CHAPTER VII (Concluded.) MA-EATING.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXV, Issue 3752, 28 July 1869, Page 6

CHAPTER VII (Concluded.) MA -EATING.

The Ngapuhi and Arawa, finding that they made no imprettsion at Otumoetai came to Makefcu ia their canoes, which they himlei up on the beach, and thsn marched to Tumu to fight with the people inTupaia's pa there, when they killed a great many. One afternoon Mr. Tapsell srw them returning, and dragging what he at first supposed to he posts of the pa where they had been Bghting, but which proved to be dead bodies. One of the slain, a chief of the Ngaterangi, was ft near relation of Tupaia, and a great favourite of Mr. Tapse l's, with whom he did a considerable trade. He was the first cooked and eaten, hit car* case being prepared as those of other animals are prepared for food. The head was cut off, the body opened and cleaned, and put into the oven to roast. It happened that he was a tall man aud thin, and after the o&nnibals had commenced their repast they jumped up and danced, singing an improvised song, derisive of the leanness of their victim, and enlarging on the absence of fat on his flesh (kahore te inu). The akin of a portion of his body, which wai elabo* borately tattooed, they made into covers for their cartouche-boxes. The other bodies, in number about tan, were then similarly treated, the intestines, aa they were taken out, being thrown carelessly on the beach, where a pig of Mr. Tap&ell'a commenced to make a meal of them. This was the first time that he hnd been compelled to witness th« details of a cannibal feast, and the sight turned him quite sick. Getting down his gun ha immediately shot the pig, which a chief, named Haupapa, wished to have, but Mr. Tapsell tnrew it into the river, and the tide carried it out to sea. For a long time after this he could not overcome his repugnance to eating pork, as scarcely a week occurred in which there was not a battle and one or two people killed, who were of course eaten like the rest. After that, he always kepb his pigs in a sty, bo that they should not get human flesh to eat.

DEATH OF MRS. TAP3ELL, About this time his wife died, who, during her last illness, entreated him to convey her remains to her own plaoe at the Bay of Islands, and there have them bnried, which he promised to do ; bo, after her death, oe placed the body in a box, which he oarefully caulked, and made as airtight «a possible, covering it at la9t with a fine soarlet oloth. At first there was a great disturbance among the Ngapnhi, to which tribe shalbelonged, because she had been permitted to die within the house, and had not been brought outside during her l&at momenta. For a while they were diiposed to plunder Mr. Tapsell's premises, beoauß* of this infraction of an ancient custom, but Wharepaaka intering represented that tha the tribe and its laws had nothing to do with her since she had married the white man ; with which argument they were at length pacified, came inside, and held a great lamentation. Before the coffin was closed, each relative took his ornament from his ears, — sharks 7 teeth and green-atones, — and laid them upon the corpse ; Boma deposited their green-stone meres ; and Mr. Tapsell, thinking that something was required of him, drew out of its sheath a valuable Turkish kreese which he wore, and placed it with the rest.

STABS A CHIEF. This kreeae had been serriceable on one occasion when Mr. Tapsell was landing a number of kega of powcUr, whioh were reitlng on the beach preparatory to being carried into the store. He gave orders for them to be carried up, but an old chief, named Pongo, declared that they should not be carried up, as he wanted them all placed in a row, so that he might count them. Mr. Tapsell, however, wat positive, whioh seemed to offend the old chief, who, standing behind him, shook his mere menacingly over bis head. Mr. Tapsell, turning suddenly round, perceived the gesture; whipped out hin kreese in an instant, and with a sweep of his arm inflicted a, Blight flesh-wound on the stomach of the obstructive rangatira, who started back, crying out that he was wounded, on which a dead silence ensued, and the kegs were speedily carried into the store, the old chief never uttering a word.

MRS. TAPSELI/S TOMB. The case containing the body of Mr. Tapsell's wife, together with the ornaments before spoken of, and this kreese, v?a3 kept in tbe fl»x-hou«e till the arrival of the cutter, when he himself accompanied it to the Bay of Islands, where it was buried at JEUngiu, Mr. Kioej performiog the service over the grave Before interment, however, all the relatives repossessed themselves of their ornaments deposited in the coffin, and Mr. Tapsell was about to remove hie kreese also, but was not permitted, and informed that it must be buried with the corpse. Before learing the Bay he caused a wooden monumental structure to be erected over, and neat railing round, the grave. The tomb was situated on the top of a very high hill, at the time crowded with inhabitants, but afterwards deserted, as Wharepoaka, being much attached to his sister, had notified his wish that she should have the place all to herself. Before leaving the Bay, three runaway sailors an Englishman and two Americans, came to Mr. Tapsell and begged him to take them away, aa they were truly miserable. He agreed to do so, and the natives there claiming them as slaves, ran round them for a musket each, and brought them in the cutter to the South, These same men some time subsequently conspired together to bind Tapsell and take him over to Motiti, where they proposed to " unship a limb," or, in other words, to dislocate or amputate an arm or a leg, so cripple and disable Him from carrying on his trade, and possess themselves of his property. The plot waa fortunately discovered in time, and frustrated.

JBALOU3T OF TRA.DKB3. The jealousy between the European*, and their anxiety to secure a monopoly of the trade, were so great, that means were resorted to by one to injure the other, and even to take hi» life, lets justifiable and scarcely leis atrocious than those practised by the savages themselves. Thus, in one instance, as we hare Been, a trader plotted to have Mr. Tapiell shot while asleep under the shelter of his roof and enjoying his hospitality ; in another, thr9e men whom he | rescued from slavery contemplated kidnapping and maiming him for life, long after one in his own employ '.offered another a sum of money if he would <# put|TapseH out of the way." Subsequently, a trader persuaded a number of chiefs to repudiate their debts to Mr. Tapsell, in order himself to secure' the | flax they had brought in payment ; and another, during an absence of the latter in Sydney, industriously circulated amongit the natives a report that Tapsell had been hung, and would not return, and appropriated to himself (out of Tapsell's effects) an order for a large Bum of money which he succeeded in converting. Such extraordinary and base conduct amongst a few traders living isolated amongst savages, and whose lives at times were not worth a moment's purchase, may well excite surprise ; but it inuat be remembered that the hazardous nature of the trade prevented many from embarking in it, and merchants from being at all times nice in the selection of their agents, with some of whom an abience of lavr, and the prospect of enriching themselvei at tht expense of their neighbours^proved a, temptation too atrong.to resisted,

TAUTARA* ATTACKS HATATA. During Mr. Tapßell's absents from MaketujTautara, »ohiefofWhakatane,whofladab!tteranimoaityagainBt Rangikitina, the head chief at Matata, persuaded about three hundred o! tho Ngapuhi to start with him from Maketu in the middle of the night, unknown to Wbarepoaka, in orderjto make an attack on Rangitikina's settlement at Matata. Alarm waa given of the approach of the enemy, and by the time Tautara had reached the place, Bangitikioa with hi? wife had escaped in a canoe to Whakatane. Mr. George White, who was purchasing flax for Mr, Tapiell, with his wife, a daughter of Rangitikina, were left behind and taken prisoners, the Ngapuhi plundering the house and store of all the good* they contained, and burning a, large quantity of flax which was ready for shipmeat. Two women were also taken prisoners, and the party returned to Ma* ketu. When Mr. Tapsell oame back in the cutter from the Bay of Islands and anchored in the riy«r »t Maketu, Mr. White oame off in a canoe, dressed in his shirt and trousers, the only clothing he was able to save when the Ngipuhi made their attack. He informed Mr. Tapsell of the disaster, and that his wife was now a stare to the Ngapuhi, on which Mr. Tapsell induced Wharepoaka to negotiate for her ran* som, which was effected by payment; of * double* barrelled gun, wbioh had cost £18.