story of the marvellous finds in the river-beds of New South\nWales and the gullies of Victoria, and the young colony suffered a\nfurther drain of her stalwarts. Many intending immigrants, too, had\nshifted their helm and, instead of keeping a course for Maoriland,\nsteered for one or other of the gold-bearing colonies. So people were\nheartily glad from every point of view when Mr. Charles Ring in 1852\nfound unmistakable traces of gold at Coromandel, forty miles north of\nAuckland.\n\nThe Coromandel territory belonged to old Te Tanewha, or \"Hooknose,\" the\ncontemporary of Captain Cook; and Lieutenant-Colonel Wynyard, Acting\nGovernor, would allow no invasion of his land without his permission.\nOld Hookino\u00eb, as he pronounced his nickname, proved most gracious in\nthe matter of cheap licences; but his land was soon exhausted, and\nhis neighbour, Taraia, positively refused to allow either digging or\nprospecting. Five years later gold was discovered in paying quantities\nat Collingwood, in the Nelson Province, and four years after that\nthere was a further find at Gabriel's Gully, Otago; but it was not\nuntil June, 1862, that Coromandel, where the metal had been originally\nunearthed, was declared available as a goldfield.\n\nThough Sir George Grey had now a House of Representatives and a\nLegislative Council, he did not summon the General Assembly. He had\nalready applied to the British Government to remove him from a position\nin which he had spent thirteen years of strenuous life--five in South\nAustralia, eight in New Zealand--battling with, and for the most part\novercoming, formidable difficulties; setting one colony upon the high\nroad to success, relieving another of many of her burdens, bringing\nto her much-needed peace, and providing her with a Constitution and\nRepresentative Government. After such a long period of arduous toil he\nfelt that he had a right to crave leave to rest awhile.\n\nHe left New Zealand on the 31st of December, 1853, carrying with\nhim the best wishes of the best of the colonial population, and the\nwhole-hearted devotion of the Maori race. It was not only as Governor\nthat Sir George had gained the respect of the Maori; his qualities as\na man--not the least of them his manliness--had won their regard, and\nthey admitted yet another debt. He had learned their language, and had\nset down in that wonderful thing, a printed book, some of their most\ncherished traditions and legends, which must otherwise have been lost\nto them and to the world.\n\nSir George Grey being gone--having no presentiment that, as \"Fighting\nGovernor,\" he was to return to his ancient battlefields,--the\nhonour of opening the first session of the General Assembly fell to\nLieutenant-Colonel Wynyard, who had assumed the administration of the\nGovernment. Auckland was, of course, the place of meeting; and there\nNew Zealand's first Parliament assembled for the first time on the 27th\nof May, 1854, just fifty-four years ago. The second Parliament met in\nApril, 1856, after the new Governor, Colonel Thomas Gore Browne, C.B.,\nhad assumed office.\n\nThe early months of Colonel Wynyard's administration were marked by\na sad calamity. Measles broke out at the Bay of Islands and, finding\nvirgin soil, spread, like a rank weed, from end to end of the land.\nFour thousand Maori died before the epidemic was stamped out, among\nthem old Kawiti, at the age of eighty-four. He had fought more than\none good fight against the British leaders; but this time there came\na captain he could not defeat, so he drew his mat across his face and\nslept with his fathers.\n\nAs this is not a political history, it is unnecessary to deal with the\nstruggles of the first Parliament to shape itself and to bring about\nresponsible government. But it is well to remember that New Zealand\nwas now subdivided into six Provinces, each empowered to manage its\ninternal affairs; and also that there were men who from the first\nsaw danger in this splitting up of interests, and did not hesitate\nto declare that there must be one Central Government, and one only.\nOtherwise, they insisted, there must be inevitably developed a number\nof small republics, each jealous of its own privileges, yet envious\nof its neighbours' success; each desiring the advantage of itself, all\ncareless of the general good.\n\nIt was union, not separation, which all true men desired--a union\nwhich, while it left a man free to indulge in honest pride that his\nfate had made him a Wellingtonian, an Aucklander, a Cantuarian, or what\nnot, should compel him to the larger boast, \"I am a New Zealander!\"\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[Footnote 65: Another very severe earthquake, which caused great\ndamage to life and property and was felt on both sides of Cook Strait,\noccurred in January, 1855, on the fifteenth anniversary of the founding\nof Wellington. The sentry on guard over the ruins of Government House\nthere, stood to attention during the height of a convulsion and cried,\n\"All's well!\"]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI\n\nO'ERCLOUDED SKIES\n\n\nThere was no session of Parliament between April, 1858, and the end of\nJuly, 1860, and the colonists were consequently justified in believing\nthat the machinery of Government was moving smoothly throughout the\nIslands, and that the chief engineers required no help from their\nsubordinates. Had they been told that they stood upon the dividing line\nbetween peace and war; had they been told that it required but one\nforward step in order to plunge them into a strife which should endure\nalmost without intermission for just so many years as the peace they\nhad enjoyed, they would have laughed in their informant's face.\n\nFrom the earliest days certain tribes had maintained an attitude of\nreserve towards the Pakeha. If the white intruders chose to found a\nsettlement or two on the coast and remain there, well and good; the\nMaori might find their presence useful commercially and for purposes\nof war. It was another matter when the strangers absorbed the land,\ndivided the country into provinces, and founded not only capital\ncities, but numbers of smaller towns and villages as well. If this\nsort of thing were to go on, the Maori might as well evacuate the\nisland at once; for, as Heke had said to the Governor, \"If you take our\nland, where are we to go?\"\n\nThis was the view taken by the Waikato, one of the most famous and\nmost warlike of the Maori _iwi_, who about the year 1848 formed a Land\nLeague, which they strove to induce the other tribes to join. The\nleading principle of the League was obstinate refusal to sell land\nunder any conditions to the Pakeha.\n\nConfined to the Waikato alone, this movement would have been serious\nenough, threatening, as it did, to preserve in the midst of the Pakeha\nsettlements numerous fierce and resolute men, opposed to the domination\nof Britain. When other tribes associated themselves with the founders\nof the League, it should have been evident that some day, and before\nlong, white and brown must stand foot to foot to decide which was to be\nfor ever supreme.\n\nIt mattered not to the Leaguers that the Government desired them to\nparticipate in the beneficent legislation designed on behalf of their\ncountrymen. If they were to be governed at all, they preferred to\nchoose the means and the way. To this end they devised a grotesque\nscheme, blending British institutions with the monarchical system\nof the ancient Jews. This done, they elected a king, called a\n\"parliament,\" hoisted the flag which William the Fourth had granted to\nthe \"United Tribes of New Zealand,\" and inscribed it \"Potatau, King of\nNew Zealand.\"\n\nRidicule might have killed the movement, had it stopped there; but\ndanger loomed very near when the irreconcilable chief of the \"Boiling\nWater\" tribes, Iwikau Te Heu Heu, demanded total separation between\nthe two races, pointing to his great ancestor, the slumbering volcano,\nTongariro, as the centre of a district through which no road should be\nmade, where no white man should settle, and wherein Queen Wikitoria\nshould not be prayed for.\n\nGovernor Browne held, notwithstanding, that \"Kingism\" should be allowed\nto die a natural death, and most unwisely repealed the Act which\nSir George Grey had brought in, which prevented the sale of arms to\nnatives. It was not until six months after this unaccountable step, by\nwhich time the Maori had acquired several thousand stand of arms, that\nthe Governor listened to the anxious settlers and made the purchase\nof guns and ammunition somewhat more difficult by increasing the duty\nupon them. The whirlwind of the wind thus sown was to be reaped later;\nbut the immediate result was a series of small civil strifes between\ndifferent tribes during the years 1857 and 1858.\n\nPeace was still unbroken when 1859 came in, nor did the colonists even\nthen pay much attention to the mutterings of the Land Leaguers or the\ngrowls of the King party. Yet they were really sitting over a powder\nmagazine, and a very small spark must at any moment cause a terrible\nexplosion.\n\nBefore the explosion comes, let one last word be said regarding the\nattitude of the contending parties towards one another.\n\nEvery one knows the shocking story of the retreat of the red men\nbefore the advance of civilisation, during which deeds were done, not\nonce, not twice, but over and over again, upon both sides which cannot\nbe named for the horror of them. We have not always been too careful of\nthe black man's rights in Africa, and when he has turned upon us in his\ndespair, have smitten him hip and thigh, decimating his tribe, burning\nhis kraal and laying waste his fields.\n\nThe Maori experienced little, indeed, of this in comparison with those\nothers. Misunderstanding there was, and some, perhaps, were too quick\nto judge. Misunderstanding added to hasty judgment led to strife; but\nthat strife, keen as it was, and bitter too, sometimes, was never a\ncombat _\u00e0 outrance_.\n\nPakeha and Maori met and fought, slew and were slain, won or lost.\nFeeling now and again ran very high, the Maori smarting under a sense\nof loss and injustice, the Pakeha furious at some treacherous murder.\nThen there were reprisals. Such lamentable happenings there were;\nbut at no time, not in the very depth of the war, existed generally\nthat intense bitterness of spirit, that fierce racial jealousy, that\nconsuming hatred, which distinguished the conflict between Paleface\nand Redskin. As the limits of the Pakeha's territory were extended, at\nno time did there arise such a band of bloody murderers as the \"Indian\nRunners\" of the western frontier of the United States. With these men\nit was an abiding principle to shoot an Indian on sight, innocent\nthough he might be of any deed of blood. The strongest article in the\ncreed of the Runner was, \"There is only one good Injun, and that's a\ndead Injun.\"\n\nNothing like this wicked spirit ever animated the white community in\nNew Zealand. One might almost say that they waged war in generous\nmood, and there were certainly instances of extreme generosity and\nhigh-mindedness on the Maori side. Where in the world in a campaign\nagainst \"savages\" has one heard of the savage calling a warning to\nhis white foe? Yet this is what the Maori did. \"Go back, Toby!\" they\ncried to Lieutenant Phillpotts at Oheawai. \"Lie down, icky-fif; we're\ngoin' to shoot!\" they frequently shouted to the soldiers of the 65th\nRegiment, who had somehow gained their regard. Where in the world will\nyou hear of converted \"savages,\" having been taught the sanctity of the\nSabbath, respecting the same when at war with their instructors? Yet\nthis is what the Maori did. Remember the _pa_ of Ruapekapeka! Great and\nsimple souls! What must have been their feelings when a volley from\nthose who had taught them the holy lesson laid many of them low? There\nis no implication intended that the Maori were uniformly chivalrous and\nthe Pakeha uniformly the opposite--the records of the war would never\njustify such,--but it ought not to be difficult for the civilised white\nman to be generous and chivalrous, whereas such instances as those just\nquoted are probably unique in the annals of war between the white and\nthe coloured races.\n\nThe wars in New Zealand had for the most part their origin in agrarian\nquestions, and were concluded by diplomatic negotiations. They\nwere not--nor was it ever contemplated that they should be--wars of\nextermination. The Pakeha strove by means more or less legal, if not\nlegitimate, to push the Maori from the soil on which their feet had\nbeen firmly planted for six hundred years. The old owners resented the\nattempt and, in some instances, the manner in which the attempt was\nmade. When argument was exhausted, then, and then only, came the final\nappeal to arms, and a war resulted which has brought about lasting\npeace.\n\nWhen the war began there were 170,000 whites in New Zealand, while\nthe Maori population was reckoned at 32,000, of whom about 20,000\nwere available as fighting men. Remember, the Maori of 1859 were very\ndifferent from even their immediate forebears. Cannibalism was as\nextinct as the _moa_. The intelligent natives had recognised the value\nof the Pakeha methods and studied them with advantage. Many possessed\ntheir own holdings, farmed their own ground, and progressed in the\neducation which was freely offered them. There were Maori assessors in\nthe Courts of the Superintendents, and a Maori chief was attached to\nthe Governor's staff as adviser on purely native questions. The two\nraces were distinctly drawn to one another about this period, and the\nwhite portion at any rate hardly looked for trouble.\n\nWhat gave the colonists an added sense of security was their knowledge\nthat the great leaders of the past were all dead, or nearing their end.\nHeke had died of consumption in 1850. Te Rauparaha preceded him to\nReinga in 1849, being buried by his son, Thompson Rauparaha, who had\nbeen educated in England and was a lay-reader. Rangihaeata helped to\nbury his old friend, and followed him seven years later to the shades,\nhaving never during the whole of his seventy years abated his hatred of\nthe Pakeha.\n\nRangihaeata was a man of great strength and splendid presence, and\nit is told that, when on one occasion he met Sir George Grey at a\n_korero_, or palaver, his costume was entirely and markedly Maori, in\ncontrast to that of many of his countrymen, who wore blankets instead\nof mats, or were clothed in ordinary European dress. In reply to the\nGovernor, Rangihaeata assumed his proudest, sternest expression, and\nspoke defiantly. \"I want nothing of the white men,\" he concluded, and,\nwith a sneer at his compatriots, \"_I_ wear nothing of their work.\" Sir\nGeorge smilingly indicated a peacock's feather which surmounted the\nchief's carefully dressed hair. \"Ah! True; that is European,\" said\nRangihaeata with vehement scorn, plucking the feather from his hair and\ncasting it on the ground.\n\nOf the rest of the stern warriors who had been in grips with the\nPakeha, Pomare was dead, Te Tanewha was gone to join the long line of\nhis ancestors, and Waka Nene, their reliable friend, was growing old.\nIn the opinion of many the great past had died with the dead heroes,\nand was dead for ever.\n\nIt was in November, 1859, that Governor Gore Browne arrived at Taranaki\nand announced that, if any native had land to sell, along with a good\ntitle, he was there to buy for the Crown. A Maori named Teira--the\nnearest approach he could make to \"Taylor\"--offered to part with six\nhundred acres at Waitara, and this block the Governor agreed to buy, if\nTeira's title were proved good. The Commissioner was satisfied as to\nthe title; surveyors were sent to mark boundaries, and were promptly\nordered off by Wiremu Kingi Te Rangitake (William King), the chief of\nTeira's tribe, who had already declared that he would not allow the\nland to be sold.\n\nGovernor Browne was a soldier, and diplomacy was not for him. He at\nonce sent a force to compel Wiremu Kingi to withdraw his opposition,\nand these found the Maori strongly entrenched, and quite willing to\ntake up the gage of battle.\n\nThe Taranaki settlers retired with the soldiers to New Plymouth, and\nthe Maori ravaged the settlement, which extended twenty miles north and\nsouth, and eight or ten inland. The fighting which followed during the\nensuing months was chiefly remarkable for the first appearance of the\ncolonial force in the field, where they then and afterwards did such\ngood work.\n\nFor most obvious reasons--were they known--the writer would be the last\nto disparage the regular forces; but they were hampered by method,\nand the bush fighting of the Maori was a style of warfare to which\nthey were quite unused. Not a few, without intending disrespect to\nthe regular forces, strongly hold that, had the conduct of military\noperations been left to McDonnell, Von Tempsky, Whitmore, Atkinson,\nand a few others, they, with their militia and volunteers, would have\nbrought the war to a successful close in half the time, at half the\ncost, and with infinitely less loss to their own side. For these\nfought the Maori in the Maori style, and the natives feared these\nmen, who knew them and the bush, with a fear they never felt for the\nredcoats, whom, in their queer way, they often expressed themselves\nsorry to be obliged to shoot.\n\nOne example will show the difference in method. General Cameron, a man\nof great experience--elsewhere--and proved courage, one day in 1865\nmarched from Whanganui with drums beating, colours flying, and bands\nplaying, at the head of as gallant a company of regulars and volunteers\nas ever went out to war. After a march of fifteen miles they came to\nthe lake of Nukumaru, five miles from the rebel _pa_ of Wereroa, and\nhere the General gave orders to encamp.\n\nAt this, Major Witchell, who was in command of the military train, most\nof his men being mounted colonials, rode up and said, with a salute,\n\"General, don't you think that we are rather too near the bush?\"\n\nGeneral Cameron glanced towards the bush, distant half a mile, the\ninterval being covered with high _to\u00eb-to\u00eb_, a grass something like that\ncalled \"pampas,\" and replied, \"Do you imagine, Major, that any number\nof natives would dare to attack two thousand of Her Majesty's troops?\"\n\nThe Major thought it very likely; but he could say no more. He was\nconfident that there were Maori in the bush, and the high grass offered\nexcellent cover to such skilled guerilla. He probably realised also how\nmuch depended upon his own initiative, for, though he ordered his men\nto dismount, he bade them not offsaddle.\n\nSuddenly the roar of musketry broke out, and the _to\u00eb-to\u00eb_ was\nviolently agitated as the Maori, still unseen, dodged hither and\nthither. That one discharge accounted for sixteen men, among them\nAdjutant-General Johnston, a capable officer; but, thanks to Major\nWitchell, that was the sum of the disaster.\n\n\"Mount!\" he shouted, and his men, riding as they knew how to ride,\nchased the Maori back into the bush, save thirty-six who lay dead among\nthe grass to balance the account of the sixteen. How narrow was the\nGeneral's own escape is shown by the fact that a Maori was shot hard by\nhis tent, in the centre of the camp. It was not until he had allowed\nhimself to be surprised again next day and lost five more men that\nGeneral Cameron concluded that the bush was too close, and that the\nMaori would actually attack two thousand of Her Majesty's troops.\n\nThis incident belonged to a later stage of the war. We are still with\nthe troops in Taranaki, in the autumn of 1860, when General Pratt, who\nhad arrived to take command, was about to besiege one of the Maori\nstrongholds in the orthodox manner.\n\nBefore this could be done, a truce was negotiated by the Christian\nWaikato chief, Wiremu Tamihana Te Whaharoa (William Thompson),\nwho represented the King faction. Waikato had sent a contingent\nto the aid of Taranaki--in the old days it would have been very\ndifferent--although they had no personal interest in the dispute; but\nthese had been repulsed with loss, and it was then that Tamihana\nsuggested a truce. This was in May, 1861, fourteen months after the\nGovernor's soldiers had marched against Wiremu Kingi.\n\n[Illustration: Major Witchell's charge at Nukumaru]\n\nMen were everywhere satisfied that nothing more would come of this\nyear of skirmishing, and few, if any, regarded it as preliminary to a\nlong and dreadful war. Things fell again into their places; three new\nprovinces--Hawke's Bay or Napier, Marlborough and Southland--were added\nto the rest, the Bank of New Zealand was incorporated, and only those\nwithin the innermost circle knew that underneath the seeming calm was\ndeep-rooted unrest.\n\nBut so it was. Governor Browne demanded, very much in the imperative\nmood, the submission of all concerned in the late rising, and a\ngeneral oath of allegiance to the Crown. The Maori said neither yea\nnor nay; they simply did nothing. Whereon the Governor, wroth at their\ncontumacy, declared his intention to invade Waikato and bring the\ninsolent rebels to their knees. It is hard to see how one who has never\ntaken an oath of allegiance can be a rebel; but that may pass.\n\nThe colonists who heard the Governor's fulmination could not believe\ntheir ears, called his attention to the state of unpreparedness\nthroughout the colony, and urged that to invade Waikato would be to\ninvite an alliance of the sympathisers with that powerful tribe against\nthe British. But the Governor had the power, believed that he had the\nmeans, and reiterated his determination.\n\nAt this critical juncture Britain intervened to give her youngest\nchild breathing time. Sir George Grey, Governor of Cape Colony, was\ninstructed to proceed to New Zealand, and there resume the reins of\ngovernment; and, when Governor Browne understood this, he held his\nhand, much to the relief of the colonists.\n\nFor the next two years Governor Sir George Grey tried by every means\nshort of war to bring about a peaceful solution of the difficulty which\nhad arisen out of the Waitara block of land. He had the powerful aid of\nBishop Selwyn; but all was useless, for the Waikato declined to submit\nthe question to arbitration. And then the face of the situation was\nsuddenly changed, and the natives placed entirely in the wrong.\n\nThe district of Tataraimaka, fifteen miles south of New Plymouth, had\nbeen for fifteen years in undisputed possession of European settlers,\neven the Maori admitting their title to be good. The natives had\nravaged this block during the trouble of 1860-1861 and, as they now\nrefused to withdraw from it, Sir George Grey cut the knot of the\ndifficulty by declaring his intention to abandon all claim to the\nWaitara block and to drive the Taranaki tribes out of Tataraimaka.\nSir George never allowed \"I dare not\" to \"wait upon I would,\" and the\nmilitary were soon on their way.\n\nConfident of the support of the Waikato, the men of Taranaki sent to\nthe king's headquarters for instructions. The answer came back at once,\nsternly laconic: \"Begin your shooting!\"\n\nAn escort party were ambushed on the 4th of May, 1863, and the\nTaranaki began their shooting by murdering--for war was not\ndeclared--Lieutenant Tragett, Dr. Hope, and five soldiers of the 57th\nRegiment. Apart from this, the Waikato showed their determination to\nstand shoulder to shoulder with the Taranaki tribes and force a contest.\n\nOnly a month earlier Mr. (afterwards Sir John) Gorst, resident\nmagistrate in the heart of the Waikato country, had been expelled by\nthe leaders, and the printing-press whence he had issued literature\nopposed to Kingism seized. The Waikato had a press of their own, which\nhad been presented to them by the Emperor of Austria, and they issued a\nnews-sheet which they called _Hokioi_, after a fabulous bird of great\npower. Mr. Gorst, on his side, published the _Pihohoi_, which is the\nname of a tiny lark; and, as the principles of \"The Lark\" were dead\nagainst Kingism, the king's men suppressed the paper with an alacrity\nworthy of Russian censors.\n\nThe King party immediately after this came into direct conflict with\nSir George Grey himself. Marching in force to a spot on the lower\nWaikato upon which Sir George proposed to build a court-house and\npolice barracks, the malcontents hurled all the ready-fitted timbers\ninto the river, declaring the district outside British jurisdiction.\n\nAfter this exhibition of power and determination, the Waikato\ndespatched war-runners in all directions to rouse the Maori and inspire\nthem to \"drive the Pakeha Rat into the sea.\" The runners carried a\ncircular letter exhorting the natives to \"sweep out their yard\" and to\nremember the national _whakatauki_, or motto, \"_Me mate te tangata me\nmate mo te whenua_\" (the death of the warrior is to die for the land).\n\"We will sweep out our yard,\" went on the letter, and concluded with a\nline from a stirring war-song, well known throughout the North Island:\n\"Grasp firm your weapons! Strike! Fire!\"\n\nThough skirmishing was going on, neither side actually admitted being\nat war; but Auckland itself being threatened, General Cameron was\nhurriedly called north with every available man of his command.\n\nA glance at the map will show that the Waikato river makes a bend\nwhere the Maungatawhiri creek falls into it, and then pursues a course\nalmost due west to the sea. At this junction, some forty miles south of\nAuckland, and east of the river's mouth, was the frontier line of the\ndefiant Waikato. The King tribes had long ago said that the crossing\nof this line would be regarded by them as a belligerent act, and when\nGeneral Cameron, on the 13th of July, 1863, led his troops across it,\nthe Waikato war began without any more formal notice.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXII\n\nTHE QUEEN MOVES\n\n\nFirst blood was to the Maori on the 17th of July at Koheroa, near that\nrectangular bend just referred to which the Waikato river makes towards\nthe sea. The tribesmen had cleverly divided into two columns, one of\nwhich swung round through the dense forest on the Wairoa ranges and\nattacked the British rear, where they forced an escort of the Royal\nIrish under Captain Ring to retire with the loss of one killed and four\nwounded. A sharper fight, later in the day, left the advantage once\nmore with the British.\n\nColonel Austin was in command of the advance post at Koheroa, General\nCameron occupying a redoubt on the ranges overlooking the river. The\ncolonel, observing large masses of natives gathering on the ranges to\nhis front, immediately advanced in skirmishing order. The enemy retired\ntowards the Maramarua creek in their rear, but, when two miles had been\ncovered in a running fight, suddenly made a stand in a very difficult\nposition, which they had already fortified with breastworks and\nrifle-pits, and which, from the nature of the ground, it was impossible\nto turn.\n\nSo terrific a volley was poured upon a detachment of the 14th, which\nhad never till then been under fire, that for all their pluck the lads\nwavered. General Cameron had just arrived to take command and, seeing\nthe unsteadiness of the leading files, ran to the front, twenty paces\nin advance of all, and stood there, a mark for every bullet, cheering\non his men. British soldiers never yet failed to answer a call like\nthat. The slight hesitation disappeared in a moment, and the men rushed\nforward and drove the enemy out of their pits at the point of the\nbayonet. The pursuit was maintained for five miles, the Maori making\ndefiant stands at one prepared position after another--much as the\nBoers used to do at a later period,--but they were finally driven into\nheadlong flight, with a loss of between sixty and eighty.\n\nThe colonists were greatly disappointed when, instead of following\nup his victory, General Cameron sat down at Wangamirino creek and\nwatched the rebels while they strongly fortified Meri-Meri, three\nmiles distant, making no attempt to dislodge them. Alleging that\nhis transport service must be thoroughly organised, General Cameron\nremained where he was until the end of October, and all through the\nlong weeks over a thousand horses panted and strained, dragging the\nheavy commissariat waggons along the forty-mile metalled road between\nAuckland and the Waikato. The transport service ran grave risk of traps\nand ambuscades, but, as no vessels suitable for river navigation were\navailable, the military stores could be sent by no other way.\n\nThe General at last considered himself ready to advance; but first\nvery properly reconnoitred Meri-Meri in one of the iron-screened\nsteamers which the Governor had sent him. Then, on the 31st of\nOctober, he moved forward over six hundred men, left them in position,\nand returned for another detachment with which to attack the Maori\nfortification both front and rear. But when he arrived with detachment\nnumber two, there were no Maori there to fight. They had abandoned\nMeri-Meri under the very eyes of detachment number one, instead of\nremaining, as they clearly ought to have done, to be surrounded. It was\nas well; for Meri-Meri was very strongly entrenched, and great loss of\nlife must have attended an assault.\n\nThe Maori rarely fought as they were expected to fight, and, as in the\ncase of the Boers, their _personnel_ was constantly changing, some of\nthem going home, and others, who had so far done no fighting, taking\ntheir places. After the evacuation of Meri-Meri, a considerable number\nwithdrew temporarily from the field, while the rest, reinforced by a\nfresh contingent, set to work to fortify Rangiriri, twelve miles higher\nup the Waikato.\n\nAgainst this General Cameron advanced on the 20th of November with a\nland force of eight hundred men, five hundred more on board two river\nsteamers, two Armstrong guns and two gunboats, whose duty it would be\nto pitch shell into the _pa_ from their position on the river. The\nfort, trenched and pitted, had a formidable look; but the Maori had\nfor once omitted to leave open a way of escape in their rear, and,\nbesides, they were numerically too weak to defend the long line of\nfortification.\n\nFrom three o'clock until five that afternoon the gunners poured shot\nand shell into the entrenchments at a range of six hundred yards, and\nthen the troops, led by the gallant 65th, drove the enemy from the\ntrenches into a central redoubt, which defied all efforts to take it.\nThe men of the red and white roses swung raging back to make way for\na contingent of the Royal Artillery and, when these, too, were beaten\noff, Commander Mayne of H.M.S. _Eclipse_ twice in succession led\nhis jolly tars against the impregnable redoubt. Not even they could\nsucceed, and night closed in on the combatants, putting an end to the\nslaughter, and leaving the Maori still in possession.\n\nAll night long the sappers laboured at a trench, and all night long\nthe Maori within the redoubt kept up a terrific howling, flinging\nchallenges, and occasionally something more practical, at the\nbesiegers; but, when morning dawned, there stood on the fatal parapet\na chief of note, and asked for an interpreter. In a few moments one\nhundred and eighty-three warriors and one hundred and seventy-five\nstand of arms were surrendered to General Cameron.\n\nThe mistakes of Oheawai were repeated at Rangiriri, and the wonder\nis that the troops got off as cheaply as they did; a fact only to be\naccounted for by the numerical weakness of the Maori. These knew well\nthe courage of the men arrayed against them; but the desperate valour\nwith which they defended their works helped to convince the British\nGeneral that they, too, were foemen not to be despised.\n\nThe battle of Rangiriri had this great advantage, that it opened the\ngorge of Taupiri, where disaster might well have overtaken the troops,\nhad the Maori been in a position to defend it. As it was, General\nCameron was able to push forward, and on the 6th of December to occupy\nNgaruawahia, where King Matutaere had established his headquarters, and\nwhere his father, old Potatau, was buried. Matutaere had not waited\nfor General Cameron and, unduly fearful of desecration, had carried\naway with him the mouldering remains of the old king. One thing he\nhad left behind, as being too heavy for a flying column, and that was\na flagstaff of most exalted height, from the peak of which his royal\nstandard had lately floated. The standard was gone, but the flagstaff\nhad not been cut down, and the Union Jack soon proclaimed to any\nwatching Waikato that the first game of the rubber had been won by the\nBritish.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIII\n\nTHE BLACK KNIGHT GIVES CHECK\n\n\nShortly before the occupation of Ngaruawahia the New Zealand\nSettlements Act was passed, giving the Governor power to confiscate the\nlands of insurgent Maori, the Imperial Government having relinquished\ncontrol of native affairs. These were now entirely in the hands of the\ncolonists, and it was hoped that their knowledge of the requirements\nof the Maori, together with the success which had attended General\nCameron's arms, would combine to bring about lasting peace.\n\nThere was, indeed, talk of peace between Sir George Grey and Wiremu\nTamihana; but it came to nothing, and the Maori meanwhile threw up\nfortifications at Pikopiko and Paterangi, on the Waipa, a branch of\nthe Waikato. Dislodged thence, and severely handled in a skirmish\non the Mangapiko river, in which Captain Heaphy of the New Zealand\nforces gained the Victoria Cross, the Maori, commanded by their great\nfighting chief, Rewi, were again defeated at Rangiaohia. This was\nlate in February, 1864, and the Waikato, undismayed at their numerous\ndisasters, entrenched themselves at Orakau, in the heavily-wooded\nTaranaki country.\n\nOrakau was unusually strong, and General Carey, with great judgment,\ncompletely surrounded it before opening his attack. Even so, he fell at\ndawn on the 30th of March into the old mistake of attempting to storm\nthe impregnable. After three unsuccessful assaults by regulars and\ncolonials, the General determined to approach the defences by the less\ncostly, if slower method of sap and trench. All was ready by the 2nd of\nApril, and the Armstrong guns soon silenced the enemy's fire, while the\nsoldiers managed to burn no less than 48,000 rounds of ammunition.\n\nGeneral Cameron at this stage very humanely ordered a parley, as there\nwere many women and children within the _pa_; but to his summons to\nsurrender the Waikato sent back the defiant answer, \"This is the word\nof the Maori: We will fight for ever and ever and ever!\" (_Ka whawhai\ntonu; Ake, Ake, Ake!_) \"Send out the women and children,\" urged General\nCameron. \"No; the women also will fight for their country,\" was the\nheroic response, and the General had no choice but to order the troops\nto assault.\n\nThe first men up, some twenty in number, led by Captain Hertford of\nthe Colonial Force, were received with a volley which put the captain\nand ten of his men _hors de combat_, while on the other side of the\n_pa_ the 65th had no better success. But the Maori were worn out with\nthe three days' struggle; they had lost heavily, and Rewi now gave\nthe order to evacuate the _pa_, which was, it will be remembered,\ncompletely invested.\n\nHow the Maori managed to escape has never been satisfactorily\nexplained. In the words of an eye-witness, \"a solid column of Maori,\nthe women, children and great chiefs in the centre, marched out as cool\nand steady as if they had been going to church.\" A double line of the\n40th Regiment lay on the side the defenders chose for their escape, the\nfirst under a bank sheltering them from the fire from the _pa_. It is\nalmost incredible that, before any one had gathered the significance of\nwhat was going on, the Maori jumped over the heads of the first line,\nand walked through the second line.\n\nThe war correspondent of the Auckland _Southern Cross_ wrote of this\nextraordinary happening: \"The cry was heard that the rebels were\nescaping, and a scene baffling description ensued. General Cameron,\nBrigadier-General Carey, aides and gallant colonels of the staff were\nrushing about to warn and gather men from the sap.... This occupied\nminutes, and all this time not a man of the 40th appears to have seen\nthe Maori, who must have jumped over the heads of the soldiers lining\nthe road cut out of the steep embankment, and so passed into the swamp\nand _Ti_-tree scrub, wounding two or three of the 40th as a remembrance\nof their passing.\"\n\nThe Maori must have escaped unharmed, had it not been for a small corps\nof colonial cavalry, who, led by Captains Jackson and Von Tempsky,\nworked round the scrub and inflicted great loss upon the natives as\nthey emerged. Owing to the blunder, Rewi escaped along with numbers of\nhis countrymen.\n\nThe scene was now suddenly shifted to the Tauranga district on the\neast, in the neighbourhood of the Bay of Plenty. The Maori here had\nnothing to do with the quarrel, but emissaries from the Waikato\nhad constantly approached them, and many of the tribes were deeply\ndisaffected. No great distance separated the two districts; Wiremu\nTamihana owned considerable land in the Tauranga country, and, it\nwas well known, the Tauranga men had materially helped their western\nneighbours. Fortunately, the Arawa tribes, which had an immemorial feud\nwith the Waikato,[66] took our side and, led by Captain McDonnell of\nthe Colonial Forces, defeated the tribes of the Rawhiti at Maketu. A\nweek later this initial success was forgotten in view of the disaster\nwhich overtook the British at Tauranga.\n\nGeneral Cameron had towards the end of April transferred his\nheadquarters to Tauranga, and established himself with two thousand men\nbefore a strong fortification of the enemy, which is remembered as the\n\"Gate _Pa_.\" This fort was built upon a neck of land which fell away\non each side to a swamp. On the summit of the neck the chief redoubt\nhad been constructed and, flanking it, were lines of rifle-pits and\nshelters, covered with wattle or earth, rendering the place almost\nimpregnable.\n\nThe position had been completely invested, and the bombardment opened\non the morning of the 28th of April, 1864. The Maori lay grimly\nsilent behind their defences while our great guns banged and boomed,\nbelching their storm of shot and shell at--emptiness! The cunning foe\nhad planted their standard one hundred yards in rear of their _pa_,\nwhile the besiegers fondly imagined it to be placed in the centre.\nFor two hours the waste of ammunition went on before the mistake was\ndiscovered; but, even when the great guns roared furiously at the\nredoubt, as if wroth at the saturnine jest played upon them, the Maori\nmade no sign; so that none could tell whether they were lying close,\nlike scared rabbits in their burrows, or whether--though this was not\nlikely--they had already stolen away and escaped.\n\nThe afternoon was advanced when, with their reserves well up, the\ntroops poured through a wide breach in an angle of the redoubt. They\nmet with little opposition, and those on the plain actually believed\nthe _pa_ to be taken.\n\nNot so. In the very moment of victory occurred one of those\ninexplicable panics which, rarely enough, seize the most seasoned\ntroops; the positions were reversed in an instant, and the Maori\nmasters of the situation.\n\nAs the troops dashed cheering through the breach, the Maori attempted\nto slip out at the rear of the _pa_; but, seeing the men of the 65th,\nthe whole mass of them surged back and came face to face with the\nforemost of those who had entered from the front. These, startled at\nsight of so many savage foes rushing furiously upon them, pressed upon\ntheir comrades, who in turn faltered, and the troops in another moment\nturned and ran, shouting, \"They are there in thousands!\"\n\nUndaunted by this terrible sight, the reserves dashed up to encourage\ntheir dismayed comrades, but to no purpose. The Maori, momentarily\ninactive from sheer astonishment, recovered and poured a disastrous\nfire upon the mob of struggling men, twenty-seven of whom were killed\nand sixty-six wounded.\n\nIt is useless to try to explain away this unhappy incident. It is\nenough to say that the men of the 43rd Regiment two months later atoned\nfor their behaviour, and wiped out their defeat by utterly routing the\nMaori at Te Ranga, where the position was not at all unlike that at the\nGate _Pa_.\n\nDespite the fact that there were now arrayed against them some ten\nthousand British regulars, and five thousand colonial troops, the Maori\nmade no overtures of surrender--save for a few at Tauranga. Instead,\nthey withdrew from the Waikato plain, as well as from those parts\noccupied by the soldiers, and joined forces with the Whanganui rebels\nin the fastnesses of the latter's country, where they were able to\nindulge in their favourite bush-fighting and guerilla warfare. Here,\ntoo, their resistance was strengthened by the growth of a shocking\nsuperstition, which bred in them a fanatical hate, and lent to their\nmethods a brutality never previously exhibited in their conflicts with\nthe Pakeha.\n\nAnother development which strongly influenced the remainder of the war\noccurred about the time when the operations at Tauranga were brought to\na close. Until the early part of 1864 the Colonial Forces had played a\nsubordinate part in the war--not from choice--though their conduct had\nbeen invariably deserving of the highest praise. The time was now at\nhand when they were to become principals instead of supernumeraries,\nand by their own strenuous efforts bring about the end of a struggle\nwhich General Cameron had more than once frankly despaired of finishing.\n\n\"The nature of the country forbids the idea of a decisive blow being\nstruck in the Whanganui district,\" he once wrote to Sir George Grey,\n\"and if Her Majesty's troops are to be detained in the colony until one\nis struck, I confess I see no prospect of their leaving New Zealand.\"\n\nNo doubt General Cameron was right in considering the country indicated\nas probably the most difficult in New Zealand in which to engage in\nmilitary operations; but, even in the more accessible Waikato plains,\nhe had not conducted the war with that dash which the colonists knew\nto be necessary for the speedy subjugation of the natives. Even the\nMaori considered him slow and, notwithstanding his personal courage,\ncontemptuously styled him \"the sea-gull with the broken wing,\" because\nof his tendency to avoid the bush and encamp upon or near the shore.\nLastly, his Fabian policy had cost the colony an enormous sum, and the\nBritish Government, irritated by the expense of its generous response\nto the colony's appeal for aid, now demanded \u00a340 per head per annum\nfor all soldiers kept in New Zealand at the request of the Colonial\nGovernment, after the 1st of January, 1865. The answer of the colony to\nthis was to beg the Home Government to remove the Imperial troops to\nthe last man, declaring the colony ready and able to undertake its own\ndefence.\n\nThis \"self-relying\" policy of the Weld Ministry relieved the colonists\nof a great burden; for the poll-tax was to be paid only for soldiers\nremaining at the request of the New Zealand Government. Furthermore,\nthe relations between Sir George Grey and General Cameron had for long\nbeen none too cordial, and one thing added to another brought about the\ndeparture of some of the British regiments.\n\nTo put the matter in a nutshell, the Governor asked the soldier to\ndare and do more than the latter believed he could accomplish with\nthe troops at his disposal; so he refused point blank. The Governor\nthereupon dared and did on his own initiative, and proved the soldier\nwrong.\n\nHere is an outstanding example. After General Cameron had been\nsurprised at Nukumaru,[67] he passed on up the coast, leaving unreduced\nthe strong Wereroa _pa_, which was occupied in force by the Maori. His\nreason, given to the Governor, was that he had only fifteen hundred\ntroops with him, and to attack the fort with less than two thousand\nwould be to court disaster. When five hundred friendly Whanganui\nnatives offered to take the _pa_, the General sneered at their offer as\n\"mere bounce\" and, further, insisted that the Governor knew it to be\n\"mere bounce.\"\n\nThe Governor's reply was to collect a mixed force of five hundred men,\nincluding three hundred of the \"bouncing\" friendlies, and borrow two\nhundred regulars from General Waddy for moral support. With these he\nmarched upon the _pa_ about which such a pother had been raised. The\nQueen's troops, who were not allowed to fight--though the enemy did not\nknow that--acted as a camp guard, while the colonials and friendlies\nworked by a circuitous and very difficult route to the rear of the\n_pa_. Here they took a strong redoubt, which commanded the fort, and\ncaptured fifty Maori on their way to join the garrison. All this was\neffected without the loss of a man, and the enemy, seeing themselves,\nas they supposed, surrounded, evacuated the _pa_ by the front. Had\nthe regulars been allowed to fight, the hostile force must have been\nannihilated; but, much to their astonishment, they were allowed to walk\noff unopposed. The numerically insignificant contingent of colonials\nand friendlies entered the _pa_ next day, having accomplished in two\ndays, under the Governor's eye, that which the commander-in-chief had\nfor six months declared to be impossible of accomplishment with less\nthan two thousand regulars. Perhaps, however, he was right.\n\nAs one result of this constant friction and of General Cameron's\nrepresentations to the British Government, there remained in the colony\nin 1865 only five regiments, and these were employed in guarding the\ndistricts which had been reduced. After March, 1865, the Colonial\nForces for the most part conducted the war in their own way; but it\nwould be absurd to deny that, but for the regulars who remained, the\nconquered tribes would have reassembled and obliged the war to be\nfought over again, or necessitated an increase in the strength of the\ncolonials proportional to that of the Imperial troops withdrawn. As\nit was, while the regulars stood on guard, the colonials fought their\nfight unhampered by reviving sedition--fought and, as we shall see,\nconquered.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[Footnote 66: See p. 55.]\n\n[Footnote 67: See p. 233.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIV\n\nPAI MARIRE,[68] OR THE HAUHAU SECT\n\n\nThe early months of the year 1864 saw the first appearance of the\nfanatical sect of the _Pai Marire_, or Hauhau. Various opinions exist\nas to its cause of origin, but no member of it has put his own views\non record for the benefit of posterity. Some believe that the sect was\nfounded as a deliberate attempt to strengthen the weakening attachment\nof the natives to the national cause, by giving them the powerful bond\nof a common religion--so to call it. Others maintain that the inception\nof the movement was in a madman's brain, and that it was used for\npolitical purposes only when it was perceived how readily the more\nignorant and superstitious of the Maori accepted it. Lastly, not a few\ninsist that such a religious development was the natural outcome of\ninstilling half-a-dozen views of Christianity into the receptive brain\nof an intelligent race, able and accustomed to think for themselves.\nThese last argue that, when the Maori had listened to (in order of\nsequence) the Anglican, Wesleyan, Baptist, and Catholic versions of\nthe \"faith once delivered,\" the various contentions became so jumbled\nup in some minds that their owners began to study the Bible for\nthemselves. The result of the research of some of the less enlightened\nwas the formation of a \"religion\" which was a grotesque blend of\nJudaism, Paganism, and elementary Christianity (very little of this\nlast) which was used as a means to an end by those who utterly scorned\nit--the end being the destruction of British supremacy.\n\nThe author of the creed, one Te Ua, does indeed seem to have been a\nmild-mannered lunatic. He broke out rather violently about the time\nof a shipwreck on the Taranaki coast, and, while tied and bound for\nthe good of the community, indulged in a madman's dream which he\nsubsequently proclaimed as a \"revelation.\"\n\nHaving managed to free himself, Te Ua declared that the archangels\nMichael and Gabriel, together with many spirits, had landed from the\nwreck and given him power to burst his bonds. His companions, finding\nthis story hard to believe, again secured Te Ua, and this time with a\nchain. No use. With an effort of that strength which sometimes appears\nin the insane, Te Ua snapped the chain and leaped at a bound into the\nposition of a seer.\n\nTe Ua's muddled brain recalling something of the story of Abraham and\nIsaac, he went out and began to break his son's legs in obedience\nto a divine command to kill the youth. He was presently stopped by\nGabriel, who restored the boy whole and sound to his father, and gave\nthe latter orders to assemble all believers round a _niu_, or sacred\npole. Grouped there in a circle, they must dance, apostrophise the\nTrinity, sing hymns and what not, in return for which, those found\nworthy--note the saving clause--should receive the gift of tongues and\nbe invulnerable in battle. While praying, dancing or fighting, the\nsectaries were constantly to ejaculate the syllables \"Hauhau,\" forming\na word supposed to mean the wind (_hau_), by which the angels were\nwafted from the wreck when first they communicated with the great Te Ua.\n\nTe Ua was not long in making converts to his strange faith; and on the\n4th of April, 1864, a body of them fell upon a detachment of the 57th\nand military settlers, who were destroying crops in the Kaitaka ranges.\nCaptain Lloyd, who was in command, fought most bravely when cut off\nfrom his men, and died fighting. His body and the bodies of seven other\nwhite men were discovered a few days later, all minus the heads, which\nhad been carried away. No one knew what to make of this innovation;\nbut it was afterwards ascertained that Captain Lloyd's head had been\npreserved after the Maori fashion, and was being carried throughout the\nNorth Island, and exhibited to tribe after tribe as the medium through\nwhich God would occasionally speak to his people.\n\n[Illustration: The frenzy of the Hauhau The Incantation]\n\nThe tribes were also informed that legions of angels would some day\nappear and assist the Hauhau to annihilate the Pakeha. Once that\ndegenerate lot had been got rid of, the angels would escort from heaven\nan entirely new brand of men, who should teach the Maori all the\nEuropeans knew, and more. Unconsciously prophetic, the final promise\nin this farrago of nonsense was that all Maori who fulfilled certain\nconditions should be instantly endowed with power to understand and\nspeak the English language. The new men were evidently to resemble the\nBriton!\n\nNotwithstanding its blasphemous absurdities, the _Pai Marire_ sect\ngained so many converts, and spread so far and fast, that it seemed\nat one time as if all the Maori in the North Island would rebel. It\nis well, however, to keep in mind that many of those who followed the\nprophet's drum did so for their own purposes, and privately mocked at\nhis uninspired ravings.\n\nThe wonder is that the new faith did not immediately wither away; for\nthe Hauhau lost at the very outset so many killed and wounded at Sentry\nHill, near Taranaki, that all conceit as to their invulnerability\nshould have been driven out of them. Among the dead was a prominent\nsub-prophet, Hepanaia, and the story was circulated and believed that\nthe reverse was wholly due to this man's faulty behaviour--a very\nconvenient way of accounting for the non-fulfilment of the archangel's\npromises.\n\nWishful to counterbalance the effect of this defeat, the Hauhau\ndetermined to attack Whanganui. The prophet Matene (Martin) sent a\nconciliatory message to the Whanganui tribe of Ngati-Hau, and with\na number of disaffected Waikato swept down the river in war-canoes,\nintent to wipe out the settlement and the town.\n\nBut the Ngati-Hau, being friendly to the Pakeha, made alliance with\nthe Ngati-Apa, and paddled up-stream to meet the advancing Hauhau.\nThey were three hundred, and the prophet checked his advance at sight\nof them. A parley ensued, one side demanding, the other refusing,\npermission to pass down the river. Matene threatening violence, the\nNgati-Hau challenged him to make good his bold words, and it was\npresently arranged that the two companies should meet next morning on\nthe island of Moutoa--scene of many a fight--and decide the question\nby ordeal of battle. It was agreed that neither party should ambush or\nsurprise the other, and the Hauhau landed at dawn on Moutoa to find the\nNgati-Hau awaiting them.\n\nThe Whanganui, with mistaken generosity, opposed only a hundred of\ntheir number to one hundred and thirty Hauhau. They were divided into\nan advanced guard of fifty men, and an equal number in support, while\nthe remainder stood upon the river bank as spectators. The vanguard,\nunder Tamihana Te Aewa, was subdivided into three parties, each headed\nby a fighting chief, Riwai Tawhitorangi, Hemi Nape, and Kereti, while\nthe chief, Haimona, led the supports.\n\nMatene and his Hauhau, uttering their harsh, barking howl, were\nallowed to land and form up unopposed, when they immediately began\ntheir incantations, howling fragments of Scripture and making passes\nafter the manner of a hypnotist. The Whanganui, convinced of the\ninvulnerability of their foe, waited until the latter, still incanting,\nhad advanced within thirty paces, and then fired. Not one Hauhau fell.\n\nAt this moment a Christian Maori rushed in between the two parties and\nbeseeched them not to fight. As he stood there, the Hauhau returned a\nvolley; the mediator fell dead and, worse still, so did Riwai, Kereti,\nand several others. The vanguard began to retreat, shouting, \"It is\nabsurd to fire at those who cannot be wounded,\" and only Hemi Nape\nstood firm, giving back shot for shot, and bringing down more than one\nof the \"invulnerables.\" To him rushed Tamihana Te Aewa, forcing forward\na few whom he had been able to rally; but, even as they reached his\nside, Hemi Nape fell dead.\n\nThen Tamihana roared his battle-cry, and with his _tupara_ shot two\ngrinning Hauhau, whose spirits plunged so suddenly into the waters of\nReinga that their bodies knew not of their departure, but ran on for\nseveral paces ere they realised their condition and fell. A third half\nhalted, amazed at the extraordinary sight, and him Tamihana brained\nwith the stock of his empty gun, sending him with a splash into the\ndark waters after his comrades. A fourth came at him, howling like a\nwild dog; but Tamihana seized a spear and drove it so deep into the\nman's heart, that even his great strength could not withdraw it. And\nwhile he tugged and wrenched, lo! a bullet shattered his arm, and\na fifth Hauhau rushed upon him to slay him. But Tamihana, stooping\nswiftly, caught up Hemi Nape's gun and, swinging it round his head with\none hand, smote his enemy such a blow that the man's skull cracked like\nan egg-shell, and his brains gushed out. Truly, the guardian of the\nportals of Reinga had no time that day to close them while Tamihana\nwas at work.\n\nYet more might Tamihana have slain; but, even as he slew,\nsingle-handed, his fifth man, he fell to the ground with a broken knee.\n\nBy this time, those who ran had come to the tail of the island, whence,\nlooking back, they saw their chief upon the ground, and the Hauhau\nrushing up to finish him. Then was Haimona Hiroti shame-smitten and,\ndriving his spear into the earth, he cried aloud, \"I go no farther!\nBack with me, all who would not live with shame upon their faces!\"\nAnd twenty brave men followed Haimona, and all together they charged\nhome, some calling upon Atua for aid, and some invoking the Christians'\nGod. But the Hauhau, having only one god to cry to, became struck with\nfear, and in their turn broke and fled to their canoes. Few there were\nwho reached them, so mightily did Haimona Hiroti and his score smite,\nand so many did they slay; but some ran very fast, and these escaped,\ntaking no thought of those behind.\n\nThen Matene, their prophet, finding himself abandoned, cast himself\ninto the river and swam for the bank opposite to that whereon the men\nof Ngati-Hau and others were gathered, watching the fight and shouting\nlustily.\n\nUp to the very head of the island charged Haimona Hiroti, seeking still\nto slay. But not one was left. Then, when he saw the swimmer and knew\nhim for Matene, Haimona cried aloud to Te Moro, \"See! there swims your\nfish!\" and thrust his bone _mere_ into his hand. And Te Moro plunged\ninto the stream and, swimming very fast, overtook the \"fish\" before he\nreached the bank and seized him by the hair, which he wore long, after\nthe manner of the Hauhau. Then Matene turned in the water and, making\npasses in the air with his hands, barked at Te Moro, \"Hauhau! Hauhau!\nHau! Hau! Hau!\" as is the way with these people. But Te Moro, swimming\nround him, drew back his head and smote him with the bone _mere_ only\none blow; but it was enough.\n\nThen Te Moro swam back and, having laid Matene at Haimona's feet,\noffered him his bone _mere_. But Haimona said, \"Keep it\"; and Te Moro\nvery gladly kept it, for there were two notches in it where it had\nsuffered owing to the thickness of Matene's skull. And, when Te Moro's\nchildren's children shall show the _mere_ to their children and tell\nthe tale of it, should any doubt, there will the notches be to prove\nthat their ancestor slew Matene, and with that very weapon.\n\n  NOTE.--It is pleasant to record that this signal service on the\n  part of the Whanganui did not go unrecognised at the time, nor has\n  posterity been allowed to forget it. The bodies of the dead chiefs\n  were brought into Whanganui on the day following the battle, and\n  accorded a military funeral, which was attended by Colonel Logan and\n  the officers and men of the garrison, the Government officials, and\n  many residents, while all the shops were closed. A monument has since\n  been raised at Whanganui in memory of the friendly Maori who fell at\n  Moutoa.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[Footnote 68: _Pai Marire_ means \"Good and Peaceful.\"]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXV\n\nMURDER MOST FOUL\n\n\nThe year 1865 was full of incident. Fifteen years had gone by since\nRussell had bewailed the choice of Auckland as the capital, since\nWellington had stormily asserted her right of elder birth, since men\nhere and there with nothing better to suggest had demanded petulantly,\n\"Why should it be Auckland, any way?\" It was now Auckland's turn to\nlament; for, in the opinion of those qualified to judge, the central\nposition of Wellington justified the transference thither of the seat\nof Government.\n\nThere is no way yet discovered of pleasing everybody; but, in order\nthat the choice might be strictly impartial, the Governors of New South\nWales, Victoria, and Tasmania were requested to decide upon the best\nsite for the capital, while they were given to understand that the spot\nselected must be somewhere on the shores of Cook Strait, that being the\ngeographical centre of the colony.\n\nThe Governors inspected the region without prejudice in favour of\nexisting towns, and unanimously decided that \"Wellington, in Port\nNicholson, was the site upon the shores of Cook Strait which presented\nthe greatest advantages for the administration of the government of\nthe colony.\" No method of selection could have been more just, and in\nFebruary, 1865, the seat of Government was removed from Auckland to\nWellington.\n\nThe second notable event--the third in order of sequence--was the\nsurrender of the celebrated Waikato chief, Wiremu Tamihana Te Waharoa\n(William Thompson), whose persistent energy had put so much heart into\nthe insurgents. With his submission the Waikato war proper ended, and\nthis although many Waikato joined the Hauhau movement. The conflict was\nnot over; but the Waikato as a tribe withdrew from it. Some of their\nland had been confiscated, they had got the worst of the fight, and,\nthough they still clung to their principles regarding the sale of land\nand the establishment of a Maori dynasty, they now acknowledged the\nmight of the Government to be something beyond their power to overthrow.\n\nThe submission of Wiremu Tamihana influenced not the wild fanatics\nwho were being recruited from almost every tribe of note in the North\nIsland, and whose expressed determination it was to drive the Pakeha\nRat into the sea. They would fight and die for Maoriland, if need be;\nbut they would never give in. Not all of them believed the horrible\ncreed which Te Ua had invented; but even these were content to be\nclassed as Hauhau, if so they might help to free their country from the\ndomination of the Pakeha.\n\n\"Good wine needs no bush,\" and if ever a cause was spoiled by the\ncharacter and behaviour of its adherents, it was this; if ever a body\nof men in arms in the sacred name of patriotism earned, and rightly\nearned, the detestation and vengeance of their foes, the Hauhau did\nso at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of their war. The\nvery Maori loathed their name and character, and these, concerned for\nthe honour of their race, fought as strenuously against their degraded\ncountrymen as did the whites with whom they were allied.\n\nBetween February, when Wellington became the capital, and June the\n17th, when Wiremu Tamihana surrendered, an innocent missionary was\nmurdered by his own flock under circumstances which served to show\nthat, even at that late day, there were Maori who required but little\npersuasion to induce them to slip back into the pit of savagery out of\nwhich they had, it was hoped, climbed for all time.\n\nThe Church of England Mission Station at Opotiki (Bay of Plenty)\nhad been for some years presided over by the Rev. C.S. Voelkner, an\nenergetic and successful missionary. His station was among some of the\nwildest, least civilised tribes of the Maori; but his devotion had\ngained him the respect, and even the goodwill, of the fierce, untamed\nfellows in whose midst he dwelt.\n\nWhen the war rolled almost to his door, Mr. Voelkner judged it wise to\ntake his wife to Auckland; but he himself came backwards and forwards\nto the disturbed district. In February, during the missionary's\nabsence, Opotiki was visited by two prophets, Patara of the Taranaki,\nand Kereopa of the Ngati-Porou, with a number of Taranaki Hauhau at\ntheir heels. The Whakatohea were ripe for any mischief as it was, and\nreadily embraced the new creed, their conversion being accompanied by\nmuch revolting ritual.\n\nFeeling already ran high against the absent missionary, the Whakatohea\nhaving allowed themselves to be persuaded that he was hostile to the\nMaori cause, and desirous of breaking up the tribes.\n\nPatara, who cannot have been all bad, wrote warning Mr. Voelkner not to\nreturn to Opotiki; but the missionary unfortunately arrived on the very\nnext day, in a schooner, accompanied by a colleague, the Rev. Mr. Grace.\n\nMr. Voelkner was at once informed that he was to be killed, but refused\nto believe that the people among whom he had laboured would prove false\nto his teaching. A few hearts were softened towards him; but Kereopa\nwould brook neither denial nor delay, and on the following day took out\nMr. Voelkner and hanged him upon a willow-tree, shooting him through\nthe body before life was extinct. The fierce Hauhau then swallowed the\neyes and drank the blood of his victim.\n\nMr. Grace was in great danger; for the fanatics, having literally\ntasted blood, clamoured for more. For fourteen days the unfortunate man\nendured agonies of suspense, and his relief must have been intense when\nH.M.S. _Eclipse_ appeared outside the bar. Owing to Patara's influence,\nthe missionary was free to wander within the boundaries of the Opotiki\nplain, and this circumstance, along with the absence of most of the\nHauhau at a feast, helped to effect his escape.\n\nAs he was watching the crew of the schooner shifting cargo, one of the\nsailors murmured, \"Go down to the point, and we will get you off.\" Mr.\nGrace obeyed with assumed carelessness, and a moment later was in the\nschooner's boat, speeding towards the _Eclipse_. Two of the boats from\nthe man-of-war dashed up the river immediately afterwards and towed\nthe schooner over the bar, when no time was lost in leaving Opotiki of\ntragic memory.\n\nThree months later the ruffians at Opotiki again drenched themselves\nwith blood, murdering the crew of a cutter and Mr. Fulloon, a\nGovernment agent, who was on board as a passenger. Mr. Fulloon was a\nMaori of distinguished lineage on his mother's side; but, nevertheless,\nat the order of Horomona, the Hauhau, one Kirimangu shot the poor man\nwhile asleep with his own revolver. Kirimangu was captured and hanged;\nbut Kereopa managed to evade his doom for seven years, when justice,\nlong disappointed, made sure of him.\n\nKereopa and his Hauhau were not allowed to pursue their wicked way\nunchecked. As soon as they could be spared from Whanganui, five hundred\nmen of the Military Settlers, the Bush Rangers, the Native Contingent,\nand the Whanganui Yeomen Cavalry were ordered to Opotiki, under Majors\nBrassey and McDonnell, the latter of whom could effect things with the\nNative Contingent which few other officers could bring about. Not only\nwas McDonnell familiar with the Maori, but he knew their language and\ntheir country, so that he met them on their own ground in their own\nmanner. He was brave to rashness, but this was hardly a fault in Maori\neyes.\n\nThe column accomplished some good, and captured Moko Moko and Hakaraia,\nwho were immediately informed that they could not be treated as\nprisoners of war, but would be tried for the murder of Mr. Voelkner,\nin which they had been concerned. After a good deal of successful\nskirmishing, the force returned to Whanganui, their chief casualty\noccurring on the way.\n\nThe mate of the transport loaded a small cannon for the amusement\nof some friendlies, but the gun would not \"go off,\" whereupon the\nsearchers after entertainment peeped inquiringly down the muzzle. The\nhumoursome cannon chose that particular moment to indulge in a belated\nexplosion, which fortunately did no more than wound the mate and two of\nthe Maori. The outcome of the accident was the refusal of the Native\nContingent to proceed after so evil an omen.\n\nThe superstitious fellows actually surrounded the capstan and prevented\nthe weighing of the anchor, until one of themselves, Lieutenant\nWirihana, an exceptionally strong man and one of the best officers in\nthe contingent, swung the ringleader up in his arms and made to heave\nhim overboard. A round dozen of the offender's relatives rushed the\nofficer, and even then with difficulty prevented disaster to their\ncousin.\n\nKereopa, tired of dodging about the region round Opotiki, struck\nacross country for Poverty Bay, preaching his perverted gospel as he\nwent. Behind him followed Patara, intent to prevent his fellow-prophet\nfrom too free an indulgence in his lust for blood. Patara more than\nsuspected his colleague of an intention to murder Bishop Williams,\nand this he was determined not to allow. Kereopa had good ground in\nwhich to sow his evil seed, yet many of the leading chiefs among the\nNgati-Porou not only refused to join him, but requested the Government\nto supply them with firearms, so that they might adequately deal with\nthe monster. The request was sensibly granted, and Ropata and his\nchiefs kept the Hauhau busy until the arrival of Captain Fraser and his\ncolonials.\n\nRopata showed the manner of man he was in the fights which followed. A\ndozen of his own sub-tribe (Aowera, of the _iwi_ of Ngati-Porou) had\nbeen taken, fighting among the Hauhau. Ropata set them before him in a\nrow and said, more in sorrow than in anger, \"This is my word to you, O\nfoolish children. You are about to die. I do not kill you because you\nfought against me, but because you disobeyed my orders and joined the\nHauhau.\" He then shot every man of the twelve with his own hand.\n\nLike master, like man. On one occasion a couple of fleeing Hauhau\nencountered one of Ropata's dispatch-bearers and, delighted to make\na capture, haled him in the direction of Patara's camp. But they had\ncaught a Tartar, though they were left little time to realise it.\nRopata's man, with every sense alert, noticed that the _tupara_ carried\nby one of his captors was capped and cocked. Assuming the gun to be\nloaded, the prisoner suddenly snatched it, wheeled like lightning and\nshot the other guard. Number one could, of course, make no resistance,\nand was almost immediately shot dead with the second barrel of his own\ngun. The cleverness of the prisoner in first shooting the armed guard\nillustrates very well the quick-wittedness of the average Maori.\n\nIn September, Sir George Grey formally proclaimed that the war which\nhad begun at the time of the murders at Oakura was at an end, and that,\nthe rebels having been punished enough by their disasters in the field\nand the confiscation of part of their lands, he pardoned all who had\ntaken up arms, save those responsible for certain murders. The Governor\nfurther announced that he would confiscate no more lands on account of\nthe war, and that he would release all prisoners as soon as the rebels\nshould return in peace to their homes. The proclamation gave great\noffence to numbers of colonists, who jeered at the idea of peace while\nso many Maori were in arms; but Sir George Grey's statement that \"the\nwar was at an end\" had no reference to the Hauhau, neither were they\nincluded in his pardon--unless, indeed, they chose promptly to submit,\nwhich they did not.\n\nThe Hauhau on the west coast made clear their decision in a most\natrocious fashion. The Governor dispatched the proclamation to Patea,\nnear Whanganui, by a Maori, who was shot, but lived long enough to warn\nthe Government interpreter, Mr. Broughton, who was coming up behind\nhim, to put no trust in the Hauhau.\n\nMr. Broughton was doubly deceived. He believed in his own influence\nover the Maori, and he was quite unaware that the Hauhau were\npredetermined to kill any messengers bringing overtures of peace.\nTheir treachery went further; for, in order to be sure of a victim,\nthey had begged that an interpreter might be sent to explain to them\ncertain passages in the Governor's message which they professed not to\nunderstand.\n\nAfter such a beginning, the end was inevitable, should Mr. Broughton\npersist in delivering himself into the power of the Hauhau. And this,\ndeaf to advice and persuasion, he did. Three Hauhau came out from the\n_pa_ to meet him when he arrived on the 30th of September, and even\nthen he was offered a last chance of escape; for one of the three had\nformerly been in his service, and now implored his old master not\nto trust himself within the _pa_. Mr. Broughton persisted, and was\nreceived in sullen silence. Striving to seem unconcerned, he took no\nnotice of the incivility, and moved towards a fire which was burning\nin the _marae_. As he reached it, a Hauhau shot him in the back, and\nthe poor man fell dying into the blaze, where he lay until some of his\nmurderers pulled him out and flung him, still alive, over the cliff\ninto the Patea.\n\nThe hatred of the Hauhau for the Pakeha was intense, and their attitude\nto the whites differed completely from that of the Maori in previous\nwars. They seemed to be obsessed with evil spirits, whose mission was\nto promote in their victims a lust for blood and a disposition for\ncruelty of the most appalling kind. They were as men who had swallowed\na drug having power to kill goodness and purity and generosity, and\nto fill the soul in their stead with malice, hatred and vices too\ndegrading to be named.\n\nIt was fortunate for New Zealand that the evil seed which Te Ua sowed\nfell only here and there on soil whence it sprang rank and poisonous\nas the deadly upas tree; for, had it taken root universally, there is\nno saying at what bitter cost the colonists must have weeded it out.\nBut, though almost every tribe in the north sent its recruits to the\nfanatics, there yet remained in most of them a remnant who refused \"to\nbow the knee to Baal,\" and who, if they did not fight for the Pakeha,\nat least gave no aid to the Hauhau.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVI\n\nALARMS! EXCURSIONS!\n\n\nThough the war occupied her supreme attention, it must not be supposed\nthat New Zealand stood still. The plucky little daughter of Great\nBritain kept her eyes open and, though her hands were reasonably full\nof swords and guns, found other work for them to do. June, 1866, saw\nthe commencement of a mail service to Panama, which vastly accelerated\ncommunication with the northern hemisphere; and, before August was out,\nthe Government had laid a submarine cable across Cook Strait, bringing\nthe extreme north of the North Island and the extreme south of the\nMiddle Island within a few minutes of one another.\n\nIn October, 1867, the Board of Revenue rejoiced at the passing of an\nAct imposing stamp duties; the scholarly and aesthetic were gladdened\nby another Act which provided for an institute for the promotion\nof Science and Art in the colony; and, lastly, the Maori were\nrendered happy by an Act which, while it showed great wisdom, proved\nconclusively the desire of the British Pakeha to deal in most generous\nspirit with their native fellow-subjects. This Act provided for the\ndivision of the colony into four Maori electorates, and the admission\nof four Maori members to the House of Representatives. When it is\nremembered that a large number of the native population were at the\nvery moment in arms against the State, the lavish generosity of this\nmeasure must excite profound admiration.\n\nThe intellectual and high-minded Maori were quick to learn, and as\nquick to put in practice the knowledge they acquired. From the first,\nalthough they quarrelled with them, they admired the Pakeha and\nrecognised their superiority. Indeed, but for their ruling passion,\nthey would probably have much earlier amalgamated with the whites.\nThis, as we have seen, was their attachment to their land, which they\nregarded as sacrosanct and inalienable; and from this Naboth-like\ndevotion sprang much of the trouble between them and the Pakeha.\n\nThe theatre of war having shifted again to the west coast, General\nChute took command on the retirement of General Cameron. There was\nnothing of Fabius in General Chute, who was accustomed to follow up as\nspeedily as possible whatever advantage he might gain. _Quot homines,\ntot sententiae_; so many men, so many ways of doing things; and it is\njust as well. Had General Chute commanded from the first, the war might\nhave been sooner over; but there would never have arisen the need for\nthe colonists to take their own part, and they must have been much\nlonger in learning their good qualities of strength and self-reliance.\n\nThroughout January, 1866, General Chute with his regulars, colonials\nand the Maori contingent punished the Hauhau, who had learned by\npainful experience that they were not invulnerable. He beat them at\nOkotuku, and chased them out of Putahi, where Major McDonnell was so\nseverely wounded in the foot as to be rendered unfit for active work\nduring the remainder of the campaign. Yet, so indispensable was the\nMajor because of his immense influence with the Maori, that, despite\nhis suffering, he remained with the force lest, finding him absent, his\nmen should march off home until their leader was able to rejoin them.\n\nNotwithstanding the experiences of others in the not very remote\npast, General Chute determined to assault the well-garrisoned _pa_\nof Otapawa, and on the 12th of January the Armstrong gun roared a\nchallenge to the Hauhau. Grimly silent, the defenders kept so strictly\nto cover, that General Chute, half-inclined to believe that they had\nescaped, thought it unnecessary to wait until the Native Contingent\nand volunteers (_kupapa_) had worked completely round to the rear. So\nhe ordered Colonel Butler and his \"Die Hards\" (57th), supported by the\n14th, to storm the stockade.\n\nHe had barely finished speaking when he received a practical hint that\nthe _pa_ was not empty; for a bullet carried away one of the buttons of\nhis tunic. \"Aha! The beggars seem to have found me out,\" General Chute\ncoolly observed. \"Go on, Colonel Butler.\"\n\nColonel Butler went on, Lieutenant-Colonel Hassard beside him, and the\n\"Die Hards\" close behind them. The Hauhau had removed every vestige of\ncover from the front of the _pa_--which fact alone should have warned\nthe General that the place was occupied, and by a skilful foe--and,\nas the 57th came on, they were greeted with a volley from the covered\nrifle-pits which staggered them, veterans of Sebastopol though they\nwere.\n\n\"Come on, Die Hards!\" shouted Colonel Butler, and the gallant fellows\ncharged over the glacis, dropping fast and losing Colonel Hassard on\nthe way. Enraged, the men tore down the palisades with their bare hands\nand drove the enemy helter-skelter out at the rear of the _pa_ into the\nclutch of Von Tempsky and his Forest Rangers. Thirty-two of the Hauhau\nfell, while General Chute lost a colonel and eleven men, not to speak\nof twenty wounded. A little patience, siege instead of assault, and the\nstronghold might have been reduced without loss. As it is, the action\nis memorable as being the only occasion during these wars upon which a\nwell-defended _pa_ was ever taken by assault.\n\nWhereas General Cameron would never go near the bush, General Chute now\ndetermined to march through it a distance of sixty miles to Taranaki,\nand sweep the enemy out of his path. But General Cameron despised the\nnative levies, while General Chute realised their value, particularly\nwhen led by such a man as Major McDonnell, and it cannot be gainsaid\nthat their presence greatly contributed to the success of the bush\nmarch.\n\nBut for McDonnell and another, General Chute must either have chosen\nanother route, or have marched without the Native Contingent, for the\nMaori, men of the Whanganui district, decided not to go to Taranaki,\nalleging that \"it was too far from home!\" Nor would they have yielded\neither to advice or persuasion, but for the timely arrival in camp\nof Major McDonnell and Dr. Featherston, the Superintendent of the\nWellington Province, who, like the major, exercised unbounded influence\nover the Maori, and particularly over the men of Whanganui.\n\nThese two, upon whom the fortunes of the Colony more than once\ndepended, summoned to their tent the aged paramount chief, Hori Kingi\nTe Anaua, and bluntly asked him whether the friendship which had for\nyears existed between him and Dr. Featherston was to be broken. The\nold man looked for a long time in silence at his questioners, and then\nleft the tent without a word. His voice presently reached them as he\naddressed the crowd of Maori thronging there to learn the result of the\ninterview:--\n\n\"Listen, you who have refused to march with the Pakeha. This is my word\nto you. I will go with them, though I go alone. But hearken! If you\ndesert me and them, never more will I dwell with you in Whanganui. I\nhave spoken!\"\n\nThere was a moment of silence, and then the words of the old lion-heart\nprevailed and yells of \"_Kapai! Kapai!_\" were blent with shouts of \"We\nwill go! We will go!\" The situation was saved; General Chute marched\nthrough the bush in nine days (January 17th to 25th) skirmishing as\nhe went, reached Taranaki, and the campaign came to an end. With it\npractically ended the employment of the regular forces in New Zealand,\nas far as active service went.\n\nHow valuable was the aid which the friendly Maori gave is illustrated\nby the following incident, related by Lieutenant Gudgeon in his\nreminiscences.\n\nAt the close of General Chute's operations a detachment of the Native\nContingent stationed at Pipiriki, a most picturesque spot on the upper\nWhanganui, made themselves so agreeable to the rebels, that the Hauhau\nchief, Pehi Turoa, invited the friendlies to meet him at Mangaio and\ndiscuss the situation. Some four hundred accepted the invitation and,\nled by their chief, Mete Kingi, went up-stream in their beautiful\ncanoes to the conference.\n\nAs they neared the rebel _pa_, Mete Kingi said characteristically,\n\"Once these men were Whanganui like ourselves, and then they were\ngood; but no faith can now be placed in them. For who would trust the\nword of a Hauhau? You know, my children, it is Maori etiquette to show\nconfidence in your hosts; therefore, fire off your guns, that they may\nsee our faith in them; but load them as quickly and quietly as you can,\nin case they mean us harm.\"\n\nSo said, so done. The Whanganui discharged their guns with deafening\nclatter and, before they landed, unobtrusively reloaded them. There\nwas fortunately no breach of faith, and the upshot of the conference\nwas that the contracting parties swore to maintain an eternal peace on\nthe Whanganui river, but reserved the right to fight in any other part\nof New Zealand. Thus, entirely in their own manner, did the friendly\nWhanganui bring peace to an important district, long convulsed with war.\n\nMcDonnell, now colonel, continued operations on the west coast,\nparticularly against the Nga-Ruahini, one of whose chiefs, Titokowaru,\nthen and afterwards gave much trouble. The colonel was very successful,\nand the Hauhau learned that his methods were not those of the military,\nfor he employed their own tricks against them. One of their captured\nchiefs grumblingly said to him, \"We thought that we were fighting a\nman; but we find that he is a rat, who moves only by night.\" \"Nay, O\nToi, you thought that you were fighting soldiers,\" returned McDonnell,\nprobably with unintentional sarcasm, \"whereas you find that we are\nPakeha Maori.\"\n\nThe war swung round to the east, and the Province of Hawke's Bay,\nhitherto almost immune from \"alarms and excursions,\" found itself in\nthe thick of it. The Ngati-Hineuru and other tribes had joined the new\nsect; but, when they broke out, the Superintendent, Sir Donald McLean,\nwas ready for them. With the help of Colonel Whitmore, Major Fraser and\nCaptain Gordon with his volunteer cavalry, he stamped out the spreading\nflame, and Hawke's Bay once more grew calm after its brief flurry.\n\nThe year 1867 was for some reason styled by the Hauhau \"the Year of the\nLamb,\" that is, of peace, and, save for a skirmish or two, and some\nfell murders here and there in true Hauhau style, they remained quiet\nThey were terrible folk, and their behaviour differed unpleasantly from\nthat of the ordinary Maori in time of war; but some of them had not\naltogether lost that simplicity which, despite their intelligence, is\ncharacteristic of the race.\n\nFor instance, having declared the year to be one of peace, they failed\nto understand why their confiscated lands should not be restored to\nthem. Some, too, observing that the friendly Maori were rewarded with\npensions and land, complained that they were omitted, when they also\nhad fought (against the Pakeha!) much as a child grumbles because\nhe does not receive a prize for his misdirected efforts. One Hauhau\ngentleman did actually apply to the Commissioner for a pension, and\nwas mortally offended when the great man dismissed him in terms more\nforcible than polite.\n\nThe hopes raised by all this talk of peace were falsified, not only\nby the activity of Titokowaru and his Nga-Ruahini, but by the sudden\nand quite unexpected appearance of a man who was destined to set the\ncountry ablaze, and to incur the bitter execration of thousands in the\nwar-worn North Island.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVII\n\nPOVERTY BAY\n\n\nDuring 1866 the New Zealand Government had deported a batch of\npolitical prisoners to the Chatham Islands. Amongst them was one Te\nKooti, whose offence was said to be that, while ostensibly in alliance\nwith the Pakeha, he had acted as a spy for the Hauhau. Te Kooti then\nand ever afterwards denied this charge, averring that he was at the\ntime mentioned one hundred miles away from either belligerent. This\ndenial has never been accepted, and most people frankly regret that Te\nKooti was not hanged out of hand. This would certainly have prevented\nmany hideous outrages; but to punish in anticipation of proof, however\nsatisfactory, is not yet the Briton's way. So Te Kooti was deported to\nChatham Island, there to eat out his heart in longing for the day when\nhe should be able to repay the Pakeha an hundredfold for the insults\nand injustice (according to him) which had been inflicted upon him.\n\nTe Kooti was a clever man, and his wits had been sharpened by much\nintercourse with the whites, so it was natural that he should scheme\nand plan ways of escape from a hateful bondage, and means to deal a\nreturn blow to the detested Pakeha.\n\nHe found and seized his opportunity when the schooner _Rifleman_\nvisited the island with stores; for he engineered a mutiny,\nout-generalled Captain Thomas, R.N., the Governor, seized the schooner\nand sailed on the 4th of July, 1868, for New Zealand. To obviate\npursuit he set adrift a ketch, the only vessel the authorities owned,\nand with consummate cleverness spared the lives of the crew of the\nschooner on condition that they navigated her to Poverty Bay. The\nvoyage passed without incident, save that Te Kooti strove, during a\nspell of contrary weather, to propitiate the wind-god by the sacrifice\nof his aged uncle, whom he callously cast overboard.\n\nOn the 10th of July the _Rifleman_ arrived at Whareongaonga, a point\nsome fifteen miles south of Poverty Bay, and here the prisoners\ndisembarked and, after looting the vessel of her cargo, arms and\nammunition, set free the crew. The successful plotter then struck\ninland, marching, so he said, upon Waikato, there to dethrone the king,\nwith whose conduct he professed himself dissatisfied.\n\nNews of his arrival had spread, and a mixed company of whites and\nfriendlies under Captain Westrupp set off in chase of him, encountering\nhim on the 20th at Paparatu. After a fight lasting all day, Te Kooti\nsurrounded his opponents and forced them to retire with the loss of\ntheir horses, baggage and ammunition, while their casualties were two\nkilled and ten wounded.\n\nColonel Whitmore at once organised the pursuit, but it was the 8th of\nAugust before he came up with Te Kooti, to whose standard more Hauhau\nhad flocked, and who had chosen a strong position in the gorge of the\nRuake Ture river, about twenty miles due west of Poverty Bay.\n\nColonel Whitmore had only one hundred and thirty tired and not\ntoo contented men with whom to do battle against over two hundred\nwell-armed warriors; but his courage took no more heed of this than it\nhad taken of the difficulties of the pursuit, which had been through\ncountry the nature of which it is hard for the untravelled Briton to\nimagine.\n\nWhen the column struck Te Kooti's last camp, where the fires were still\nburning, the track led thence along the bed of the river between high\ncliffs, which were fortunately not occupied by the foe. Heartened by\nthe knowledge that they were at last to come to grips with the wily\nfellows they had held in dreary chase for nearly three weeks, the\ncolumn went cheerfully forward, and in time came where the track left\nthe river and climbed through a gap in the cliffs into the hills. There\nthe advance was suddenly checked by a volley which had no worse effect\nthan to send the men scurrying to cover, whence they replied to the\nconcealed enemy, who were nearer than they supposed.\n\nEach side fired as the chance came. Some one fell back dead and the\nnearest man to him shouted down the line, \"Captain Carr's gone,\" and\nhimself fell dead. Mr. Canning, a volunteer, had dodged behind the\ntrunk of a fallen tree and, anxious for opportunity, peeped cautiously\nover the great bole, seeking a target. He was instantly shot dead by\nsome Hauhau who were lurking, quite unsuspected, on the other side of\nthe tree. Two other men fell, and then the advanced guard retired on\nthe main body, who had meantime been deserted by a number of lukewarm\nMaori volunteers, while some of the Pakeha were themselves in retreat.\nTo make matters worse it poured with rain, and it was but a remnant of\nthe column which that night reached the bivouac at Reinga, some miles\ndown the river. It was well for them that Te Kooti, wounded in the\nfoot, could not pursue.\n\nThe victorious Hauhau encamped at Puketapu, hard by the scene of the\nfight, and thence sent his runners all over the island, calling on the\ntribes to join him, and announcing himself the chosen of God to sweep\nthe Pakeha into the sea. The worst of it was, the road to Poverty Bay\nwas now practically open to the Hauhau chief, who was already breathing\nout threatenings and slaughter against the people there, some of whom\nhad been chiefly instrumental in procuring his deportation to Chatham\nIsland.\n\nIt was no _brutum fulmen_ that Te Kooti launched against the\nsettlement, though, strange to say, both Major Biggs, in charge there,\nand other leading men, imperfectly realised the imminence of their\ndanger. Biggs even dissuaded the settlers from building a strong\nblockhouse for a rendezvous, assuring them that there was no reason\nfor alarm, since his scouts would surely give him twenty-four hours'\nnotice of any projected attack. He actually laughed at them for their\nvigilance in watching the various fords of the Waipoa river and, as\nthe Anglo-Saxon is extremely sensitive to ridicule, this very sensible\nprecaution was dropped. The ford to which they had given particular\nattention was that at Patutahi, and there it was where Te Kooti\npresently crossed the stream.\n\nTe Kooti, who maintained an iron discipline in camp and field, had by\nthis time received numbers of recruits from the fierce Uriwera and\nother tribes in the locality, as well as promises of support from some\nat a distance. Leaving his main body in camp, he now swept down upon\nthe plains with a chosen band of ruffians, and before the 10th of\nNovember had well begun, scattered his rascals in various directions\nover the settlement of Turanga, or Poverty Bay.\n\nMr. Butters, a wool-presser, rode up at dawn to the station of Messrs.\nDodd and Peppard, where he was engaged to work, and to his horror found\nthe two men dead upon their own threshold, while the shepherd had\ndisappeared--he, too, had been killed.\n\n\"The raid is come. Te Kooti is upon us!\" thought Mr. Butters and,\ninstead of hurrying out of the district into safety, he went at racing\nspeed to the mission at Waerenga-a-hika, warned the inmates, and then\ngalloped from station to station, bearing his terrible news. He was\nriding all the time through the very midst of the scattered Hauhau,\ncarrying his life in his hand and, had he worn a uniform, must have\ngained the cross \"For Valour.\" As it was, he had for reward the\nconsciousness of a good deed well done, and the knowledge that he\nhad saved some lives by risking his own.\n\n[Illustration: Butters gives the alarm--Poverty Bay]\n\nSome few he found alert and forearmed; others he advised in time, and\nsome he was too late to help, as when, on riding up to one homestead,\nhe saw outside the door the bodies of the proprietor, his wife and\ntheir baby. Knowing that here he could do no good, Butters thundered\npast the desolated hearth with averted face.\n\nThe Hauhau had already occupied Major Biggs's place as Butters drew\nnear, and were dancing and yelling like fiends incarnate. The would-be\nsaviour galloped on, sadly thinking, no doubt, that, if the poor major\nhad consented to be wise in time, all this trouble might have been\naverted. Biggs had indeed paid the heaviest price for his rashness, and\nhis last moments must have been embittered by the knowledge of the fate\nof those whom he had actually dissuaded from timely action in their own\ndefence.\n\nHe met his end like a man. The natives' account of his death--the only\none available--says that when the Hauhau knocked at his door he was\nstill up, writing. Recognising that the danger he had held so lightly\nhad come upon them, he called out to his wife to escape by the back,\nwhich she refused to do. In a few seconds more, husband, wife, child\nand servant lay dead, the only survivor being a hired boy, James, who\nescaped and joined his mother, who, with her eight children, narrowly\nmanaged to make her way to safety.\n\nWhile all this horror was in progress in one direction the settlers\nin another, near the Patutahi ford, were warned by one of their\nnumber, who had lain awake from dawn listening to the distant firing,\nthe meaning of which he did not apprehend until himself warned by a\nfriendly Maori. It was here that the Hauhau had crossed the river,\nbut refrained from doing mischief, as their leader wished to keep the\nmurder of Mr. Wylie, one of the settlers there, as a sweet morsel for\nthe finish. For Wylie was the man principally concerned in Te Kooti's\ndeportation, and the fierce Hauhau had vowed that he would cut the\nPakeha to pieces inch by inch, Chinese fashion. Their neighbour's\nwarning saved Wylie and the rest, and they had gained safety before Te\nKooti could overtake them.\n\nBenson, a settler who also did good service that day in warning others,\nhad himself the narrowest escape. As he rode home through the night,\nbefore the murders had begun, he suddenly found himself in the very\nmidst of the Hauhau who had just crossed the ford. Supposing them to\nbe friendlies, he spoke a word of greeting and passed through them\non his way. Many a gun was pointed at him, and the savage fanatics\nground their teeth with rage at losing a victim; for they dared not\nspoil their chance of a general massacre by the premature murder of a\nsolitary settler.\n\nCaptain Wilson, besieged within a burning house, surrendered to the\nHauhau on their promise that he and his should be spared. No sooner\nwere the unfortunates outside, than Captain Wilson was shot, his man\ntomahawked and his wife and children bayoneted, save one little boy,\nwho crawled from his dying father's arms and escaped into the scrub.\nThe poor little fellow wandered about for days and at last found\nhimself at the ruins of his home, where he discovered his mother,\nsorely wounded, but alive, in an outhouse.\n\nA week later, when the Hauhau had departed and burial parties were\nsearching for the dead, the two were found, the dying woman having been\nkept in life by the efforts of her baby son, who had stolen out nightly\nand foraged for food. Poor Mrs. Wilson was carried to Napier, where she\ndied, leaving the doubly-orphaned little boy the sole survivor of the\nfamily.\n\nThus did Te Kooti revenge himself upon those whom he deemed the\ncause of his banishment. But he had gone too far; for above the cry\nof horror which went up all over the island when the dismal news of\nthe massacre[69] spread, was heard the stern oath of strong men, who\nvowed they would not rest until they had cleared the earth of this\nblood-soaked savage and his gang of murderers.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[Footnote 69: Thirty-two Europeans were killed, men, women, and\nchildren.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVIII\n\nTHE LAST RALLY\n\n\nThe quality of massacre was absent in the west--less, perhaps, from\nchoice than for lack of opportunity--but matters were not going as well\nas could be desired. There had been a change of governors, Sir George\nGrey having given place after more than seven years of anxious rule to\nSir George Bowen, G.C.M.G. Bishop Selwyn, too, had left the country he\nhad served so long and well; but to the troubled, wearied colonists,\nit seemed that governors might come and governors might go, and even\nbishops, but the war would go on for ever. For, while Te Kooti was\nsnarling and ravening in the east, McDonnell's star, so long in the\nascendant, was declining in the west, and the Pakeha generally were\nbeing rather hardly used.\n\nThe \"Year of the Lamb\" had come to an end, and the Hauhau gave evidence\nof it by a triple murder,--three wholly inoffensive men, engaged in\nsawing wood in the bush, being slain and mutilated by them. Colonel\nMcDonnell, foreseeing trouble, regarrisoned an old redoubt of the 14th\nRegiment at Turuturu Mokai with twenty-five men under Sub-Inspector\nRoss of the Constabulary. At dawn, on the 12th of July, four times as\nmany Hauhau attacked the place, and in the stern fight which ensued\nkilled Ross and seven others. Titokowaru would have made a clean sweep\nof the luckless twenty-five but for the timely arrival of Von Tempsky\nand his men from Waihi, less than three miles away, whence the flashes\nof the guns had been seen, though their reports could not be heard.\n\nMcDonnell, tired of incessant skirmishing, determined to make a raid\nwhich should yield a decisive result one way or the other, and fixed\nthe night of the 6th of September for his attempt. The friendly\nWhanganui strongly objected to move at that particular time, owing to\nan unfavourable augury by their _tohunga_ and, as it happened, their\nhesitation received curious justification. But McDonnell was not one to\nbe turned aside from his purpose by augurs or omens, and the expedition\nleft Waihi at midnight and plunged into the bush. Nobody seems to have\nhad any clear idea of the whereabouts of Titokowaru, so the old method\nwas adopted of moving through the bush until a beaten track was struck,\nand then following it whithersoever it led. This system had been tried\nupon former occasions with good results; but it was destined this time\nto fail.\n\nAt daybreak on the 7th the column was somewhere on the western slope\nof Mount Egmont where, after the forenoon had been spent in wandering\nabout, a beaten trail was struck and followed during the afternoon in\nthe direction of the sea. Evening was approaching when a scout who\nhad climbed a tall tree discovered the Hauhau _pa_ not more than half\na mile away. Major Kepa (Kemp), one of the best officers among the\nallies, strongly urged delay and an attack in force on the morrow; but\nMcDonnell, fearful of losing his prey, determined to go on and take\nthem and their fort by surprise.\n\nThis plan was spoiled by a woman who, perceiving the advance,\nran shrieking an alarm, and McDonnell was then informed by the\nfriendlies that the place ahead of them was the strongly-fortified,\nwell-garrisoned Ngutu-o-te-Manu. The colonel at once ordered Kepa and\nVon Tempsky to move in opposite directions, so as to surround the _pa_;\nbut this they were not allowed to attempt with impunity. The Hauhau,\ntaught by many bitter experiences, had learned that it was no longer\nsafe to wait behind their defences, however formidable, and greatly\namazed the allied leaders by leaving the _pa_ and fighting in the bush.\nDr. Best, Lieutenant Rowan and a number of Von Tempsky's command fell\nalmost at once, while McDonnell on the opposite side of the clearing\nhad no better fortune, losing Captain Page, Lieutenants Hunter and\nHastings and so many of his rank and file, that he judged it wise to\nretire with his wounded while he could.\n\nHe therefore sent his brother, Captain McDonnell, to bring off Kepa and\nVon Tempsky; but the latter strongly objected to retire, and talked of\nan assault on the _pa_. Captain McDonnell urged the unusual strength\nof the place; but Von Tempsky, still incredulous, stepped into the\nclearing to get a better view of the position, and was instantly shot\ndead. Captain Buck (late of the 14th Regiment), Von Tempsky's second\nin command, anxious that the body of so good an officer should not\nsuffer insult and mutilation, exposed himself in the effort to lift\nthe dead man, and was himself instantly killed. The men, bewildered by\nthe loss of their leaders, fell back and joined Captain Roberts, who\nhad not heard of the order to retire, and remained where he was until\nsunset, when he also moved off towards the sea. On the way Sergeant\nRussell dropped to the ground with a smashed thigh and, dreadful as it\nwas to do, his comrades, having no means of carrying him off, placed a\nrevolver in his hand and left him to his fate.\n\nIn anguish of mind and body the poor fellow lay there for some time,\ntill the Hauhau, realising that they had beaten off the attack, came\nhurrying along the track in pursuit. At sight of Russell helpless\nthere, one of them ran gleefully forward with upraised tomahawk, only\nto receive a bullet in his brain from the brave sergeant's revolver.\nAfter that the rest circumspectly shot the lonely cripple from a safe\ndistance and rushed on the trail of his comrades.\n\nMcDonnell was under fire the whole way through the bush until darkness\nfell, and when at last he reached Waihi with his broken and dispirited\ncolumn, it was to find that nothing had been heard of Captain Roberts\nand his contingent, nor did these reach camp until the 8th had dawned.\n\nOne-fifth of the men engaged had fallen, the total casualties of the\ndisastrous affair being one major, two captains, two lieutenants, a\nsergeant and eighteen men killed, and twenty-six wounded. The final\nresult was a blaze of anger against McDonnell, during which those who\nshould have known better forgot his eminent services and used so bitter\nand unjust words that the colonel resigned the chief command into the\nhands of Colonel Whitmore.\n\nThus were the Nga-Ruanui under Titokowaru successful to an extent which\ncaused the gravest apprehension among the colonists, while the friendly\nWhanganui retired to their homes. For they knew of Te Kooti's success\non the east, and now, when the colonial troops evacuated all the\nadvanced posts and fell back upon Patea before Titokowaru's formidable\nforce, it seemed to them that the long-impending doom of the Pakeha was\nabout to fall at last.\n\nWhitmore had at first no better success; for, when storming the\ndefences of Motorua on the 7th of November, he was repulsed with the\nheavy loss of nineteen killed and twenty wounded, Major Hunter being\namong the dead. The gallant colonel then fell back upon Nukumaru and,\non the news of the massacre at Poverty Bay reaching Wellington, was\nordered back to the east with every available man of his command.\n\nThe remainder of the year was filled by skirmishes between the friendly\nMaori and Te Kooti, who had more than one narrow escape, and who,\nunable to run because of the wound in his ankle, was on one occasion\ncarried into safety upon a woman's back. But in January, 1869, he\nreceived a serious set-back when the _pa_ of Ngatapa, in the Poverty\nBay district, was taken after a siege of six days by Colonel Whitmore\nand Ropata with his men of the Ngati-Porou. Te Kooti again managed to\nescape; but he lost many of his fighting chiefs, nearly one hundred and\nfifty of his men and, more than all, his band was dispersed and pursued\nin all directions.\n\nBack to the west went the energetic Colonel Whitmore, taking measures\nto deal with Titokowaru as he had dealt with Te Kooti, and found that\nthe Rev. Mr. Whitely, Lieutenant and Mrs. Gascoigne and their three\nchildren had been murdered by Wetere and his Ngati-Maniapoto at White\nCliffs, north of Taranaki. This was an entirely purposeless crime, and\nthe Hauhau declared that it had been committed at the instigation of\nthe king, Tawhaio.\n\nAfter several skirmishes it was believed that the district close to\nWhanganui had been swept clear of the Hauhau; but tragic proof to the\ncontrary was given on the 18th of February, in the neighbourhood of the\nKaraka camp, by the Waitotara river.\n\nFor many years past troops had marched and countermarched in the\nWhanganui district, and the soldiers, moving up or down the rivers,\noften amused themselves by throwing at objects on the shore the\nstones of the numberless peaches they ate. The banks of more than one\nstream were in consequence lined with peach trees, wild, perhaps, but\nproducing fruit not to be rejected by campaigners.\n\nHow little thought the soldiers in their careless play, that they were\nsowing the seed not only of peach-trees, but of a tragedy which was to\ncome to full fruit ten years later.\n\nYet so it was. On the afternoon of the 18th of February several field\nofficers, visiting the camp, expressed a desire for some of the peaches\nwhich were growing in profusion on the opposite side of the Waitotara,\nand Sergeant Menzies, overhearing their talk, volunteered to go and get\nsome of the fruit. Colonel McDonnell made no objection, and Menzies,\ntaking with him nine men as a matter of precaution, crossed the river\nand set to work to fill a number of baskets with the ripe peaches.\n\nSuddenly they were fired upon. The volley was so very heavy, so near\nand so totally unexpected, that the men were startled into bolting for\ntheir canoe instead of taking cover, and thus offered a fair mark to\nseventy Hauhau, who stood upon the bank and shot them down with ease,\nall save three, who succeeded in escaping. Their comrades, hearing the\nfiring so close at hand, came up at the double, but too late to do more\nthan receive the few survivors and discover some of the dead.\n\nSo the Hauhau scored once more; but a month later the scales dropped\nagain, and Titokowaru, who was really a formidable leader, was beaten\nat Otauto and forced to ignominious flight. Another blow or two\ncompletely smashed this powerful chief and bold warrior, and then the\npendulum of war swung sullenly back to the east, where Te Kooti had\nagain shown his teeth and, wolf-like, worried his own kind as well as\nthose of another colour.\n\nIt was pleasant for the colonists in all this turmoil of war to learn\nthat their industrial progress and rise into a position of political\nand social importance had not gone unmarked, and that their Queen was\nnow to recognise their standing by sending her son to visit them. Great\nwas the enthusiasm and fervid the welcome which the Flying Squadron\nreceived on the 12th of April as the _Galatea_ with Commodore H.R.H.\nPrince Alfred of Edinburgh on board swept into Port Nicholson and\nboomed an answer to the thundering salute from the shore. Wherever\nthe Duke appeared throughout the Australasian colonies he was well\nreceived; but nowhere with greater heartiness than in New Zealand. For\nthe colonists there knew that they owed a debt of gratitude to the\nmother country--which to many of them was still \"home\"--and Britain's\nQueen was as loyally regarded as in her own sea-girt islands in the\nNorth.\n\nAs if the visit of Queen Victoria's son brought good augury of peace,\nTitokowaru was no more heard of, and Te Kooti gradually declined in\npower, until, harried on every side, he fled at last into the country\nof the Uriwera, the wildest and most savage tribe in New Zealand.\nTheir country--in the mountainous peninsula between the Bay of Plenty\nand Poverty Bay--was as wild and savage as themselves, and afforded\nan almost inaccessible retreat to the Hauhau fugitives. But men like\nWhitmore and McDonnell, not to speak of Kepa Te Rangihiwinui and Ropata\nWahawaha, were not to be dismayed by savagery, animate or inanimate,\nand Te Kooti was chased from point to point until even his bold spirit\nbegan to quail, and he realised at last how terrible was the just anger\nof the Pakeha, slow to kindle, but inextinguishable by aught but the\nfull satisfaction of righteous vengeance.\n\nTe Kooti's day was not quite done. He was not rash, but by no means\na coward, never hesitating to expose his person when necessary; yet\nhe was seldom wounded, while his hairbreadth escapes from capture and\nfrom death itself seemed to justify the growl of his pursuers that \"the\ndevil took good care of his own.\"\n\nOn one occasion when his _pa_ had been stormed and he was within an ace\nof being taken, he apparently fell over a cliff, and the men who were\nchasing him hurried themselves no further. But, when they reached the\nedge of the precipice and peered over, instead of a mangled body, they\nsaw a rope of flax, down which the wily Hauhau had slid into safety.\n\nOn another occasion, under pretence of freeing a number of prisoners,\nhe ordered them all to be disarmed, an order which every one recognised\nas preliminary to a general massacre--as it was. One bold fellow,\nstanding almost within touch of the Hauhau leader, cried out, \"This is\nto be done so that we may be the more easily killed. If I am to die, so\nshall you,\" and fired point-blank at his captor. As the hammer fell, a\nHauhau struck up the muzzle of the gun; but if the Maori--whose fate\nwas sealed in any case--had not drawn attention to his action by making\na speech, he would have had Te Kooti's company on the road to Reinga,\nand the world would have been the sooner rid of a murderous ruffian.\n\nStrong in his luck, Te Kooti skirmished and fought his way out of\nthe Uriwera country and marched across to Taupo, where he compelled\nthe allegiance of Te Heu Heu, chief of the \"Boiling Water\" tribes.\nHis great ambition was to capture to his side the powerful chiefs of\nWhanganui and Waikato, but his arrogance and overweening belief in his\nown superiority offended each in turn. Moreover, he alienated Topia\nTuroa, the great Whanganui chief by the causeless murder of a blood\nrelation of the latter, which so angered Topia that he not only took\nthe field against Te Kooti, but did him an even worse turn by using his\ninfluence with the Waikato against him.\n\nThe Waikato also had personal reasons for allowing Te Kooti to go to\nruin unaccompanied by them. They had expressed themselves willing to\nreceive a visit from him, but when he arrived with three hundred picked\nmen, he gave himself such insufferable airs that many were disgusted,\nand the Waikato leaders made no haste to pay their respects until urged\nto do so by the great fighter, Rewi of the Ngati-Maniapoto.\n\nThey came at last, five hundred strong, bearing presents, to the place\nwhere Te Kooti and his three hundred champions awaited them. Then,\neither to show that he was prepared for treachery, or wishful to test\ntheir courage, or merely in an antic spirit, the Hauhau ordered his\nfollowing to fire a volley with ball cartridge low over the heads of\nthe Waikato.\n\nThe whistling of three hundred bullets past one's ears is a welcome\neasily improved upon, and the visitors, prepared for something very\ndifferent, were startled into some undignified capers. Te Kooti had\ncommitted the stupidest error in lowering a proud folk in their own\neyes, and their wrath blazed against him. Even friends might have been\nexcused for taking exception to such a greeting, and these were men\nwhose friendship was yet to be won. In vain Rewi pleaded; Te Heu Heu\nargued to the wind; the Waikato would have none of Te Kooti and, when\nhe was soundly thrashed a little later by McDonnell at Te Pononga, even\nRewi turned his back upon him. \"The fellow is a humbug!\" he declared to\nthe delighted Waikato, who gleefully rejoined, \"We told you so!\"\n\nMcDonnell had with him men from the tribes of Whanganui, Taupo, Arawa\nand Ngati-Kahu-Ngunu (Hawke's Bay tribes). He had formed a plan for\nenticing Te Kooti into the open from his _pa_ at Pourere; but this was\nspoiled by the chief of the Napier contingent, whose fears had been\nraised by his _tohunga_, who declared the omens to be of the worst.\n\nMcDonnell, as has been said, had few equals in dealing with the Maori\nand, though naturally annoyed at the failure of his plan, soon made\nhimself master of the situation.\n\nHaving quietly instructed his European officers and Kepa, he began\nby informing the Whanganui under Colonel Herrick that the Arawa had\nalready started for the _pa_, and would, no doubt, be in it before\nthem, whereupon the Whanganui sprang up and rushed forward, determined\nto be the first over the walls. Captain St. George had meantime told\nhis Arawa a similar story, and they, seeing and hearing the truth of\nthe statement, raced after the Whanganui, equally determined not to be\nsecond. McDonnell then went to the camp of Renata, the cause of all the\nbother, and enquired:\n\n\"Do you intend to refrain from fighting to-day on account of what the\n_tohunga_ said?\"\n\n\"I certainly do,\" admitted Renata, who was a most conceited fellow.\n\"Why do you ask?\"\n\n\"Oh, it's nothing,\" answered McDonnell; \"only Arawa and Whanganui are\nracing for the _pa_, and I am going after them.\" He turned as he spoke\nand hurried away.\n\n\"Hi! Stop! Colonel, stop!\" shouted Renata; but McDonnell ran on. The\nchief's shout was changed in a moment to \"_Tatua! Tatua!_\" (To arms! To\narms!), and he and his three hundred bounded towards the _pa_, intent\nupon outdoing, or, at least, not being outdone by either Arawa or\nWhanganui.\n\nWith such a hearty concentration of energy the result was certain and,\nafter a sharp contest, in which Captain St. George fell, shot through\nthe head, the friendlies surged over the defences and once more drove\nthe Hauhau into headlong flight. Te Kooti escaped as usual, but was\nforced to run from the Taupo district, and again take refuge among the\nwild Uriwera. A further result was the defection of \"Old Boiling Water\"\n(Te Heu Heu) who came in and surrendered, complaining that Te Kooti\nhad forced him to fight, as he forced all his prisoners.\n\nThree months later, in January, 1870, Kepa Te Rangihiwinui with the\nWhanganui, and Ropata Wahawaha with his Ngati-Porou, started to hunt\ndown Te Kooti. The colonials had now played their part and won their\nspurs, while some had gained the proud distinction of the New Zealand\nCross, and one, at least, the Victoria Cross. It was felt that matters\nhad reached a pass when the two skilful chiefs might well be trusted\nto finish up the long and troublesome affair of Te Kooti; for armed\nresistance had ceased everywhere, and the hostile Maori, if they\nshowed no desire as yet to grasp the friendly hands held out to them\nby the Government, were at least convinced of the futility of further\nprolonging the war.\n\nWith Te Kooti the case was different. He was not a belligerent, but an\noutlaw and, had he been caught, would undoubtedly have been hanged, if\nonly for his behaviour at Poverty Bay.\n\nKepa, starting in January, 1870, from the Bay of Plenty, moved south\nalong the gorges of the Waimana to meet Ropata, who from Poverty Bay\nmarched north upon Maunga Pohatu, about midway between the points of\ndeparture. Ropata fought and slew; Kepa, more diplomatic, made peace;\nbut each in his fashion won the Uriwera tribes from Te Kooti, whom they\nkept continually upon the move, driving him from his last stronghold at\nMaraetahi, whence he escaped with only twenty men.\n\nThe last chase of all started from Poverty Bay in June, 1871, four\nflying columns taking the route under Ropata, Captain Porter, Henare\nPotae, and Ruku Te Arutupu. The courage and endurance of the men were\ntried to the uttermost, for winter in the Uriwera Mountains, that\nbeautiful, but terribly rough and savage country, was no light thing,\nand for a time the hunters had nothing but their trouble for their\npains.\n\nBut the luck at last fell to Captain Porter, who was trailing along the\nnorthern end of Lake Waikare Moana (Sea of the Rippling Waters) in the\ndreadful heart of the Uriwera country, and there he came up with his\nman.\n\nThe excitement was tremendous, for they could look down from the range\nwhere they stood into the valley where they knew Te Kooti to be. A\nfalse step now, and all the toil and suffering would be wasted. Porter\nspent most of the raw winter night in stealing as close as he dared to\nthe clearing, in the midst of which, in an old _whare_, Te Kooti slept,\nunconscious of his danger.\n\nWith the dawn, Henare Potae lay on the right of the clearing, Ruku Te\nArutupu on the left, and Porter covered the centre. At a given time\nRuku was to enter the clearing, call to the sleeping folk that they\nwere surrounded, and summon them to surrender. If they refused, they\nwere to be shot at once, while a particularly sharp lookout was to be\nkept for Te Kooti, who was to be allowed no chance whatever.\n\nQuivering with excitement, the men breathlessly awaited the appearance\nof Ruku. All was quiet as death which loomed so near; but Ruku came\nnot. Only an old woman issued from a _whare_ and began to pick up\nsticks for her morning fire. Still Ruku did not show himself, and\nPorter grew impatient, stirring in his place.\n\nThen he held still as a mouse; for from another _whare_ came a dog,\nstretching himself and yawning, who suddenly elevated a sensitive,\ninquisitive nose, snuffed the morning air and began to bark furiously,\nknowing, though his masters did not, that something was amiss. To him\ncame out another woman, hushing him and staring about her; and those\nwho knew whispered, \"It is Olivia, Te Kooti's wife! He is there!\"\n\nPorter heard and trembled. He knew the excitability of his men, and\ndreaded lest the premature explosion of a rifle--as had so often\nhappened--should warn the Hauhau of their proximity. So little would\nspoil so much. If his men should lose their heads--Oh, _absit omen_!\n\nThe dog whined and capered, Olivia stood, undecided, and in the hush Te\nKooti's voice reached the watchers, \"What ails the dog?\" Olivia, after\none more swift glance round, answered, \"Nothing!\"\n\nMore men now appeared, and they, too, cried \"All is well!\" Then came\nwomen, who set about preparing breakfast, one of them actually cutting\nchips from an enormous log, behind which six of Henare's men lay snug.\n\nThen that which Porter had feared and prayed against happened. Two of\nthe Maori loosed off their guns in their excitement, and the quiet\nscene in an instant gave place to a wild turmoil--shouting men and\nscreaming women all running this way and that as guns cracked and\nbullets wheeped and whined past their affrighted ears.\n\nBut Te Kooti was not there. He was not fool enough to come out and\nface the fusillade he knew would be directed against him. Not he. At\nthe first sound of alarm he burst through the back of his hut, yelling\n\"_Sauve qui peut!_\" or its Maori equivalent, \"_Ko Ngati-Porou tenei kia\nwhai morehu!_\" (\"Ngati-Porou are here! Let survivors follow me!\") Then,\nacting upon his own advice, he bolted like a deer, leaving Olivia alone\nto make her bow to the victors.\n\nAnd that was the last of Te Kooti. For several months more Ropata\nhunted him without success, finding some consolation in the capture of\nKereopa, Mr. Voelkner's murderer, who was hanged without undue waste\nof time. But of Te Kooti he got no glimpse; so, at last convinced that\nhe had done all that mortal could do, and that Te Kooti as a fighting\nforce was as good as dead, Ropata, the war-worn, went home with his\nNgati-Porou, his honours thick upon him.\n\nWhat became of Te Kooti no one seems to know. He simply disappeared,\neven as the yet more infamous Nana Sahib disappeared, leaving no trace.\nSome say that he steered his way across the Taupo district and hid\nhimself in the King country; others aver that he was slain there by the\nWaikato whom he had insulted, others that he killed himself in despair,\nwhile some will have it that he got out of a country which, except for\nthe purpose of hanging him, was not particularly anxious to hold him.\nAs a matter of fact, no one, whether Maori or Pakeha, has ever given a\nsatisfactory answer to the question, \"Where is Te Kooti?\"\n\nWith the disappearance of the Hauhau leader vanished the last sign of\nactive resistance against the might and rule of the Pakeha. Smiling\nfaces were not yet everywhere; there were too many tears to be dried\non both sides for that, and the passions of strong men do not cool in\na day, even when strife has ceased. The conquerors, too, must learn\nto temper their exultation with sympathy, the conquered must accustom\ntheir necks to the yoke, and all these things take time. But the very\nfact, insisted upon above, that--the Hauhau movement apart--the war\nhad been waged in generous spirit, hastened the period of cooling off,\nand on February the 2nd, 1872, Wiremu Kingi Te Rangitake, the chief\nof Waitara, visited New Plymouth (Taranaki) when tomahawk and _mere_,\n_patu_, and _tupara_ were buried, never again to be dug up. Three years\nlater, on the 3rd of January, Tawhiao, the Maori King, shook the hand\nwhich Sir Donald McLean extended to him on behalf of the Government,\nand the last wintry clouds of discontent melted in the rays of the\nglorious sun of peace.\n\nNever since then have the hands of the Maori been lifted against the\nPakeha; ever since then have the Pakeha striven to make smooth the path\nof the Maori.\n\nOnce only appeared a little cloud, when a man who throughout his\nlife had advocated peace, was accused of fomenting war. Te Whiti was\na Christian and a mystic, with more than his share of the keen Maori\nintelligence, a fine specimen of the Maori gentleman, and a man of\nimmense influence in his tribe. He had taken no part in the great\nstruggle, but, like Falkland, cried ever \"Peace! Peace!\" And when\nTitokowaru would have had him unite in smiting the Pakeha, he refused,\nnor would he allow his young men to join.\n\nYet this man came at last (in 1877) into collision with the Government\nover that old bone of contention, land. There was a dispute over the\nparcelling out of the Waimate Plains, and Te Whiti pulled up the\npegs of the surveyors and ordered the workers off, as Te Rauparaha\nand Rangihaeata had done thirty-four years earlier. But there was\nno massacre, and when Te Whiti's men were sent to prison, the chief\nretaliated by ploughing up the grass lands of the white men.\n\n\"Put your hands to the plough!\" Te Whiti cried. \"Be not afraid if any\ncome with swords and, if they smite, smite ye not again. Neither touch\ntheir goods nor steal their flocks and herds. My eye sees all of you,\nand I will punish the offender. Let the soldiers seize me, if they\nwill. They may come, and I will gladly let them crucify me.\"\n\nA fanatic? Yes; but of very different temper from his predecessors. As\nit happened, Te Whiti was in the right; but the soldiers, seventeen\nhundred of them, did come on the 5th of November, 1881, and invested\nTe Whiti's _pa_ at Parihaka. Two hundred little children came out to\nthem and danced a dance of welcome, and behind the children followed\nthe mothers with five hundred loaves of bread for the soldiers. When\nmatters had gone thus far, the Commissioner read the Riot Act and\nTe Whiti and his councillor Tohu were led away, unresisting, with\nhandcuffs upon their wrists. And, as they went, they cried to their\npeople, \"Do not resist, even if the bayonet is at your breast.\"\n\nTe Rauparaha and Rangihaeata stood up and defied Governor and Council\nafter Wairau, threatening massacre. Te Whiti and Tohu, preaching peace,\nwere chained and cast into prison for sixteen months. Then right and\njustice prevailed, and they were liberated in February, 1883, and given\nreserves of land. Te Whiti lived until November, 1907, in prosperity\nwith his people at Parihaka, enjoying that peace which he had always\ndone his best to promote.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIX\n\nTHE SUN OF PEACE\n\n\nThe colonists had won, and men asked one another how they would use\ntheir power. But we who have followed their story know that they\nhad not waited for victory to force them to a generous attitude. We\nremember how in the very teeth of strife they held out their hands and\nlifted four of their Maori brethren to places by their side in the\nColonial Parliament; so it is not surprising to learn that, almost\nbefore the blasts of war had done blowing in their ears, they made room\nin the Upper House for two chiefs of high rank, who were thenceforth\nto bear the title of \"Honourable,\" and be for life members of the\nLegislative Council.\n\nIf that were not enough to show the cordial mind of the white men to\ntheir brown brothers, the Maori prisoners taken in war were treated\nfor the most part as political offenders and, after a very short\nperiod of restraint, allowed to return to their tribes without the\nexaction of further penalty. Exceptions were naturally made in cases\nwhere individuals were proved guilty of actual crime; but, otherwise,\neverything was done to show the desire of the colony to soften as far\nas possible all painful memories, to erase all bitterness from the\nrecord of events, and to begin the new chapter of their history upon a\npage inscribed with the great words of a great man, \"Liberty and Union,\nnow and for ever, one and inseparable.\"\n\nAs the colonists had never allowed war to hinder them from forging\nahead, so, now that peace was assured, they gave rein to their energy\nand saw to it that their country marched with equal step abreast of the\nworld's progress. As time went on not even that sufficed, and ever and\nagain the old world would stop, agape, while New Zealand confidently\nadopted political, social or domestic reforms, at which her grown-up\nrelatives were still looking askance as \"new-fangled ideas,\" \"dangerous\nradicalism,\" and so forth. New Zealand has never been afraid to\nexperiment, and most of her experiments have proved successful, and in\ntheir issue \"come to stay,\" if the phrase may be allowed.\n\nOne of the earliest products of peace was a large addition to the\npopulation, thanks to a policy by which fifty thousand immigrants were\nintroduced into the colony in the two years 1874 and 1875. This policy\ndid not stop there; for the Government, as far as possible, found work\nfor the men whom they introduced, just as they are doing at this day.\n\nTake for instance that large area in New Zealand known as \"The King\nCountry,\" where, as we have seen, the \"Land League\" so long had sway.\nThis, which includes more than a million of acres of forest-covered\nland, and that high plateau surrounding old Te Heu Heu's \"ancestor,\"\nthe smoking cones of Tongariro, is only now being reduced to\nconditions which shall render cultivation possible. To this wilderness\nthe Government sends hundreds of newly arrived immigrants, who are set\nto work upon the railway which is being carried through it.\n\nThe beauty of this region is almost indescribable; and there, too, a\nman may taste of the experiences of the pioneers and yet miss their\ngreatest hardships. For, if a settler, he works with the certainty of\nreturn for his labour; if otherwise, he is paid good wages and is in\nany case assured of food, for carts carrying bread and meat continually\ntraverse the bush tracks. He is free from the haunting fear that he\nwill awake at some grey dawn to hear the wild yells of blood-lusting\nsavages, or return to his lonely hut to find his wife and children dead\nupon his hearth. He has no dread of beasts of prey, unlike his brother\nimmigrant in Africa; and he can push his way through breast-high fern\nor clinging tangle of undergrowth, undismayed lest his heel be bruised\nby fang of poisonous snake, the terror of his Australian cousin.\n\nThe year 1875 saw the abolition of the Provinces Act, in which many had\nfrom the first scented danger to the cultivation of a national spirit,\nand a beginning was made in the following year of the present system\nof local government, the colony being subdivided into counties and\nmunicipal boroughs. The old provincial spirit was not easily quenched,\nfor many were not unnaturally inclined to esteem themselves and their\nown more excellent than their neighbour and his own. Still, there are\nvery few in New Zealand who will venture to deny that to-day is better\nthan yesterday, although there is at least one \"fine old New Zealand\ngentleman, one of the olden time,\" who annually brings forward a motion\nfor retrogression to the ancient order of things. Such conservatism is\nrare in liberal New Zealand, and has few hopes and fewer followers.\n\nA most interesting event occurred in 1877; for Sir George Grey returned\nto power, not as Governor, but as Premier. He had made for himself a\nhome on an island in the beautiful Hauraki Gulf, and perhaps nothing\ncould have been more fortunate than his presence in the Colony at a\ntime when the new union between Pakeha and Maori required the cement of\nperfect comprehension to render it irrefragable. Among the colonists\nthere might be disagreement as to Sir George Grey and his policy;\namong the Maori there was none. To them he was ever the _Kawana nui_\n(the great Governor), the man who understood them and who cared to\nunderstand them.\n\nFor his island home the \"Knight of the Kawan\" did everything which\nit was possible for a man so liberal and refined to do. He loved it\nand adorned its beauty with every fresh charm he could procure. He\nbrought thither the English rose and the Australian eucalyptus, and\nwhen Australia shall lament the wholesale destruction of her unique\nfauna, the sole survivors of the quaint marsupial order shall, perhaps,\nbe found in the isle of the Kawana. This charming spot is to-day a\nfavourite resort of holiday-makers, and Sir George Grey's mansion,\nbereft, alas! of its hospitable founder, still offers visitors shelter\nand entertainment.\n\nThe eightieth birthday of this remarkable man (whom Queen Victoria\nhonoured with her personal friendship) was celebrated in New Zealand\nwith the utmost enthusiasm, and at his death in 1898 there were not\nmany who grudged him the designation of \"The Great Proconsul,\" or\ncavilled when St. Paul's Cathedral received the honoured dust of one\nwho was not only an Imperialist but a Nation-maker.\n\nIn 1886, Nature arose in violent mood and swept into ruin one of the\nmost romantically beautiful spots in the world, and the most powerful\nand splendid of New Zealand's many scenic attractions--her justly-named\n\"Wonderland.\" This was the hot lake of Rotomahana, with its far-famed\nPink and White Terraces.\n\nIn the volcanic region between the Bay of Plenty on the north and Lake\nTaupo, with its giant sentinels Ruapehu and Tongariro on the south, is\nLake Tarawera, overhung by the volcano of Tarawera, which had never in\nthe memory of the Maori given any sign of eruption. A river of the same\nname connected the lake with the much smaller basin of Rotomahana, in\nwhich the water was hot owing to the numerous thermal springs in its\nimmediate vicinity. Rotomahana was really a crater of explosion, and\nthe principal boiling spring, Te Tarata, descending from terrace to\nterrace down to the lake, was the greatest marvel in this marvellous\nregion.\n\nUpon the Mount of Tarawera were the graves of many generations of Arawa\nheroes and chiefs of might; nor dared profane feet disturb their rest\nfor fear of the fiery dragon which, though never yet seen by Maori\neyes, kept watch and ward. At the mountain's foot lay the sister lake,\ninto whose waters--green as the stone in far Te Wai Pounamou--flowed\nthe river, charged with a fervent message from hot-hearted Rotomahana\nwith his terraced fringe of white and pink, laced with the blue of pools\n\n            which in perfect stillness lie,\n  And give an undistorted image of the sky.\n\nEighty feet above the warmed water of Rotomahana was the basin of Te\nTarata, with wall of clay, thirty feet in height. Its length was eighty\nfeet, its breadth sixty, and it was filled full of exquisitely clear,\nboiling water, as blue as the sky above the swirl of azure vapour which\nconstantly overhung the wondrous pool.\n\nIn the depths, far below the placid surface, sounded ever the rumble\nand grumble of immense quantities of water on the boil, and the\noverflow had formed a crystal stairway, white as Parian marble, to\nthe lake beneath. From step to step was the height of a tall man, the\nbreadth of each platform five or six times that measure, and every\nshining step was an arc of the great circle of which the red-walled\ncrater of Rotomahana was the centre. Each ledge was overhung with\nstalactites, pure as alabaster, and every platform held its pools of\nlimpid, azure water of all degrees of warmth, in baths whose elegance\nwould have charmed a Roman eye.\n\nOn the opposite side of the lake was the spring of Otaka Puarangi, its\ntranquil blue water confined in a basin little more than half the size\nof Te Tarata. Its silicious deposits used to \"descend from its orifice\ndown to the lake,\" and were scaled \"by a marble staircase, so sharp\nin its outline, so regular in its construction, and so adorned with\ngraceful borders of evergreen shrubs that it seemed as if Nature had\ndesigned it in very mockery of the skill and industry of man.\"\n\nBut on this side the silica was flushed to a delicate rose, and from\nevery step pink wreaths were hung, and garlands of tinted stone, and\non every platform flashed the opalescent stalactites, festooning the\nledges, midway down, or dropping from azure pool to azure pool until\nthey reached the golden _solfatara_[70] and the rainbowed mud.\n\nOne hour after midnight on the 10th of June, men who dwelt or sojourned\nin this beautiful, dangerous region were awakened by the trembling of\nthe earth and, knowing what that portended, rushed from their houses\ninto the open to see the Mount of Tarawera rent asunder from top to\nbottom, while from the gaping wound shot up a column of roaring flame,\nwhose capital of smoke and cloud reared itself four and twenty thousand\nfeet above the blazing crater--a beacon of misfortune four miles high.\n\nRed lightning played in fork and spiral about the flaming crags or\nsheeted the gloomy base, and many miles away from the convulsed\nmountain streams of fire poured upon the stricken earth. Fire-balls\nfell, a blazing hail, consuming whatsoever they touched, and burying\nbeneath their increasing weight the remains of lonely hut and crowded\nnative village.\n\nWhen the pallid light of the winter dawn struggled through the dense\nveil of falling debris, Tarawera's mount was seen to be shivered as\nthough smitten by the hammer of Thor; Tarawera's lake had risen forty\nfeet, the trees beside its margin buried to their tops in volcanic mud;\nTarawera's river and Rotomahana's lovely terraces were gone for ever,\nsubmerged beneath an enormous mass of ashes, mud, and stone.\n\nFor eighteen hours dust and mud fell continuously, burying fifty feet\ndeep the entire _hapu_ of the Matatu Maori, all save nine, and raining\ndesolation as far as Tauranga on the Bay. Pasture land, grass and fern\nwere burnt bare, and the same volcanic hail which slew the birds in\ntheir flight blotted out the food-supply and starved the very rats in\nthe undergrowth.\n\nOne hundred and one persons perished in this eruption, which was not\nonly the fiercest and most destructive which New Zealand had known\nsince the coming of the Maori, but was one of the most violent recorded\nin the story of the world.\n\nFrom year to year New Zealand strode on, giving her women the franchise\nas she went, and calling upon them to help her in the conduct of\nmunicipal affairs. She seldom marked time, and ever held her head high\nand preserved a proud distinction of her own among the three and forty\ncolonies or dependencies of the Empire. If she once got a little out\nof breath through the sheer rush of her onward march, the firm hand of\na strong man steadied her, sending her on again, _integris viribus_,\nwith greater speed. In Richard Seddon, a man of immense energy and\nremarkable gifts, who for thirteen years stood at the head of the\nState and guided her towards the high status she has now obtained, New\nZealand found her man of the hour. Fortunate, too, it was for her that,\non the great Premier's untimely death in 1906, so strong a man as Sir\nJoseph Ward was at hand to take his place.\n\nAs the nineteenth century waned to a close, the important question fell\nto be answered by New Zealand--Should she, or should she not, allow\nherself to be enrolled among the States of the Australian Commonwealth?\nFederation had been in the air for a long time, and since 1891 it had\nbeen recognised that it must come, and come soon,--as far as Australia\nwas concerned. But would New Zealand take her place among the States?\n\nThere were arguments in favour of her doing so from the point of view\nof commercial and administrative expediency; but there were very many\nwho did not like the idea. These pointed to the thousand miles of\nocean which separated their country from the continent of Australia\nas an argument against inclusion with her great neighbour, and to her\nremarkable progress as proof that she had learned, and could be trusted\nto stand alone.\n\nIn 1899 the question required an answer; but Mr. Seddon still declared\nhimself uncertain of the popular will, and in 1900 craved the Imperial\nParliament to insert an \"open door\" clause in the Constitution, in\norder that New Zealand might enter at her own time on equal terms with\nthe other States.\n\nA Royal Commission was then appointed, with the result that, after an\nexhaustive discussion of the arguments for and against the proposal,\nand the hearing of voluminous evidence on both sides of the Tasman Sea,\nthe Commission declared emphatically against the submersion of New\nZealand's identity in that of the Commonwealth of Australia.\n\nAustralia was dubious, and Mr. Reid, Premier of New South Wales,\nasked, \"How long will New Zealand be able to preserve an independent\norbit in the presence of a powerful gravitation and attraction, such\nas a federated Australia must possess?\" No one could answer that; but\nNew Zealand was firm, and a reply was to some extent contained in Sir\nJoseph Ward's later declaration, \"I consider this country (New Zealand)\nis certainly the natural centre for the government of the South\nPacific.\"\n\nSo New Zealand elected to stand alone; and, this done, the question\nimmediately arose--Was she, with all her natural advantages, with\nher remarkable progress, to remain a mere undistinguished unit among\nthe crowd of dependencies, simply one colony among a number of other\ncolonies? The answer came as immediately--No! The New Zealanders\ndetermined to find a suitable designation by which their country should\nbe honourably distinguished. What was to be that designation?\n\nIt remained for Sir Joseph Ward to answer that In May, 1907, being in\nLondon after the Conference of Colonial Premiers, he wrote to Lord\nElgin, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and repeated what\nhe had urged at that historic gathering; that, \"having regard to\nthe position and importance of New Zealand, it had well outgrown the\n'colonial' stage, and was as much entitled to a separate designation as\nthe Commonwealth of Australia or the Dominion of Canada.\" He further\ndeclared that \"the people of New Zealand would be much gratified\" if\nthe designation chosen were \"The Dominion of New Zealand.\"\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[Footnote 70: A pool of smoking sulphur.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXX\n\nTHE DOMINION OF NEW ZEALAND\n\n\nI\n\nTHE PRAYER\n\n  _Resolution by the Parliament of the Colony of New Zealand_\n\n\"That this House respectfully requests that His Majesty the King may be\ngraciously pleased to take such steps as he may consider necessary in\norder that the designation of New Zealand be changed from \"Colony of\nNew Zealand\" to the \"Dominion of New Zealand\"; and that a respectful\naddress be presented to His Excellency the Governor, requesting him to\ntransmit this resolution for submission to His Majesty.\"\n\n\nII\n\nTHE ANSWER\n\n  _The text of His Majesty the King's Proclamation, conferring the\n  title of Dominion upon the Colony of New Zealand. Read by His\n  Excellency the Governor (Lord Plunket) from the steps of Parliament\n  House, Wellington, New Zealand, at eleven o'clock in the morning of\n  Thursday 26th of September, 1907._\n\n\"Whereas We have, on the petition of the members of the Legislative\nCouncil and the House of Representatives of Our Colony of New Zealand,\ndetermined that the title of the Dominion of New Zealand shall be\nsubstituted for that of the Colony of New Zealand as the designation\nof the said Colony. We have, therefore, by and with the advice of Our\nPrivy Council, thought fit to issue this, Our Royal Proclamation, and\nWe do ordain, declare, and command, that on and after the 26th day\nof September 1907, the said Colony of New Zealand and the territory\nbelonging thereto shall be called and known by the title of the\nDominion of New Zealand, and We hereby give Our command to all public\ndepartments accordingly.\n\n  \"EDWARD REX.\"\n\n\nIII\n\nDOMINION DAY\n\n  \"_Ab actu ad posse valet illatio_\"\n\nSo New Zealand, having resisted the blandishments of her big neighbour,\nand refused to allow her identity to be submerged in the Commonwealth\nof Australia, craved a gift from the King, who gave her what she\ncraved,--a designation which should convince the world that she had\nclimbed from the ruck of the colonies into a position of distinction.\nFew would in any case have denied this; but the change of designation\nmade, as was intended, New Zealand's improved status apparent to all.\n\nThe gift of this new designation was a public recognition of New\nZealand's right to take her place on equal terms among the great\nself-governing colonies, and in asking for such recognition New Zealand\ndid wisely. Great names were in the air in the South Sea, and for New\nZealand not to have chosen one, now that she had elected to stand\nalone, would have been deliberately to hide her light under the bushel\nof self-effacement, and quite unnecessarily to seek a lower place than\nthat which Australia had assumed.\n\nSo, King Edward having granted her petition, His Excellency the\nGovernor, Lord Plunket, at eleven o'clock on Thursday morning the 26th\nof September, 1907, read in public His Majesty's Proclamation, and New\nZealand ceased to be a Colony and became a Dominion.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAnd what of New Zealand's future? The only possible answer to that at\npresent is in the words quoted at the head of this section. God in His\nwisdom hides the future from our eyes, but it is allowable to construe\nthe future from the past; it is permissible to infer what will be\nfrom what has been, and it is only reasonable to admit that none who\nknow New Zealand's past ought to have any well-grounded fears for her\nfuture. What she has done she will do again yet more perfectly: what\nshe has not done, but has a mind to do, she will accomplish.\n\nLess than seventy years ago New Zealand, like her own peculiar birds,\nthe _moa_ and the _kiwi_, was unable to fly; but, like them, she could\nand did run very fast. Then, as in the course of years--and few enough\nof them--her wings grew, she did not hesitate, but accomplished flight\nafter flight, each more daring than the last, until her pinions,\nlike those of the albatross of her own seas, now bear her untired\nwhithersoever she will.\n\n\"_Ab actu ad posse valet illatio!_\" What New Zealand has done she will\ndo. Even if she never attain to the position which Sir Joseph Ward\nseems to consider should be hers, and become the actual as well as the\nnatural centre for the government of the South Pacific, she can still\nsoar as high in her proud independence, and perhaps higher, if she ever\nstrive to attain to Sir Joseph Ward's ideal, \"a true Dominion in the\nhead and heart of her own people.\"\n\nWhat New Zealand has done she will do. It is not yet seventy years\nsince Captain Hobson, in presence of a few white folk, read his\ncommission as Lieutenant-Governor of islands which were declared to be\na mere extension of the boundaries of New South Wales. Wellington was\nnot yet founded; Auckland was yet to be born; the Crown and the Company\nwere for a time to divide the house against itself; the good will of\nthe Maori was still to win and, since British sovereignty had not been\ndeclared, other claimants for possession had to be baffled.\n\nYet with all these drawbacks and difficulties New Zealand was able not\nto struggle on, but to leap boldly from childhood into a youth which\nwas fortunately vigorous, since in this phase she had not only to\nadjust a quarrel here and there, but to fight for her very existence.\nWhen the doors of the temple of Janus were at last shut after nearly\nthirty years of intermittent war, New Zealand set her feet firmly upon\nthe high road of industrial progress and strode forward; nor has she\nsince looked back.\n\nIs it likely that with the knowledge and experience she has gained she\nwill do less than she was able to do when she had everything to learn?\nThe idea is inconceivable.\n\nNo. New Zealand accomplished much in her weakness, and in her strength\nshe will accomplish more. If she has made good laws, she will make\nyet better and continue to legislate, as she has always done, not\nfor the benefit of one class or section of the community, but for\nthe common good. If she was able to hold her own against the strong,\nbrave race she dispossessed and reinstated under better conditions,\nthat \"baptism of fire\" shall avail to teach her how to arm against the\njealousy of nations, older, it may be, than herself, and envious of\nher vineyard. Has she not already fought nobly for the Motherland, and\nshall she not know how to defend her own? More than once, indeed, she\nhas been styled the \"Britain of the South.\" What if Sir Joseph Ward's\nhaughty assumption of her right to rule the South Pacific by virtue of\ngeographical position be some day so fully recognised as truth that she\nshall acquire the right by the might of added moral superiority?\n\nIf that day come, will New Zealand be happier? That waits to be seen.\nYet she should in any case be happy, even though she mount not one step\nhigher than that to which she has attained. Climate, soil, position\nand natural beauty, laws, social and commercial success, all unite to\nfeed her hunger for happiness, and to satisfy. Save that Man must ever\nsigh for something which he has not, what more can she crave than that\nwhich God has already given her? Even now she may most fitly sing in a\nfull-throated burst of rejoicing:\n\n  Last, loneliest, loveliest, exquisite, apart--\n  On us, on us, th' unswerving season smiles,\n  Who wonder, 'mid our fern, why men depart\n        To seek the Happy Isles!\n\n\n\n\n_A ekore ana tatau e tutakina i te ao. A e kawea te kororia me te\nhonore o nga Tauiwi ki reira._\n\n  Wakakitenga xxi. 25-26 (Revelation).\n\nTRANSLATION.--_And the gates thereof shall in no wise be shut by day:\nand they shall bring the glory and the honour of the nations into it._\n\n\n\n\nINDEX\n\n\n    Aewa, Tamihana Te, 258, 259, 260\n\n    Ahuahu, Te, 178\n\n    Akarana, 147\n\n    Akaroa, 133, 142, 149\n\n    Alfred, H.R.H. Prince, 295\n\n    Allen, Bugler, 206, 207, 208\n\n    Anaua, Te (chief), 276\n\n    Ao-tea-roa, 13, 14\n\n    Aotea, 14\n\n    Aowera (tribe), 268\n\n    Arawa (tribe), 55, 247, 298, 299, 311\n\n    Aro, Te, 136\n\n    Artillery, Royal, 242\n\n    Arutupu, Ruku Te, 301, 302\n\n    Atkinson, Major, 232\n\n    Atua, 4, 9, 38, 72, 260\n\n    Auckland, 144, 147, 149, 156, 170, 194, 213, 223, 240, 262, 263, 321\n\n    Austin, Colonel, 239\n\n    Australia, 77, 85, 93, 143\n\n    Australia, Commonwealth of, 315, 316, 317\n\n    Australia, South, 193, 194\n\n    Austria, Emperor of, 237\n\n\n    Banks Peninsula, 220\n\n    Banks, Sir J., 80\n\n    Barclay, Lieut., 174\n\n    Baring, Hon. F., 130\n\n    Bat's Nest, the, 195, 200\n\n    Bay of Islands, 98, 99, 116, 117, 121, 122, 140\n\n    Bay of Plenty, 55, 121, 295, 300, 311\n\n    Beattie, Lieut., 190\n\n    Benson, Mr., 286\n\n    Best, Dr., 290\n\n    Biggs, Major, 283, 285\n\n    Bland, R.N., Lieut., 197\n\n    Boadicea, 98\n\n    Boers, the, 240, 241\n\n    \"Boiling Water\" tribes, 227, 297, 299\n\n    Boulcott, Mr. J.E., 130\n\n    Boulcott's Farm, 205\n\n    Bourke, Sir R., 125\n\n    Bowen, Sir G., 288\n\n    _Boyd_, massacre of the, 97, 98, 101, 104\n\n    Brassey, Major, 266\n\n    Bridge, Major, 188\n\n    Britannia, 136\n\n    British Government, 125, 129, 130, 152, 153, 244, 250, 252, 315\n\n    Brooks, John, 163\n\n    Broughton, Mr., 270\n\n    Browne, Colonel T. Gore, 223, 227, 231, 232, 235, 236\n\n    Buck, Captain, 291\n\n    Busby, Mr., 124, 125, 126, 129\n\n    Butler, Colonel, 274, 275\n\n    Butters, Mr., 284, 285\n\n\n    _Calliope_, H.M.S., 210\n\n    Cameron, General, 233, 234, 238, 239, 240, 241, 245, 246, 247, 250,\n      251, 252, 273, 275\n\n    Canada, Dominion of, 317\n\n    Cannibalism, 62\n\n    Canning, Mr., 282\n\n    Canoes, names of, 8\n\n    Canterbury, 217, 218, 219\n\n    Canterbury Association, 218\n\n    Canterbury Pilgrims, 218\n\n    Carey, Brig.-Gen., 245, 246\n\n    Cargill, Captain W., 218\n\n    Caribs, the, 63\n\n    Carr, Captain, 282\n\n    Catholic missionaries, 106\n\n    Chalmers, Port, 218\n\n    Chalmers, Rev. Dr., 218\n\n    Chatham Islands, 13, 113, 280, 283\n\n    Church Missionary Society, 103, 106\n\n    Chute, General, 273, 274, 275, 276, 277\n\n    Clarke, Interpreter, 191\n\n    Clarke, Mr. G., 193\n\n    Cloudy Bay, 159\n\n    Collingwood, 221\n\n    Colonial Conference, 316\n\n    Colonial Office, 193, 216\n\n    Columbus, Christopher, 63\n\n    Constitution Act, 216\n\n    Cook, Captain, 44, 55, 78, 79, 88, 89\n\n    Cook Islands, 21\n\n    Cook Strait, 12, 107, 135, 220, 262, 272\n\n    Coromandel, 221, 222\n\n    Cotterell, Mr., 160, 163\n\n    Crozet, Captain, 89, 91, 92, 165\n\n    \"Cyprus of South Sea,\" 128\n\n\n    Darling, Governor, 121\n\n    Denny, Captain, 199\n\n    Despard, Colonel, 183, 185, 186, 187, 188, 192, 195\n\n    \"Die-Hards,\" the, 274\n\n    Diemen, Anthony van, 76\n\n    _Diver_, H.M.S., 203\n\n    Dodd, Mr., 284\n\n    Dominion Day, 319, 320\n\n    Dominion of New Zealand, 219, 317, 318, 319, 320\n\n    Doubtless Bay, 89\n\n    Dunedin, 218\n\n    Durham, Earl of, 130\n\n\n    _Eclipse_, H.M.S., 242, 265, 266\n\n    Edward VII., 318, 319, 320\n\n    Egmont, Mount, 14, 145, 289\n\n    Elgin, Lord, 316\n\n    England, Captain, 160, 161, 162, 163\n\n    England, Church of, 218\n\n    Epuni, Te (chief), 135\n\n    Eritonga, river, 136\n\n    Erongo (_pa_), 155\n\n    Eyre, Mr. E.J., 215\n\n\n    Featherston, Dr., 276\n\n    Fifty-eighth Regiment, 183, 190, 199, 205, 211\n\n    Fifty-seventh Regiment, 237, 274\n\n    Flax, New Zealand, 22, 93, 150\n\n    Forest Rangers, 275\n\n    Fortieth Regiment, 246\n\n    Forty-third Regiment, 249\n\n    Franklin, Benjamin, 87, 95\n\n    Fraser, Major, 268, 278\n\n    Free Church of Scotland, 218\n\n    Fresne, Captain Marion du, 44, 89, 90, 91, 94, 125, 165\n\n    Fulloon, Mr., 266\n\n\n    Gabriel's Gully, 222\n\n    _Galatea_, H.M.S., 295\n\n    \"Garden of New Zealand,\" 145\n\n    Gascoigne, Lieut. and Mrs., 293\n\n    Gate Pa, the, 247, 249\n\n    George III., 85, 102\n\n    George IV., 109, 114\n\n    Gilfinnan Massacre, 210, 211\n\n    Gipps, Sir George, 139\n\n    Gods, the six, 5, 37, 38\n\n    Gordon, Captain, 278\n\n    Gore, Lieut., 83, 84\n\n    Gorst, Sir John, 237\n\n    \"Governor, the Fighting,\" 209, 212, 222\n\n    Grace, Rev. Mr., 265, 266\n\n    Grant, Captain, 190\n\n    Gregory XVI., Pope, 106\n\n    Grey, Sir George, 10, 193, 194, 201, 203, 210, 212, 214, 215, 216,\n      222, 227, 231, 236, 237, 244, 250, 251, 269, 288, 310, 311\n\n    Guard, Mr. and Mrs., 126, 127, 128\n\n    Gudgeon, Lieut., 277\n\n\n    Hakaraia (chief), 267\n\n    _Harriet_, the brig, 126\n\n    Hassard, Lieut.-Colonel, 274, 275\n\n    Hastings, Lieut., 290\n\n    Hauhau, the, 254, 256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 261, 263, 264, 265, 266,\n      268, 269, 270, 274, 275, 278, 280, 282, 283, 285, 286, 288, 289,\n      290, 291, 293, 294, 295, 299, 302, 304\n\n    Hauraki Gulf, the, 111, 123, 147, 310\n\n    Hawaiki, 3, 7, 8, 12, 13, 15, 21\n\n    Hawke's Bay, 235, 278\n\n    _Hazard_, H.M.S., 169, 172, 178, 183, 185, 187\n\n    Heaphy, Captain, 244\n\n    Heke, Honi, 116, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 176, 177, 178,\n      179, 180, 181, 182, 193, 194, 195, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 230\n\n    Hepanaia (chief), 257\n\n    Herrick, Colonel, 298\n\n    Hertford, Captain, 245\n\n    Heu Heu, Te (chief), 227, 297, 298, 299, 308\n\n    Hiroti, Haimona (chief), 258, 260, 261\n\n    Hobson, R.N., Captain, 117, 118, 130, 139, 140, 141, 145, 147, 148,\n      152, 156, 158, 321\n\n    Hokianga, 106, 114, 123, 149\n\n    Hokioi, the, 237\n\n    Hongi Ika (chief), 104, 105, 108, 114, 115, 116, 122, 123, 145, 149,\n      156, 167, 168, 169, 172, 178\n\n    Hope, Dr., 237\n\n    Horokiwi, 209\n\n    Horomona (chief), 266\n\n    Howard, Mr., 160, 161\n\n    Hulme, Colonel, 177, 178, 179, 182\n\n    Hunter, Lieut., 290\n\n    Hunter, Major, 292\n\n    Hutt, Mr. W., 130\n\n    Hutt, river, 136, 205\n\n    Hutt, valley of the, 204, 205, 206\n\n\n    Indian runners, 228\n\n    Irish, Royal, Regiment, 239\n\n\n    Jackson, Captain, 246\n\n    James, Mrs., 285\n\n    Johnston, Adjutant-General, 234\n\n    Johnston, R.N., Commander, 187\n\n\n    Kahika, Te (_pa_), 179\n\n    Kaitaka Ranges, 256\n\n    Karaka (camp), 293\n\n    Kawhia, 111\n\n    Kawiti (chief), 116, 172, 176, 178, 181, 183, 184, 186, 192, 193,\n       194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 223\n\n    Kendall, Rev. Mr., 123, 124\n\n    Kepa, Major (chief), 290, 295, 298, 300\n\n    Kereopa (prophet), 264, 265, 266, 267, 268, 303\n\n    Kereti (chief), 258, 259\n\n    King, Captain, 94\n\n    King Country, the, 303, 308\n\n    Kingi, Mete (chief), 277\n\n    Kingi, Wiremu (chief), 232, 235, 304\n\n    Kirimangu (Maori), 266\n\n    Koheroa, 239\n\n    Kooti, Te (chief), 280, 287, 288, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296, 297,\n       298, 299, 300, 301, 302, 303, 304\n\n    Kororareka, 116, 117, 124, 128, 148, 149, 167, 169, 170, 171,\n      172, 176, 177, 178\n\n    Kororarekan Association, 128, 129\n\n    Kuri, Cape, 80\n\n\n    Labrador, 80\n\n    Laye, Captain, 211\n\n    Leinster, New, 153\n\n    Le Maire, 71\n\n    Lloyd, Captain, 256\n\n    Logan, Colonel, 261\n\n    London, 108\n\n    Lovell, Sergeant, 220\n\n\n    McCleverty, Colonel, 212\n\n    McDonnell, Captain, 290\n\n    McDonnell, Colonel, 232, 247, 266, 274, 275, 276, 278, 288, 289,\n      290, 291, 292, 294, 295, 298, 299\n\n    McLean, Sir D., 278, 304\n\n    Macpherson, Major, 188, 191\n\n    Maketu, 55, 247\n\n    Maketu (chief), 212\n\n    Mamaku (chief), 204, 205, 208\n\n    Mangaio, 277\n\n    Mangapiko, river, 244\n\n    Manukau, 144, 147\n\n    Maori, the, 10, 12, 15, 17\n\n    Maraetahi, 300\n\n    Maramarua, creek, 239\n\n    Maria van Diemen, Cape, 76\n\n    Marlborough, 235\n\n    Marquesas Islands, 102\n\n    Marsden, Rev. Samuel, 102, 103, 104, 105, 107, 108, 168\n\n    Massacre Bay, 75, 77\n\n    Massacre of the _Boyd_, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 104\n\n    Matakitaki, 111, 112\n\n    Matanga, Te (chief), 22\n\n    Matarana, 210\n\n    Matatu (tribe), 314\n\n    Matavia, 172, 173, 174\n\n    Matene (chief), 257, 258, 260, 261\n\n    Matutaere, King, 243\n\n    Maui (a god), 5, 6, 17\n\n    Maui, Te Ika A, 5, 9, 13, 55\n\n    Mauinaina, 111\n\n    Maunga Pohatu, 300\n\n    Maungatawhiri, creek, 238\n\n    Mayne, R.N., Commander, 242\n\n    Menzies, Sergeant, 294\n\n    Meri-Meri, 240, 241\n\n    Middle Island, the, 12, 31, 71, 72, 82, 107, 113, 141, 142, 145,\n       217, 220\n\n    Military Settlers, 266\n\n    Minister of Marine, French, 87\n\n    Missionaries, Anglican, 105, 106\n\n    Missionaries, Catholic, 106\n\n    Missionaries, Wesleyan, 106, 108\n\n    Moko-Moko (chief), 267\n\n    Molesworth, Sir W., 130\n\n    More, Hannah, 88\n\n    Moriori, the, 13\n\n    Moro, Te (Maori), 260, 261\n\n    Motorua, 292\n\n    Moutoa, island, 258, 261\n\n    Munster, New, 153, 215\n\n    Murderers' Bay, 75\n\n\n    Nape, Hemi (chief), 258, 259\n\n    Napier, 235\n\n    Napoleon Bonaparte, 199\n\n    \"Napoleon of N.Z., the,\" 109\n\n    Native Contingent, the, 266, 267, 273, 275\n\n    Nelson, 71, 145, 146, 147, 149, 158, 159, 164, 217, 221\n\n    Nene, Waka (chief), 141, 170, 177, 178, 179, 180, 183, 185, 186,\n       187, 192, 199, 202, 231\n\n    Newfoundland, 80\n\n    New Plymouth, 145, 149, 232, 304\n\n    New South Wales, 97, 102, 119, 142, 153, 169, 172, 221\n\n    New Zealand, 21, 33, 71, 77, 80\n\n    New Zealand Association, 129\n\n    New Zealand Land Company, 129, 133, 134, 152, 193, 194, 321\n\n    New Zealand Settlements Act, 244\n\n    Ngahue (chief), 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9\n\n    Nga-Puhi (tribe), 104, 109, 110, 111, 116, 121, 125, 145, 179,\n      185, 200\n\n    Nga-Ruahini (tribe), 278\n\n    Nga-Ruanui (tribe), 292\n\n    Ngaruawahia, 243, 244\n\n    Ngatapa (_pa_), 293\n\n    Ngati-Awa (tribe), 13\n\n    Ngati-Hau (tribe), 257, 258, 260\n\n    Ngati-Hineuru (tribe), 278\n\n    Ngati-Kahu-Ngunu (tribe), 298\n\n    Ngati-Maniapoto (tribe), 293, 297\n\n    Ngati-Porou (tribe), 265, 268, 293, 300, 303\n\n    Ngati-Toa (tribe), 146, 209\n\n    Ngutu-o-te-Manu, 290\n\n    Ninety-ninth Regiment, 169, 177, 183, 190\n\n    Ninety-sixth Regiment, 183\n\n    Niu, the, 255\n\n    Norfolk Island, 93\n\n    North Island, the, 12, 21, 32, 76, 82, 107, 134, 141, 217\n\n    Nui, Tao (chief), 199\n\n    Nukumaru, 233, 251, 292\n\n\n    Oheawai, 183, 184, 187, 191, 192, 198, 200, 229\n\n    Okaihau, 178, 179, 183, 184\n\n    Okerangi, 198\n\n    Okotuku, 274\n\n    Olivia (chief's wife), 302, 303\n\n    Onoroa, 172, 173\n\n    Opotiki, 264, 265, 266, 268\n\n    Orakau, 245\n\n    O'Reilly, Ensign, 191\n\n    Otago, 217, 218\n\n    Otaheite, 81\n\n    Otaka Puarangi, 312\n\n    Otaki, 112, 146\n\n    Otapawa (_pa_), 274\n\n    Otauto, 294\n\n\n    Pacific, the South, 321, 323\n\n    Page, Captain, 290\n\n    Page, Lieut., 205, 208, 209\n\n    Pahatanui, 209\n\n    Pahi, Te (chief), 99, 100\n\n    Pai Marire Sect, the, 254, 257\n\n    Pakeha-Maori, 96\n\n    \"Pakeha Rat,\" the, 26 (_note_), 237, 263\n\n    Pakeha, the, 10\n\n    Palliser, Sir Hugh, 80\n\n    Panama, 272\n\n    Papa (a god), 37\n\n    Paparatu, 281\n\n    Parihaka, 305, 306\n\n    Parliament of Chiefs, 125, 126\n\n    Patapo (chief), 211\n\n    Patara (prophet), 264, 265, 268\n\n    Patea, 269, 292\n\n    Patea, river, 270\n\n    Paterangi, 244\n\n    Patutahi, 284\n\n    Pene (chief), 184\n\n    Peppard, Mr., 284\n\n    Petre, Lord, 130\n\n    Petre (town), 144\n\n    Phillpotts, R.N., Lieut., 172, 187, 188, 189, 190, 229\n\n    Pihohoi, the, 237\n\n    Pikopiko, 244\n\n    Pipiriki, 277\n\n    Pitt, Major-General, 215\n\n    Plunket, Lord, 319, 320\n\n    Polynesians, the, 11, 12\n\n    Pomare (chief), 116, 178, 231\n\n    Pompallier, Bishop, 175\n\n    Poneki, 136\n\n    Pononga, Te, 298\n\n    Porirua, 209\n\n    Porter, Captain, 301, 302\n\n    Port Nicholson, 136, 262, 295\n\n    Potae Henare, 301, 302\n\n    Potatau, King, 226, 243\n\n    Pounamou, Te Wai, 13, 72, 112, 312\n\n    Pourere, 298\n\n    Poverty Bay, 81, 268, 281, 283, 284, 292, 295, 300\n\n    Pratt, Major-General, 234\n\n    Prayer, a traditional, 6\n\n    Proconsul, the Great, 311\n\n    Puaha (Maori), 161\n\n    Puketapu, 283\n\n    Pukutetu, Tamati (chief), 196\n\n    Putahi, 274\n\n    Putiki (tribe), 210\n\n\n    _Racehorse_, H.M.S., 197\n\n    Rakaihaitu (chief), 19\n\n    Ra Ki Ura, 13\n\n    Ranga Te, 249\n\n    Rangi (a god), 8, 37\n\n    Rangi, 38\n\n    Rangiaohia, 244\n\n    Rangihaeata (chief), 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 166, 203, 204,\n      231, 305, 306\n\n    Rangihoua, 108\n\n    Rangiriri, 241, 242, 243\n\n    \"Rapparee, Ould,\" 209\n\n    Rarotonga, 8, 12, 21\n\n    Rauparaha, Te (chief), 111, 112, 114, 146, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162,\n      163, 164, 165, 203, 204, 209, 230, 305, 306\n\n    Rauparaha, Thompson, 231\n\n    Rauru (chief), 18\n\n    Rawhiti (tribes), 247\n\n    Reid, G.H., Hon., 316\n\n    Reinga, 283\n\n    Reinga, Te, 3, 38, 52, 57, 115, 259, 296\n\n    Renata (chief), 299\n\n    Rewi (chief), 244, 245, 247, 297, 298\n\n    Rhine of New Zealand, 144\n\n    Richardson, Mr., 160, 163\n\n    Richmond, Fort, 205\n\n    _Rifleman_, schooner, 281\n\n    Ring, Captain, 239\n\n    Ring, Mr. Charles, 221\n\n    Roberts, Captain, 291\n\n    Robertson, R.N., Captain, 173, 174\n\n    Ropata, Major (chief), 268, 293, 295, 300, 301-3\n\n    Ross, Sub-Inspector, 289\n\n    Rotomahana, Lake, 33, 311, 312, 314\n\n    Rotorua, Lake, 33, 111\n\n    Rowan, Lieut., 290\n\n    Ruake Ture, river, 282\n\n    Ruapehu, Mount, 14, 311\n\n    Ruapekapeka (_pa_), 195, 196, 198, 199, 200, 202, 229\n\n    Ruatara (chief), 104, 105\n\n    Russell, 148, 149, 262\n\n    Russell, Sergeant, 291\n\n\n    St. George, Captain, 299\n\n    St. John's College, 154\n\n    St. Lawrence, river, 79\n\n    Schouten, 71\n\n    Seddon, the Hon. R., 314, 315\n\n    Selwyn, Bishop, 153, 154, 175, 288\n\n    Sentry Hill, 257\n\n    Shortland, R.N., Lieut., 141, 158\n\n    Signal Hill, 173, 174\n\n    Sixty-fifth Regiment, 229, 242\n\n    \"Southern Cross,\" the Auckland, 246\n\n    Southland, 235\n\n    Staaten Land, 71, 77\n\n    Stanley, Lord, 193\n\n    Stanley, R.N., Captain, 142\n\n    Stewart Island, 13, 21, 82\n\n    Sumatra, 11\n\n    Surville, Admiral de, 89\n\n    Sydney, 98, 103, 104, 110, 119\n\n\n    Tahiti, 81, 102\n\n    Tamihana, Wiremu, 234, 235, 244, 247, 263, 264\n\n    Tanewha, Te (chief), 81, 85, 221, 231\n\n    Taraia (chief), 155, 156, 221\n\n    Taranaki, 217, 220\n\n    Taranaki, Mount, 14\n\n    Taranaki, town, 145, 147, 149, 231, 275, 276\n\n    Taranaki (tribe), 116, 145, 234, 236, 237\n\n    Tarata, Te, 311, 312\n\n    Tarawera, Lake, 311, 314\n\n    Tarawera, Mount, 311, 313, 314\n\n    Tarawera, river, 311, 314\n\n    Tarra (chief), 98, 99\n\n    Tasman, Abel, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78\n\n    Tasman Bay, 145, 146\n\n    Tasman Sea, 113, 119, 194, 316\n\n    Tasmania, 71, 77, 143\n\n    Tataraimaka, 236\n\n    Tau Marina, river, 163\n\n    Taumata Tutu, 178\n\n    Taupo, 299, 303\n\n    Taupo, Lake, 297, 311\n\n    Taupo (tribe), 298\n\n    Tauranga, 106, 121, 155, 247, 249, 250, 314\n\n    Tawhai, Moses (chief), 197\n\n    Tawhaio, King, 293\n\n    Tawhitorangi, Riwai, 258, 259\n\n    Teira, Te (Maori), 232\n\n    Tempsky, Major von, 232, 246, 275, 289, 290, 291\n\n    Thames, river, 110, 111, 155\n\n    Thierry, Baron de, 123, 124\n\n    Thomas, R.N., Captain, 281\n\n    Thompson, Mr., 160, 161, 162, 163, 164\n\n    Thorndon, 136\n\n    Three Kings Islands, 76\n\n    Tiger of the Wairau, the, 204, 210\n\n    Titles (Maori) of New Zealand, 13\n\n    Titokowaru (chief), 278, 279, 289, 292, 293, 294, 295, 305\n\n    Tohu (chief), 306\n\n    Toi (chief), 278\n\n    Tonga, 102\n\n    Tongariro, Mount, 14, 227, 309, 311\n\n    _Tory_, arrival of the, 135\n\n    Totara (_pa_), 111, 112\n\n    Tragett, Lieut., 237\n\n    Tupia (chief), 81\n\n    Turanga Bay, 81\n\n    Turau, Waka (chief), 199\n\n    Turi, Te (chief), 4, 13, 145\n\n    Turoa, Pehi (chief), 277\n\n    Turoa, Topia (chief), 297\n\n    Turuturu Mokai, 288\n\n\n    Ua, Te (prophet), 255, 256, 263\n\n    Ulster, New, 153, 215\n\n    United Tribes of New Zealand, 126, 140, 226\n\n    Uriwera Mountains, 301\n\n    Uriwera (tribe), 284, 295, 300\n\n\n    Waddy, General, 252\n\n    Waerenga-a-hika, 284\n\n    Waihi, 289, 291\n\n    Waikare Moana, Lake, 301\n\n    Waikari, river, 183\n\n    Waikato, plains, 249, 250\n\n    Waikato, river, 237, 238, 239, 240, 244\n\n    Waikato (tribe), 55, 116, 145, 226, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 243,\n      244, 245, 257, 297, 298, 303\n\n    Waikato, war, 238, 263\n\n    Waimana, 300\n\n    Waimate (_pa_), 127\n\n    Waimate, plains, 305\n\n    Waimate, river, 184\n\n    Waimate, station, 184, 192\n\n    Waipa, river, 244\n\n    Waipoa, river, 284\n\n    Wairau massacre, 163, 164, 203\n\n    Wairau, river, 160\n\n    Wairau, valley of the, 147, 159\n\n    Wairoa Mountains, 239\n\n    Waitangi, Treaty of, 140, 156\n\n    Waitara, 232, 236, 304\n\n    Waitemata, the, 147\n\n    Waitotara, river, 293-294\n\n    Wakefield family, the, 130\n\n    Wakefield, R.N., Captain A., 145, 146, 160, 163\n\n    Wakefield, Colonel, 130, 139\n\n    Wakefield, Mr. E., 105\n\n    Wakefield, Mr. Ed. Gibbon, 194, 218\n\n    Wangamirino, creek, 240\n\n    Ward, Sir J., 315, 316, 321, 323\n\n    Wari-Kauri, 113\n\n    Weld, Mr. F.A., 251\n\n    Wellington, 136, 137, 139, 141, 144, 146, 147, 148, 149, 203, 204,\n      212, 219, 262, 263, 264, 321\n\n    Wellington, Duke of, 129, 199\n\n    Wereroa (_pa_), 233, 251\n\n    Westrupp, Captain, 281\n\n    Wetere (chief), 293\n\n    Whakatohea (tribe), 265\n\n    Whalers, the, 95\n\n    Whanganui, 144, 147, 149, 210, 212, 213, 233, 250, 257, 261, 293\n\n    Whanganui, river, 277\n\n    Whanganui (tribe), 257, 258, 261, 276, 277, 289, 292, 298, 299, 300\n\n    Whangaroa, 98, 106, 108, 114\n\n    Whareongaonga, 281\n\n    Wharepori (chief), 135\n\n    Wherowhero, Te (chief), 116, 145\n\n    Wherowhero, the Hon. Mahuta, Tawhiao Potatau Te, 116\n\n    White Cliffs, 293\n\n    White Island, 220\n\n    White Pine _Pa_, the, 179\n\n    Whitely, Rev. Mr., 293\n\n    Whiti, Te (chief), 304, 305-6\n\n    Whitmore, Colonel, 232, 278, 281, 282, 292, 293, 295\n\n    William IV., 125, 226\n\n    Williams, Archdeacon, 182, 268\n\n    Wilson, Captain and Mrs., 286, 287\n\n    Wiremu, Honi (chief), 211\n\n    Wirihana, Lieut. (chief), 267\n\n    Witchell, Major, 233, 234\n\n    Wylie, Mr., 286\n\n    Wynyard, Lieut.-Colonel, 221, 223\n\n\n    Year of the Lamb, the, 278, 288\n\n    Yeomen Cavalry, 266\n\n    Young Nick's Head, cape, 80\n\n\n    Zulu, the, 63\n\n\nTHE END\n\n\n  _Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_.\n\n\n\n\nROMANCE OF EMPIRE\n\nEdited by JOHN LANG\n\nEach Volume contains 12 Illustrations in Colour.\n\n\n  NEW ZEALAND. By REGINALD HORSLEY. Artist, A. D. M'CORMICK, R.I.\n\n  INDIA. By VICTOR SURRIDGE. Artist, A.D. M'CORMICK, R.I.\n\n  CANADA. By BECKLES WILLSON. Artist, HENRY SANDHAM.\n\n  \"Mr. Beckles Willson knows his Canada well. He has made a fascinating\n  book out of the adventures of Champlain, de la Tour, and Tracy. Our\n  author writes with sympathy and enthusiasm.\"--_The Spectator._\n\nAUSTRALIA. By Dr. W.H. LANG. Artist, G.W. LAMBERT.\n\n  \"Mr. Lang's work is vivid, graphic, and compelling in its\n  interest, and it conveys understanding of the broad outlines of\n  Australia's history; the deeply interesting history of a fascinating\n  country.\"--_The Standard._\n\nOUTPOSTS OF EMPIRE. By JOHN LANG. Artist, JOHN R. SKELTON.\n\n  \"His pages are crowded with incident, and we find ourselves\n  occasionally catching our breath at the relation of some\n  dare-devil enterprise which went to the building up of Empire and\n  sea-power.\"--_The Saturday Review._\n\n6s. _net per Volume_.\n\n\n_In Preparation._\n\nSOUTH AFRICA. By IAN D. COLVIN.\n\nAFRICA, NORTH, EAST AND WEST. By JOHN LANG.\n\n\nROMANCE OF HISTORY\n\n_A Uniform Series._\n\nTHE NETHERLANDS. By MARY MACGREGOR.\n\nArtist, A.D. M'CORMICK, R.I.\n\n  \"We have seldom seen a History more attractive than this handsome\n  volume. Each chapter is stirring and interesting beyond measure. The\n  admirable Illustrations are unsurpassed in power and colour.\"--_The\n  British Weekly._","title":"New Zealand","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":81637}