MAYOR ISLAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 89, 16 April 1927, Page 33

MAYOR ISLAND.

A SOLITARY OUTPOST.

BATTLES LONG AGO

(By FERGUS DUNLOP.)

Probably there arc few spots in New Zealand remaining to this day so solitary as Mayor Island, in the Bay of Plentj'. Save for occasional launching and fishing parties from Tauranga, and the rare visits of native fishermen, the place is deserted. But the embattled crests of the bush-clad hills, the signs of old Maori cultivations, the traces of abandoned whaling and nulling operations and the frequent occurrence through the bush of vines, peach trees, wild cherries, and English weeds and flowers provide evidence that the island in earlier days has been the scene of considerable activities. In the twenties and thirties of the last century, when the Ngapuhi tribe of the Bay of Islands were wont to make incursions upon the natives of the Bay of Plenty, the island was of greater strategic importance, and was more than once the base of operations from which raiding fleets of Ngapuhi war-canoes harried the coast.' The Mayor stands 23 miles to the north-east of the Tauranga harbour mouth, and 16 miles from the nearest point of the mainland. It was discovered and named by Captain Cook upon his first voyage, is three imiles long by two broad, contains about 3000 acres, and at the highest point, Opuahau, is 1274 feet above sea level. From a yachtsman's point of view, the island presents many formidable dangers. There is only one safe anchorage or landing place, in a pretty bay called Opo. The bay opens out directly to the south east* from which quarter, as is well known, the heaviest storms sweep the East Coast, and the hapless yachtsman caught there by a '"buster" would have no option btit to stand out while there was yet time. For the full effect of a storm is terrific The bay is funnel-shaped, and, as the rollers come swinging in from the open ocean, tossing clouds of foam and spray high up the cliffs, the basalt walls compress them to a narrow neck, some five or six chains wide, and they are hurled in thundering masses on a shingle beach. The bay in a storm is a seething massof surge such as only the pen of Victor Hugo might describe. Indeed, the whole aspect of the Mayor, with its black cliffs frowning into fathomless depths of open sea, is reminiscent of "The Toilers of the Sea," and one might easily imagine the gaunt figure of Gilliatt on any of the islet rocks that surround it. The ocean for some miles is staked with reefs, the summits of submerged hills rising from a depth of one hundred fathoms, most of which break in foam and surge at low water, but at high tide aro invisible. Only a bold or exceedingly unwise man would venture to cruise about those waters without the guidance either of a local pilot or a very detailed chart. Panui, or the Great Pali, at the point of the bay, must in its day have been a well-night impregnable fortress, and indeed, it is said even in times when the beseigers were armed with muskets to have withstood attack upon more than ono occasion. It is triangular in shape, two of tho sides falling to the sea in sheer precipices of basalt, a hundred feet in height and quite unscaleublc. The third .side is defended mainly by a parapet some seven or eight feet high, which, though crumbling to decay, still presents quite a formidable obstacle to a climber. In 1832, however, one Te Haramiti did succeed in capturing Panui though to his little profit. The raid, tho last before pakeha rule quelled ouch disturbances, was typical of the times and is worth recounting. It arose out of a very trivial thing. Two Maori girls were playing together in the surf at Kororareka, and quarrelled over some slight matter. Both girls, as it happened, were chieftainesscs of rank, and tho quarrel led to an exchange of insults between their respective relations that could only be wiped out in blood. A general scrimmage ensued in which many persons were Blain. However, a reconciliation was effected, and land, now the actual site of tho town of Russell, was given in settlement. But honour was not quite satisfied, and an expedition under Te Haramiti, an aged chief, was fitted out to punish tho natives of Tauranga for the part somo of their people had played in the affair. The expedition, consisting of one hundred and forty fighting men, paddled to Mayor Island, and there in Opo Bay took by surprise and captured the pa. The defenders, about a hundred in number, were slain, save two or three who escaped to the mainland aud brought the tidings to Tu Paea, tho Tauranga chief. The latter at once assembled an overwhelming force, and with a large fleet of canoes set off in the night to the Mayor, only to find that Ngapuhi had already left and gone to Motiti Island, some fifteen miles to the southward. Thither they paddled iu hot pursuit. Toward mid-day Ngapuhi from the beach at Motiti saw in the distance a fleet which they took to be the expected support from their own tribes, aud great were the rejoicings. But it was not long before keen eyes discerned the truth, and Ngapuhi, seeing themselves hopelessly outnumbered, resolved to die like nrcn. In: tead of fortifying themselves, for indeed there was not time, they would meet their pursuers on the beach and fight them hand to hand. As the Tauranga cr.nocs took ground through the surf, the Ngarpuhi warriors rushed them, and a ferocious struggle on the sand and in the waves ended in the deaths of the whole raiding force. Old Te Haramiti, blind with age, sat in the stern of a canoe, apprised by hearing only of the progress of the struggle. His person was for superstitious reasons respected by the enemy. But when all was over he was pummelled to death with fists, for no native dared to shed his blood. One Ngapuhi man was spared by his captors, and one, a youth, is said to have escaped by swimming to the mainland. If so, he must have been an uncommonly good swimmer. The is an islet near he shore at Mayor Island, called Motuoneone, on which Tuatara lizards were once plentiful. Indeed there may well be some there yet, for the islet is some eighty feet in height, and precipitous and unscaleable, a column of basalt with a flat top. Uuless by aieans of a rope and grappling iron, or possibly a very long ladder, it would be impossible to explore it, and it has probably remained undisturbed for many years. The whole coast of the Mayor is rocky and sheer. At Ruakikina Point the surge has worn out of the solid rock long caves, and channels spanned by arches, into which it is possible at low tide to take a boat. The sound of the water gurgling and cluttering in the darkness in the distant passages is eerie in the extreme, and will recall to the student of Virgil the caves of Aeolus. "Magno cum murmure misceri montes." But the Mayor is guarded by no giants, but by a smaller and possibly more übiestiouable beast, the katipp snider, <

Tuhua, the .mtive name for the island, means obsidian, or volcanic glass, and of this there arc immense quantities. A huge crater vouches the volcanic origin of the place. The crated, n double one, is 6ome five miles in circumference, and fringed with the pohutukawa forest with which the whole island is covered. There are no signs of recent volcanic activity, though some small hof springs below high watermark and accessible only at low* tide, are deemed by the natives highly medicinal.