A PAKEHA’S RAMBLES

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVI, Issue 10473, 31 December 1927, Page 11 (Supplement)

A PAKEHA’S RAMBLES

THROUGH POVERTY BAY IN 1873.

■PLIGHT OF SETTLEMENT AFTER REBELLION.

SCATHED BY FIRE AND SWORD.

TWO NATURAL CURIOSITIES.

(Written in 1873 by Lieut. Col. St. Joint, N.Z. Milita, by arrangement with an anonymous traveller.)

“By a piece of good fortune, after leaving Opotiki we enjoyed fair weather on iiotii sides of the East Coast —rattier an unusual occurrence —mid after sailing along for a couple of - clays with a high, broken coast to the right we caught sight of the first land seen by Captain Cook in these parts —Young Nick's Head— a high, white clili v> in. Ii hums the southern promontory of Poverty Buy. If ever there was a misnomer given by a discoverer to any spot it was the above name. But, in justice to Cook, it must be said that the first impressions 01 Turaiiganui (.Gisborne) even now aie not lavorahle, for the township is built on a sandy site and the roim leading inland is ankle deep in Sana and every breeze carries with it clonus of blinding, gritty dust. The town is, however, nothing; it is in the country at the hack that all interest lies and once a tourist gets three miles out he soon sees the ddferenee. “Poverty Bay, indeed! Not even when scathed by fire and sword, as I first .said it; its settlers slain; its houses burned and blackened, stacks of chimneys only remaining to indicate the sites of once happy homes; its orchards and gardens ravaged; its cattle slaughtered and indices of murder and rapine meeting on the right and the left—not even then did it deserve the name. I had never before 1 seen such ryegrass as that ilmpygh which I rode up to the horse’s girth over the Batutahi Plain. In the ruined gardens Inigo vines still trailed over the few buildings which had is. aped the general destruction or lay thickly matted on the ground. Fruit of every description was. ill abundance in the Bishop’s orchard near the old Episcopal residence, school and farm combined in one at Waoi’enga-a-hilvii then all deserted Jind the shells of the houses riddled with bullets poured into it during the fighting in 1865. Different fruits were weighing down the branches ancl sis for apples they were literally being eurte,[ awny in loads.

MARCH OF PROGRESS.

“That was in 1860 and we had not then much'opportunity for sight-see-ing. Of the Jew families which remained in the district none resided beyond the township for To Kooti and liis crew were still .in the field. He proved it to us, too, by issuing out of the gorges just in time to assure ns lie was still in the field of mischief notwithstanding the mauling he had received at Mnknretu from Ropata’s Ngntiporou and we had to follow him up to Ngatapa and have it out with him there. “Since then it may he said that aio place in the North Island has advanced at such a rate of progress xis Poverty Bay. In 1869 its population was about 200 and its run holders had not extfcndcd far from Waerenga-Ti-iiika. Now its population numbers ■about 1300 souls and the back country is being taken up even along the line of road which is in course of formation between Poverty Bay and Opotiki Even the mountain on which stood Ngatapa pa, taken bv Col. iWh it more’s Colonials after a three days’ siege in 1809, is now included in the land which will shortly be oc-cupird-by sheep. Before continuing our journey, it was the proper thing to visit the two natural curiosities which may b? called the Lions of Turnnganui. A few hundred yards from the hotel a tidal creek falls into the river which forms •tho harbor and at low water the bottom of the former is found to be solt sand-stone on which sundry queer markings have for some time been observed. I believe, however, it was the Yen. Archdeacon 'Williams who first paid attention to these and set to work to make them out. As a reward for his trouble lie was enabled to obtain numerous perfectly preserved moa foot prints. In some cases at was necessary to shave off a superincumbent 'slab whilst, occasionally, the marks lay quite distinct on the surface. Those which were discovered have been taken away and more are visible at jireseiit. But then' is every probability that a search under sundry banks of the ■stream would disclose more. At all events I found that a little rubbing with the finger on the friable stone produced a fair imitation of the genuine article.

PETRIFYING SPRING.

“The other ‘lion’ is a petrifying spring on the beach on the farther side of the main river. We crossed in a boat and landed on a reef composed of a peculiar and disagreeable 'kind of ,- oclc. Its Maori name is ‘papa’ ; its .scientific appellation 1 know not. It is bluish in color when ■dried and gets reddish under water. It lies in ridges and furrows, the former inclined at an angle, and is when wet far more slippery than any wellprepared ball-room floor. It was my luck once to ride northward from Poverty Buy to tlic Waiapu about 100 miles and back and when 1 was not leading rav horse up or down a steep, ■high and almost trackless hill or occasionally getting a canter on a bit oi ■ ‘sand- f was going over acres of this horrible stuff. At every point in every little bay jutted out an uncompromising i cot. Occasionally it was "j ust as much as we could do to get round a little bluff between the waves and that was about as nervous work ns could be, for a fall on the jagged <.d<re of a rock would have been no joke. Luckily mine was a boro whenua (a country-bred horse) and ■ the manner in which lie picked his wav was beautiful. .. . ‘•About a mile along the beach after crossing the river, we came to a cliff in which there was nothing much to distinguish it from any other cliff hut a couple of blows with the axe soon showed a difference. There had evidently been a groove herevpnee, fillcri w»!h (lax and down which had run a stream rising from some spring in the lime-stone rocks. How long the stream took about it it is impossible to say but the hollow is filled up. There is only a trickle of water -iu(l what was flax is now stone. "Me hacked away and got out specimens of every kind from delicate leaves and shoots to coarse masses, lumps lookin' l ' iust. like a breccia ol bird hones.'' nieces of stalk and roots, leaves curled ito sii"fitly or else completely rolled round and the greater portion of the whole was thoroughly v turned into stone. “There are plenty of directions in which to ride from Turn n era (Gisborne). Eastward along the beach and 1)v the mouth of the Big Kiver OVaip'oal hes to tlm coa«=t risrbt to "Waii-on. The road formerly, was all climbs and slips and productive of groans, weariness and bad language. Now, however, it is improved. In a more southerly direction lies an .inland track to Wniroa by Te Benign—the route we are bound to take. Beyond Waerenga-a-hika to the westward runs a long vnllev. breaking up irto others fine? into which runs the road from Opotiki. “There could hardly be a more

pleasing ride than to start early as we did one fine morning, cantering out of Patutahi and Pukeameonga, a small conical hill in the plains, and having a look round from there. A view is obtained of tho whole aspect of tho Bay from Nick’s Head to Turanganui, the former being a prolongation of the low chain which sweeps x'ound tho southerly edge of the basin, and,through which are gaps and passes which give access to the interior. Turning our backs on Turanganui we had to our left the dark Pipiwaka bush and beyond it the sea, the river and a series of rolling hills to the right. The view extended up the Waernga-a-hika Valley and just in front gaped in the lulls a well-known opening for the mouth of which we at once 'had a hard race with some of the To Kooti people. From Pukeameonga we had a good sight of a party of Hau Hans creeping along the foot of the Hills after plunder. It fell to my lot to ride down and hasten up our men. It was not pleasant galloping as’ tho thick rye-grass had numbers of holes in which my horse kept blundering and it was a case of swags off and doubling. But the Hau Hans had a start and by throwing away their pi leans (loads) they managed to get first into the gorge up which we eventually followed them on the march to Ngatapa. That day whichever wav oTie looked nothing but ruin and

desolation met the_cyo and the only’ people about were armed men. “Now there was a difference. There was a road across the plain; houses were dotted all over the country, built or in tho course of erection; miles of fencing was visible; cattle and sheep roamed about in largo numbers and all looked prosperous. It speaks volumes for the • district that it should have so well recovered from the crushing blow it got while in its infant stage and 1 doubt, if any other scene in Now Zealand could give to one who had seen the place under both aspects a better realisation of a picture of peace and of war than the view from Pukenmoohga. From the hill we cantered across a Hat where clover is now assuming the place of the old luxuriant rye-grass and after fording the river wo rode on to Waerenga-a-liika. Alterations here are also to bo seen. Once more is there found a good substantial gentleman’s residence approached along an avenue of glorious willows and surrounded by well-fen-ced and well-kept paddocks. A couple of miles further along we arrived at the station of the Armed Constabulary, the military township of Ormond.' The military settlers here at all events have not got one of the grounds of complaint which are heard elsewhere. They cannot grumble at the quality of the land and some ot them either in person or by substitutes arc working away effectively at it. Bevond there, again, stretches a long valley ill which some miles up are found‘springs exuding petroleum for the exploitation of which a company has been formed and the whole of this land is being rapidly taken up bv reason of the influx of genuine settlers into tho district, promising well for its future prosperity. Its last but not least advantage is tho climate which is, without doubt, the most pleasant in the North Island. “There is yet another most interesting ride to take—to Whakato, where is to be seen a specimen of Maori carving in which the Ngatikahungunu (Poverty’ Bay) Natives used to he very proficient. _ Formerly there was to be found in Poverty Bay a council chamber, the upright slabs of which inside the house were of black, tough wood and wonderfully carved with all the grotesque imagery of which the Maori sculptor was so fond. This house was taken possession of during the war and now forms a portion of tho Wellington museum. There is, however, still to be seen the abandoned Mission Station of Whakato, and wo went to look at it. A few miles out of Turanga we Were fe/ried over the Waipaoa river and found ourselves in a magnificent old orchard in tho centre of which stood a high barn-like building, evidently a Maori church. Broken windows,’ ripped up floor and holes in the roof showed that its glory as well as its parishioners had departed, hut its huge caived slabs still remained entire. I think they were about a dozen in number, about eighteen feet high, and carved to represent each some departed taiprina (ancestor). The amount of work expended on them must have been wonderful and it must also have been no slight tax on the ingenuity and nature of the workmen to refrain from inserting any of, the peculiar touches which usually characterise Maori carvings. However as the slabs were for a church it was necessary to keep them free from anything approaching to the general style. ■'There is in connection with the Poverty Bav massacre an anecdote which is worth relating as exemplifying a noble trait in Maori charrctei. Awakened by the noise of the ruthless work proceeding around them as Te Kooti and his band fell uopn the settlement and destroyed it and flyin<’ in haste to a olace of refuge a small party of Europeans passed by a hut where were sitting an old Maori and his wife both well known to them. A short time afterwards a number of Te Kooti’s men arrived in hot pursuit and questioned the old man as to the direction taken by the fugitives. He declined to answer. Tlueatenod with death, he still refused to helrav his friends and was at once tomahawked. The savages then turned on the wife whom they had widowed but she was as faithful as her murdered husband and sent the pursuers on. the wrong track. Acts of ferocity s are loudly blazoned abroad - deeds’like the above are but slightly noticed-' Yet such an instance'of devotion merits record as it is as brave"-an .’act of heroism as is mentioned in history.”