A Hundred Years Ago

Evening Star, Issue 20510, 14 June 1930, Page 4

A Hundred Years Ago

The Siege of Kaiapoi

The capture and murder of Tama-i----hara-nui, despite all the ghastly circumstances that accompan ed it. and the crowd of victims destroyed with him to appease the injured manes of Te Pehi, was yet only an incident in the designs of Te Rauparaha against the South Island Maoris. His heart was still set on the conquest of Kaiapoi, their chief pa, with its stores of greenstone —greenstone, the next thing to muskets in every Maori s list of coveted possessions. ' The Kaia- i pohians must have consulted their atuas j to little purpose if they wero_ not convinced that they would see him again. But apparently they were a lighthearted people, not given to worrying over much about the morrow. Jill his first coming, according to the records of the Kai Tahu, with the exception of the “ Eat Relation tend which had made dissensions among them, that tribe had been at peace for a hundred years. The Natives of the peninsula, who had suffered from his revenue, did not dare to hope that they had seen the last of him. As soon as the Elizabeth left their harbour they commenced to build the fortifications on Onawe meant to protect them if ho should come again in force, borne accounts would suggest, indeed, that the works had been begun at a sull earlier time, when the slaughters at Kaikoura and Omihi, preceding the first visit to Kaiapoi, first spread fears throughout the kaikas Tho Kaiapohians had some cause to trust in the strength of their citadel. It was a Far cry from Kapiti to “ the inaccessible cliff of God, ’ and, now that Te Rauparaha had seen its fortifications. he might well shrink from tho attempt to bring an army so far that would bo large enough to have anv chance of subduing it. Life wont on"there tranquilly after his first visit. An increasing intercourse with white traders made life more interesting than it had been. And then, about a year after the , Akaroa treachery, anxious messengers arrived from Rig north ono day to say that tho fleet of To Rauparaha, a greater fleet than had been seen before in those waters, bearing 600 warriors, ■ was coming down the const. And as fleets tnko a more direct course, by water, than messengers can do'travelling by land his army would soon be at the pa. COHSULTIHG THE ATUA The siege of Troy is not a bettor story, by virtue of its natural incidents aiid tho dramatic character ot its climax, than that of the siege of Kaiapoi, which was now to begin. True, tho siege of Troy lasted for ten years, and that of Kaiapoi for ’ only six months, but the ten years was mostly a weariness, and the six months provided excitement all tho time. Tho Kaiapohians were as religious as the Troians. The first thing, to bo done, when tho disturbing news of Te Rauparnha’s approach was received, was to. learn, what, the oracle .had to say of it.' Canon Stack has described for ns the ceremony. The instrument of divination was a staff, about 18in in length, its upper end, in the form of an elaborately carved face and 'body, representing the atna It was kept in a carved wooden box, under a covering of dry grass, in a clump of flax bushes which was a place of most special sanctity. To this place representatives of all the outlying villages were convoked, and a chosen priest, one Patiiki on this occasion, and all the other tohungas marched to it in solemn procession. . Having removed the image from the box, Patuki squatted on his heels on the ground, the other tohungas m a half-circle squatting behind him and the fathers and the fighting men of the tribe beh;md them. A leaf ot tussock grass was first drawn from any tuft growing near by; if it broke that was a bad omen, and no divination was attempted that day. This tiipe it did not break. To a murmur of incantations three sacred knots were made next in tho leaf, each time without a break. ’We can imagine with what tense anxiety tho priests and lay onlookers would hang on these successive operations. All being well so far, tho officiating tohunga proceeds to dandle the image in his hand, invoking the atua to enter it and reveal Ins presence, The rest of tho process we can tel! »n the words of Canon Stack, who had it no doubt from participants:— l “ When the proper moment arrived tho tohunga said to the atua; ‘ Kai te haere mai tera pia an kite patu i tenei pia au ’ —‘ That people of yours w coming to kill this people of yours Three times he repeated these words in a loud voice, swaying about and gradu ally working himself into a state of fronzy After the third repetition of the words tho whole assembly present took them up, and in loud and frantic tones implored the atua to reveal his presence. The tohungas, swaying their bodies about, contracted their stomachs with a sudden movement to quieten tho expulsion of the air from their lungs ami add to the shrillness and violence j of their cries. I “At length tho image gave evidence j that the atua had entered it, being soon ‘ to rear itself up and sway from side to*

[Written by W.F.A. and H.D.S., for the ‘Evening Star.’] Rights Reserved. 1

aide. The presence of attendant spirite of inferior order was at tho same time manifested by the suppressed shrieks uttered by the surrounding tohungas, into whoso bodies the spirits had entered, tho sounds omitted by them resembling the cries uttered by a startled girl. The excitement now became intense, and the whole crowd ot worshippers cried aloud to the god ‘that “pia” of yours is coming to kill this “pia” of yours,’ and besought him to indicate in some way what tho result would be. The imago reared up and then fell forward and struck the ground again and again, once, twice, thrice (after tho manner of Punch in the popular show of that name). Again the people raised thoir voices and cried aloud: ‘This "pia" of yours is going to kill that “ pial ” of yours.’ The image reared itself up against Patuki’s shoulder, and while they continued to repeat the question the image fell forward and rapped the ground. At that moment one of the tohungas squatting behind Patuki struck him a smart blow on tho bant of the head with the palm ot his hand, that being the recognised method ot closing tho ceremony ot consulting the atua.

“ Instantly the imago became perfectly still, for the atua went out of it, followed by his attendant spirits, who up to that moment had possessed the bodies of the tohungas conducting the inquiry. The reason why the consultation was so abruptly terminated was to secure a favourable omen. The image striking the earth was an intimation that there would be one defeat, that that defeat, those who were consulting the omen interpreted it to mean, would befall the northern forces. After the close of the ceremony the image was placed in its box, amongst the (lax bushes, and most of the returned to the pa. A few hours afterwards Te Hauparaha’s men were scouring the country and putting all stragglers to death.” Maori oracles, it will be seen, were just as much given to being ambiguous as those of the ancients. There were as many incantations and invocations of the omens on To Rauparahn’s side. Maori warfare was meticulously religious. THE ATTACKING FORCE The invaders had landed at the mouth of the Waipara, hauled theii canoes ashore there, and marched overland to the pa. Ngati Toa. Ngati Rauknwa, and Ati Awa furnished contingents to their force. It is known irom North Island sources that nearly a score of chiefs who took part in the campaign were absent on it in December, 1831. Amongst them two names are notable, in the light of later history and of association. The first is that of Ngatatn, father of that Pomare who, elaborating a hint taken from Te Raupara ha’s use of the Elizabeth, seized the brig Rodney, four years after this, for his descent upon the Chatham Islanders.' A descendant of Pomare is an ex-Minister of the Crown. The second is that of Te Puoho, of Ngati Tama, who, a year later still, was to lead the last and longest raid of a North Island war party into the South Island.. The allies were still absent from their northern . homes when H.M.S. Zebra visited Kapiti and the Taranaki coast in March, 1832. The Pelorus Sound_ Natives, whom Te Rauparaha had subjugated two years before, were forced to take part in this campaign. They went by the head of the Sound into the upper valley of the Wairau, and so by Tophouso through the mountainous country of southern Nelson into whafis now North-western Canterbury Following the ancient track they came down on tho landward side of Kaiapohia, which Ngati Toa had already invested from the sea. The same track was used on their return.

There was no disguise about this threat to Kai Tabu’s stronghold. The Northerners could chant their war songs, fiery accompaniments of their war dances, quite content that they should bo understood. They had a first-class one for this occasion, made by a poet of the Ngati Ton. Even in a translation it goes well. “Omere,” it may be explained, was the point on Cook Strait from which observations were taken, and ’Rnha is an abbreviation for To Rauparaha:— What is the wind that hither blows f Tis the west, the wind from the sea. The wind that beats On the onhit nt Omere! Hi! Ha! Woulds’t thou behold, 0 ’Raha, Tho lurid flame at Kaiapohia? Then let the bows of the canoes Bo onward forced by strength of paddle. Thus shall overturned be The canoe of Maui. Hal Sow on the top-sides. Ha! Fleet be their course. Hal And then my little flock of terns, My flight, of blnckcapped gulls. Shall stand at the river’s month, At Wsinam stream shall stand. Hi! Ha! And angry war -he seen beyond. (To he continued.)