NEW ZEALAND A HUNDRED YEARS AGO.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 242, 9 October 1920, Page 19

NEW ZEALAND A HUNDRED YEARS AGO.

MAORI LIFE AND CUSTOMS IN 1820. (From the Journa. of Major R.ohard A. Cru.ee. of the 84th Regiment Foot.) CHAPTEE VIII —taa «£=s£: &-."£= jl-bass*.— • Account of a Slave who was Killed and Ea*eh_ Convicts and the Yankee Whaling Skipper. * a °f T A f ri !, 3rd ' 192 °' When reta ™°g from the Hokianga to the Ml rL%' " c r CapG MaHa Van Diemen - The Urometer SI PJy l n eV f m v g ' aDd d,irin » the ni S ht blew a hard SSh Tl ™ nstan * rain and a heavy sea, and we again parted company with the Prmce Regent schooner. ™,* On Tlf 4 f^i and 5t J th l gale continued - The ship was rolling very B&yoi Mand" Dg g moderated ' and we a S ain reach ed the <v *? I this / x " cllrsio " had almost as much bad weather as durinthe whole of the passage from England to New Zealand. The Prince Kegent schooner had arrived three hours before us, having suffered much m the late gales. The American ship, General Gates, lay in-Tareha's river; she was m the sealing trade, and had put in during our absence for refreshments. We had not been long at anchor before Korokoro came to congratulate us on our return; and he seemed highly pleased at the want of success that attended our excursion. He now in conjunction with Te Tuhi, made an offer for the first time to muster all his tribe and cut down and load the ship with any timber that grew in his district; but in proffering this service his only object could be to enhance his welcome, as he was perfectly aware of its impracticability. On April 6th, the carpenter having pointed out some trees, at no great distance from Manawaora Bay to Korokoro, he undertook to bring them alongside, gathering all his people for that purpose; but from the mggedness of the ground, and its swampy nature, little hopes of success could be entertained; these swamps had become almost impassable from the heavy rains. On April 7th we had a visit from Benny. Korokoro's uncle, who, thongh very distant seemed now most anxious to ingratiate himself with us. UP THE KAWAKAWA FOR KAHIKATEA. On the Bth the carpenter and some of the ship's company went up the River Kawakawa to examine the kahikatea (white pine) that grows on its banks, and to ascertain if it were possible to purchase a cargo of it, in the event of the ship being disappointed in getting kauri elsewhere. The current Avas so rapid from the latp rains, that the boat was with great difficulty rowed against it up to the swamp where the timber grew, and the inundation here prevented a near approach to the spars. The KawakaVa is wide and dcop for six mile?, its banks are generally steep and sometime? perpendicular; and they are richly clothed with trees and shrubs, which grow very thick upon them, and hang over the water in great luxuriance. We saw a number of birds, some of which sang very sweetly; and though the autumn was far advanced, the verdure of the country was as unimpaired as in the middle of summer. Where the river begins to get narrow its course is through low and swampy ground; it is often shallow and very much choked with roots and stumps of trees. At one place we observed a head stuck upon a pole, the flesh as yet scarcely decayed; the natives told us it was the head of a slave who had been killed for committing a theft, and that it was exhibited as a warning to others. In the evening Korokoro came on board,' arid announced the failure of his attempt to get a spar down to Manawaora Bay; he said he had cut the tree, dragged it out of the wood, and rolled

\ 9 ■ it down a bill, when it unfortunately stuck in a swamp, and defied all his exertions to get it out. The purser, who had been absent all day endeavouring to purchase provisions, returned in the evening with some potatoes and five pigs, one of which, the moment it was hoisted in, ran to the opposite gangway and jumped overboard, and though a boat went immediately in pursuit, it could not be' found. An hour and a-half afterwards the animal came alongside, and was got on board not much the better for its excursion. On the 9th April we had a visit from Te Koki, the proprietor of the timber on the banks of the Kawakawa: he undertook to supply the ship with as many spars as she wanted, at the rate of one spar, for each axe, and to float them down the river to her; remarking, it though the ewamp was impracticable for Europeans to work in, thtt'-Maoris did not care about it. He was a very strong-built man, quiet and mild in his manners; he was accompanied by a person to whom the whalers had given the name of King George; but this title accorded little with his very moderate pretensions as a chief of the Bay of Islands. As he "and the celebrated George of Whangaroa will be frequently mentioned hereafter, it may be proper to caution the reader not to mistake the one for the other. HORRIBLE ACT OP CANNIBALISM. On April 10th the carpenter, boatswain, and some sailors, were sent on shore with purchase-blocks, and tackle, to meet Korokoro and his people, and assist them in getting the spar out of the mud. Korokoro did not make his appearance till the-afternoon, and instead of 300 men that he promised to bring, he was only attended by seven. After leading the Europeans from one place to another, under pretence of not knowing where the spar was, they at length ascertained that it had never been cut, and that the whole story was a fabrication. In visiting the missionary settlement at Te Puna, we learned that a very shocking murder had been committed there during our absence at Hokianga. A female slave belonging to one of the chiefs whom he hJd ill-treated, was said m the bitterness of her heart to have cursed him, a crime in that race never forgiven; and, as she was standing on the beach oppos.te to the settlers houses, he walked up to her, and with one blow of his mere laid her dead at his feet. There is a pool of fresh water close to the hmise of Mr. King, a missionary, to which the body was immediately carried. The entrails were taken out, it was divided into quarters, and washed perfectly clean The chief then threw-it into a canoe, and, with some of his tribe, crossed over to a neighbouring island to devour it. This horrible act wa, perpetrated in the presence of some of the missionaries. At first we understood that the unhappy victim was tne interesting young slave who has already been brought to the reader's notice but we were afterwards undeceived The person-, sacrificed was one of the prisoners we had «£n on The day alluded to; but the girl in whom we had taken so much interest was still living, and had been made one of the wives of the very man who had treated her with such singular barbarity. In the evening the captain of the General Gates came on board the Dromedary, and expressed his intention of going soon to sea, having got an ample "supply of refreshments in return for powder and muskete. RUNAWAY CONVICTS. On the 12th, information having been received that the captain of the American ship had seduced several convicts from Sydney and that

the Dromedary during the night. When Captain Riggs was first examined as to what kind of people his crew was composed of, he most solemnly declared that he had but two convicts, who had secreted themselves in the ship whqn she sailed from Sydney; and that it was his intention to give them up to Mr. Butler/a missionary, and a magistrate in the Bay of Islands. Upon further inquiry among the prisoners brought from the General Gates, it appeared so clear, that Captain Riggs had most deliberately seduced them to leave Sydney, in defiance of the port regulations, by holding out to them promises which he had never fulfilled; that they had been most cruelly treated, some of them having been flogged with barbarous severity; and that so far from having any intention to give them up, Captain Riggs had used every effort to conceal them; it was determined to seize the ship and send her into Sydney, there to pay the forfeit of her commander's misconduct. In the afternoon the Prince Regent got under weigh, to perform this service, having on board the second master of the Dromedary, some sailors, and a sergeant's guard of the 84th Regiment, and possession was taken of the vessel. On . the following morning the General Gates was got under weigh, and anchored alongside the Dromedary; most of her crew were taken out. and replaced by British sailors: the guard remained on hoard to prevent the intrusion of the natives, and a master's mate was put in charge of her. In the afternoon Mr. Hall, one of the missionaries, came on board, accompanied by the celebrated George of Whnnjraroa, who had come into the Bay of Islands the day before, attended by seventy of his <ril>o. Flo bad great difficulty to induce this man to visit the ship; nor would he do so until Mr. Hall had pledged himself to bo answcrnhle for hi* life. Mr. Hall had put it to George, that, by loading the Dromedary, he might make some atonement for his former enormities, and ultimately regain the forgiveness of the English: but revenge is such a leading feature in the character of the Xew let the period for its gratification be ever so distant, that he enn hardly be persuaded to believe any other nation capable of forgetting an injury; and though many years have elapsed since the destruction of the Boyd, the people of YVhanparoa will for a long time view the approach of a ship to their harbour with terror and consternation. George, in stature, is rather under the middle size, but strong and well made; and it appeared to many that the infamy of his character was marked in his countenance. He said that he had

plenty of kauri, and that load the ship with it for axes: he seemed to be under much apprehension of personal danger, and took his departure early next morning. On April 15th, Mr. Butler came on board to take the depositions of the convicts, as to the conduct pursued by Captain Riggs in inveigling them from Sydney, and as to their subsequent treatment by him. We were visited in t"he afternoon by Te Koki and Te Morcnga. Two days later the General Gates sailed for Sydney. FALL BACK ON WHITE PIXR The impossibility of procuring a cargo of kauri in the Bay of Islands was now obvious, and the carpenter had latterly formed a more favourable opinion of the kahikatea. A bargain was concluded with Te Koki and King George, that they should receive an axe for every spar they brought alongside, the carpenter was dispatched to mark the trees, and set the natives to work to fell them. On his reporting that he had completed these arrangements, it was determined to remove the ship as near as poesible to the mouth of the Kawakawa, and begin taking in her cargo. On the 19th two boats with several men were sent on shore to assist s Korokoro in getting down some kauri spars, that he paid he had cut. They returned in the afternoon with five, four of which were scarcely large enough to make masts for boats* and the fifth was destined for a top-gallant-yard for the Dromedary. On April 20th we visited the swamp where the natives were at work, and found that Te Koki and King George had cut down fourteen spars, but on the opposite side of the Kawakawa to that on which the carpenter had marked the trees he wanted. The reason Te Koki gave for this deviation from his instructions was, that he thought the spars he had cut were nearer the water; but as far as could be learned from others, a different tribe had disputed his right to the produce of the right hank of the river. The wood was very extensive; and in a long shooting excursion we made through it, during which many pigeons were killed, there was no prospect of its termination. In the evening, as we returned, though the weather was unusually fine, and the sky cloudless, a native who sat in the boat remarked that there would be heavy rain the next day: when we got on board the barometer had fallen very much, and the i following morning confirmed the truth of the Maori's prediction. During the course of the day the ship had moved nearer Kawakawa, and was moored at the confluence,of that river with the Waikarc. There had been several canoes alongside, and the supply of vegetables was now "more abundant than usual. < • (To be Continued.) *