MURDERING BEACH.

Franklin Times, Volume XVI, Issue 28, 8 March 1926, Page 5

MURDERING BEACH.

RELICS OF THE MAORIS. SADLY MISNAMED BEACH. Besides its gold-diggings. New Zealand has other sources of treasure which have been, and are. just as ' fruitful as some of those from which Hie valuable metal is won. One of these diggings is at Murdering Beach, from which in the past 10 years there has been obtained much valuable material in the shape of curios, and relics of Die period of the ancient Maori, says the Otago Daily Times. Few who' are not actually interested in Maori lore ever visit this beach, so difficult is il of access, and yet it is the happy hunting-ground of archaeologists, and not very many years back it was also the Mecca of many seekers of wealth who made a hotter living ivy digging up and selling ? tbe objects of Mnor; art of winch r - heaeh held a. good 'imply, than i.y working "Lit.- rich-.", hut more precarious, goidliolds. 'So mil

of curious was Murdering Beacii in these days, that the late Augustus Hamilton estimated that no less than three and a-half hundred weights of worked greenstone had been taken out of if.

Murdering Reach is sadly misnamed, for a more delightful spot could not lie imagined, but unfortunately, a long tramp is necessary before it is reached, lying as it does half-way along the shores of the huge bay bounded by Harrington and Purakanui Points. How the beach got its name is a ipieslion that has caused much discussion, but. the weight of evidence points lo the fact that if was the massacre of pari of (lie crew of a sealer about I lie beginning of the nineteenth century that gave the stmt its gruesome title.

A party of eight men belonging to Hie archaelogical branch of the .Qtago Institute,' which has just a search of Murdering Beach, reports; Rial, although it began digging with scant hopes of finds of any value, the expedition was highly successful. Several line greenstone adzes were among the spoil, a number of exquisitelyworked points of composite fishhooks cut from tli,c 'canine teeth of the sealeopard, and, in addition, a complete outfit of a manufacturer of kokawai, a red hematite paint. There "can be no doubt that they will form a valuable addition to the collection of Maori curios in Hie Hockcn wing of the Museum. * A remarkable point about the kokawai outfit is that even after having been buried for at least a century, the shark oil in the hematite is still well preserved. Fire Follows Massacre. Perhaps the most interesting exhibit in the collection is the butt of a large black pine post burnt off at the ground line, but still sft. Gin. in length and j-'iins. in diameter. The butt is beautifully abzed and tapered to a blunt point. about six inches from which is a largo'knob slightly undercut, which has evidently been left for the attachment of ropes in dragging the tree trunk from the bush. In the groove around this knob was found a piece of Maori flax rope which had been used in the process of transport. This rope was in a remarkable state of preservation due no doubt to the fact of the rope having been buried well below water level. H appears probable that this post, which must have stood some lOl'l. in height, had been one of Hie main supporting pillars of a chiefs bouse. Sorm- distance from Hie pbsl were also found the charred butts .of a hue of stakes, which possiblv"marked a yard. These limls would appear to throw some Lisrtil on the exact location of Ihe massacre mentioned by Captain Kelly. master of the sailing ship Sophia, part of the crew of which was slain by the Maoris in December, 1817. In Ids account of the massacre, which appeared in the Hobnrt Town Courier of March '>B 18J8 Kellv reported having gone. into a chiefs house mO. then into a vard Vrnm Ibis description of the iocalitv. however, il would seem to be Ihe kaik where the slaughter look place hut there is no evidence lo prove tins On Ihe other hand, it appears to be extremely probable that Murdering Beach did not receive its name tor nothing, as the charred butts of the postsare a mule testimony to the burning down of ih.! vidage, which, 'Captain Kelly states, was the means ol retaliation adopted by Hie remainder of the crew of the Sophia.