RECOLLECTIONS OF A WAIKATO MISSIONARY.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIII, Issue 3039, 23 April 1867, Page 3

RECOLLECTIONS OF A WAIKATO MISSIONARY.

NO. 2, 1839. In June we removed from Moeatoa, on the Manukau, to Maraetai, Waikato Heads. I arrived on 1 the 13th of June, and the Rev. B. Maunsell on the 20th, and thus the Church Mission Station at Waikato Heads was formed. The great hindrance at this time to the reception of the gospel was thetapu of the great chiefs. Sometimes the chief was made sacred and could not be approached ; or perhaps a road was made tapu and must be avoided ; at other times the river, and no canoe dare leave the banks. Then wahi tapu (sacred places) were very numerous, and if a horse, cow, or any other animal strayed upon them, a payment was demanded. Other hindrances were then frequent— quarrels respecting land, eel fisheries, the betrothement of their women, infringement of the tapu, Ac. Yet in spite of all these and other obstacles, Christianity progresaed. Those parts of the New Testament which had been translated were eagerly sought for • reading and Bible classes were attended ; and. there were candidates for baptism in almost every village. One of the most pleasing features at this time was the anxiety which many of the natives (chiefs and slaves) manifested to learn to read. Our early morning school was well attended, and it was encouraging to see (as in some cases) boys of thirteen or fourteen teaching their fathers, at their own homes, to read the Scrip-, 'tures Our congregations at Waikato Heads averaged from three to four hundred every Sunday. On July 26, 1839, I again started for another, missionary visit to Otawhao, 130 miles from our station at Waikato Heads. At every village on the' Waikato or Waipa rivers the cry was for books, i found the greatest tohunga (i.e., native priest) living, at Kangiriri being taught to read by his son, a lad of twelve years of age. After two years of constant perseverance he learned to read the New Testament 'rhis^poptilar old priest, named Te Paid (the puteakorero, or bag of talk, from his eloquence}, was afterwards baptized. I shall have more to say about him in a future letter. At thw fame there were a few in every village who assembled daily for prayer, morning and evening. It is true there was much ignorance. Many were feeling their way. to the Truth, and it was an unspeakable plfwurf «"*,, great privilege to point to "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." On my arrival at Otawhao, I found Ngatiruru, with their chiefs Puata and Mokoro, had, just returned from attacking Kotoruaj they had been victorious, and were carrying baskets of human fleshy to cook. Not less than sixty back loads were, brought into the pa at Otawhao. The next day, July 30th, 1839, was a great feast of human flesn. I quitted the pa in disgust, and I said to the Whare Kura-ie., those natives disposed to Christianity— 1 'Come, let us leave this pa and build a pa for Christ, j i This they assented to readily,and more than 200 left. A site was chosen on the Awamutu (where the barrack and large bridge now stand), and a pa was built ; and, at the request of the Whare Kura, I drew up , laws and regulations for them. Theft, adultery, ( war or a recurrence to heathen customs, was followed by a request to the offender to leave the pa: r he was not suffered to remain; and all who join©! the Whare Kura assented to keep the regulations of the new pa. Daily worship, school, and Sabbath , services were established. I spoke to all the heathen chiefs residing at Otawhao and Rangiaonia, and they assured me that the Whare Kura, the natives living in the new pa, should not be molested^ , as they were all related to them. ; I now proceeded to Barowere, a large pa a mile from Kangiaohia, now a militiapost. The native^

hire yntfi very rough, and were then, in the fall tenor of the wofrd, savages ; they hadb^partakera,-; *■" fetf"-drjrr"-THas*7"' in"""the' cannibal feast at Otawhaa. t foonfid amongst thesa seven natives diiposed to Christianity, and one who could 'read he being a moral character, I gave him a New Testament, and, as far aa finished, the Prayer-book.; I told him how to calculate for the Sabbath ; to do • no work on that day, read the New Testament, pointed out, and the prayers, &o. I then preached in;* small raupn house, and called it a chapel. After commending this little community to the oonnidemtidn of the chiefs, fo- the moat part heathen, I left them. Although sometimes threatened by the heathen, they persevered ; and, on my next visit, a few months afterwards, they had increased to fifteen, and in twelve months 'they numbered 29, two of whom were baptised; On/ny return to Otawhao, I found Mokoro trying to get another wartparty to go to Botorna ; this I opposed with all my might. I induced Broughton, a cousin of the late William Thompson, to help me ; and by the blessings of God on Christian principles, which were silently but effectually working, the old chief did not succeed. No war party could be got' together. I now returned to the Waipa villages, and proceeded down the Waikato, calling at each pa, and, J trust, prajsing God. for the progress of tho