THE CONQUEST OF ONAWE.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume XX, Issue 1530, 13 March 1891, Page 2

THE CONQUEST OF ONAWE.

We take the following account of the conquest of Onawe from the " Stories of Banks Peninsula " :—

" When the inhabitants of Akaroa became alarmed for their safety on account of Rauparaha's evident intention to extend his conquests to the South of Kaikoura, they resolved to erect a forti fted pa, capable of containing all who might require to take refuge in it. They fixed upon Onawe as the most suitable site, though subsequent events proved their want of judgment in selecting a position so easily assailed. The remains of the defensive works which still exist attest the size and strength of the pa, and awaken a suspicion in the observer's mind that the Maoris received the assistance of Europeans in their construction. But this they most positively deny. They assert that the fortifications were entirely designed and executed by themselves, and that any departures from the ancient lines of construction that may be observable, were caused by the alterations necessary to meet the introduction of firearms. A deep trench surrounded the pa, the earth taken from it forming the walls, along the top of which a strong fence was erected. All round the inside of the fence was a covered way for the protection of the defenders. The approach to a spring on the south side of the jromontory was by a covered trench, protected by walls running parallel to each other ; but, to ensure a supply of water in the event of this road to the spring being cut off, a number of large canoes were dragged up into the pa, and filled with fresh water, and cohered over with matting to prevent loss by evaporation. Ruas and whatas were stored with provisions, and every precaution taken to enable the occupants of the pa to sustain a siege. " The various preparations for defence were barely completed, before the startling intelligence was brought that Ruaptiraha had invested Kaiapoi with a large military force. The inhabitants of Akaroa and its neighborhood flocked at once into Onawe, and prepared for the worst. Tingatahara was placed in chief command, and under him Puaka and Potnhi. They were able to muster about four hundred warriors, most of whom were armed with musketsi the rest having to content themselves with steel hatchets, or the more primitive weapons used by their forefathers. During the six months the siege of Kaiapoi lasted, the occupants of Onawe suffered constant alarms from the rep rts that reached their ears of atrocities perpetrated by Rauparaha's foraging parties. This condition of suspense was brought to a close by the capture of Kaiapoi, and the arrival of a party of fugitives with the news of its dcs ruction, and the important intelligence that they had left Bauparaha in the act of embarking his men with the avowed intention of conveying them round to attack .Onawe. Every one was now on the alert, and many were in dread expectation of what was to follow. Shortly after receiving this timely warning, the sentinels descried at a very early hour one morning, a large fleet of war canoes pulling up the harbor Rauparaha evidently, purposed to surprise the place, but his design was frustrated by. the watchfulness of the defenders.r Finding his plan had failed, he retiredj ordering part of his force to camp in Barry's Bay, and part at the Head of the Bay. Ngatitoa landed near the short wharf in Barry/s Bay, where they commenced to prepare for cooking their food ; while Ngatiaiwa landed near where Mrs Shadbolt's house stands, and; prepared to do the same. Innumerable fires were soon blazing on the little heaps of stones, gathered into the shallow basin-shaped holes scooped in the ground, and on which, when sufficiently heated, the food would be placed, and covered with matting and earth to cook. Observing that Rauparaha had divided his forces, and that between the two divisions lay a th:ck wood, and a etretch of swampy ground, it occurred to Tangatahara that by falling suddenly upon Ngatiawa, now they were oft their guard, he might overpower them before Ngatitoa could come to their assistance. He accordingly sallied forth from the pa, and skirted along the edge of the rising ground on which Mr Callaghan's house now stands. But the enemy's sentinels posted in the wood quickly discerned his intentions, and raised the alarm by running to the top of the hill end celling

help. Their cries were heard, and their comrades at once rushed forward, firing as they came floundering across the muddy beach that separated their camp from the promontory. Checked by the failure of this attempt to surprise the enemy, Tangatahara turned to meet the advancing Ngatitoa, and returned their fire. Tahatiti was the first Ngai Tahu shot. On seeing him fall, his companions began to retreat slowly towards the pa. Big William, then a boy about twelve years old, ran back to report the fatal result of the enemy's fire. On reaching the gap in the cliff, near the gate of the pa, he caught up to Tama, who, haying been wounded in""tlitfisriee, was hobbling towards a place of shelter. While the retreating band of Onawe warriors were standing about the gate, a number of Kaiapoi captives suddenly appeared amongst them, accompanied by their captors. Their appearance very much disconcerted the defenders of the place, who were loath to fire upon their kinsmen, and yet realised the danger of permitting any of the enemy to approach too near. Rauparaha himself, accompanied by quite a crowd of Kaiapoi notabilities, came boldly up to the walls, where he had a very narrow escape, for Puaka, recognising him, pushed his musket through a loop-hole, and levelled it at him, and must have shot him dead but for Tara, Pita Te Hori's eldest brother, who was standing by Rauparaha, and pushed the muzzle of the gun aside. The Kaiapoi captives, partly at the instigation of their conquerors, and partly : moved by a jealous dread lest Onawe should escape their own fate, urged the inhabitants to surrender. In the disorder and confusion occasioned by this unexpected parleying, some of the Northern warriors got inside the gates, and commenced killing everyone about them. A panic ensued, and for some minutes Onawe waa the scene of the wildest confusion and bloodshed, the shrieks and cries of the dying mingling with the loud and furious shouts of the victors Big William relates how, terror -stricken by the fearful sights and sounds that surrounded him on all sides, he sought a hiding-place in one of the covered trenches, but , having been seen, was followed by a young Ngatiawa warrior, whose handsome face made an indelible impression, on his memory. Finding he was pursued, he picked up a spear aud prepared to defend himself, and as the young man ran towards him in a stooping position, he thrust the spear, in his : face','and ; succeeded in; piercing his cheek, add nearly putting out his eye. ' Unexpectedly cheeked in this manner, the Ngatiawa called frantically for a gun to be brought to shoot his assailant, but another warrior running up the trench behind him, seized William, and, having tied his hands and feet, carried him down to his canoe, and eventually carried him off to Kapiti, where he grew so much'in favor with his master, that he was treated more ?ike a son than a slave, and finally allowed to return to his home in Akaroa. >

" Amonget those who escaped were two refugees from Kaiapoi—-Aperahaina Tβ Aiki and Wi Tβ pa They happened to be outside the gate when the slaughter begun, and at one« sought shelter in "the scrub that covered the hill sides to the water's edge. They were observed by two men in charge of one of the northern war canoos, who pulled to the beach jugt under their hiding place, exclaiming, " Our elaves, two for us." And they might have been. caught, bat for the courage of Wi Tβ pa, who fortunately bad ft loaded'gun with him. Creeping down through the bushes, he stood concealed just above high water mark, and as the man in the bows was preparing to jump on shore Tβ, pa fired, and nearly blew the top of his head off; his. companion seeing; what had happened, pushed the canoe back again into deep water with all speed, and the two fugitives made their way to the, hills, ■. where'they w«e joined by the late Pita Tβ Hori and others, and having evaded the parties sent by Rauparaha in pursuit, succeeded in making good their escape to the south. The majority of the inhabitants of Onawe were either killed or carried away into captivity. In the evening of the day on which the pa was taken the prisoners were all examined, and the old men and women were picked out and put to death on-the flax flat, now Mr Oallaghan's paddock, in Barry's Bay. Then the bodies were cut up, and so much carried off to- the camps as the northern warriors required as a relish for their fern root; • • -

How to buy land from the Crown,.' says the Napier Telegraph v i& what most people desire to know, the regulations apparently having been framed with a view to prevent persons/from buying. The following scene occurred on Monday at the Napier Land Office:—»"A country settler went into the officesand wanted to see a map. It was produced, and the settler pointing ,to a certain spot on it asked whether it was Crown land. Nobody could tell him. Somebody suggested that the ancient application books should be searched. This was done, three being looked through, but without finding any application for the particular piece of land. The settler was about to leave the office when he was informed that the regulations required him to pay one shilling for' each book ■% searched to get the information he wanted. He put down a note, under preteit, and received seventeen shillings change. Wβ are not going to find fault with the officials, for presumably they merely did their duty. But' the ' monstrous thing is that an intending- - buyer had to pay for a search to discover' whether a piece of land was for sale! One would think that if a search were necessary it was the duty ot the office to-..k?^ jnjJrft it, .'■. .'^^y