CHARLES EDMUND GIBSON

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 15 November 1924, Page 17

CHARLES EDMUND GIBSON

TARANAKI EARLY DAYS. TRIP lIP THE PATEA RIVER. Long years ago, Avhen the world Avas a- good deal younger than it is at present, likewise some of the people avlio still inhabit it; in the days •after the great one-eyed chief TitokoAvaru, flushed with the victory of Te-Ngutu-o-te-Manu and the successful night attack on the Turuturu-Mokai redoubt. Avliere "the poor men died in their shirts.’’ had by force of arms driA*en off the military settlers front their holdings and burnt their homesteads, from the Waingongoro river right down the coast almost to Wanganui, and Avhc in his turn Avas ignominiously driA r en back again into the Avilds of the bush country beyond the great Te Ngaere SAvamp bv. that political Avnrrior, the doughty Colonel Whitmore, and his brave and trusty henchman, the onearmed Colonel Lyons. It Avas, as I say, after these eA’ents, AA'hen the persistent pakeha settler Avas beginning to return and retake possession of this particularly fertile portion of "God’s Oavh Country,’’ that, tired and disheartened Avith the sloav results of an attempt to break -in a square mile block of stiff, unyielding, clayey,

manuka scrub, toi-toi and cabbage tree land, in the vicinity of where Marton is now, I decided to cast in my lot with the pioneers; of the Patea district, which at that time included the country from Waingongoro to -Whenualciira. So in the month of August, 1869, 1 .rode lip the coast from Wanganui, tlmt being the only road at the time, in company with Mrs. James Hirst and my brother John. Mrs. Hirst had a baby in arms at the time, and my brother John and 1 took spell about with Mrs. Hirst in carrying the babv during that long rough ride.’ That baby was well known in after years in Hawera as J. W. Hirst, land and commission agent, etc.

The town or Patea in those days—if such a -place was entitled to that term at all—was situated at the mouth of the river, on a high sandy point, with sheer cliffs facing the sea' on one side and sloping sandhills facing the ri\er on the other. It had been used by General Cameron as a base of operations in the early sixties, being' easily defended from attack, and, after him again, by General Chute, in the days when the Imperial Government undertook our little wars for us. The present township had been laid off and surveyed with the rest of the district some years previously, during the occupation by Imperial troops, but owing to the militant attitude of the natiyes. and the unsettled state of things in general in the North Island had not been . sold. ’

.At the. time of'which I write Major Noake—one of the few survivors of the Balaclava “ Charge of the Light Brigade”—had been placed in com maud of the district and a residence build for him in the new township. Quarters had also been built for the small detachment of armed constabulary stationed there, likewise for hospital, Government stores and offices, etc., but all of a most primitive, inexpensive and temporary character, and were the only buildings in the present ( township until after the. sale, which took place (from memory only) during the first few months of 1870. The distance between the old and the present township wa s about a mile, more.or less. The small steamer that traded between ' Patea and - Wanganui at the time used to unload a short distance inside the mouth of the river, and the cargo was hauled up the steep sandhills by means of heavy’ horse teams anct drays to the town above. The town itself consisted of rough, corrugated iron structures, about eight on- ten, or. perhaps twelve, in all, built fairly strong to withstand the westerly gales they were constantly exposed to from the sea, and running in a row along the brow of the sandhill, with their fronts facing the river and General Cameron’s old camping ground in the rear, with his, old redoubt already half gone over the cliff, which went to show the rate at which erosion of the coastline by the sea was taking place. Most, if not all, of these buildings were occupied as business premises by men who had iii view the approaching sale of the present township, a goodly percentage being in the liquor trade. My brother John, who had been in charge of the commissariat contractor’s, store—Edward Lewis and Go., well-known Wanganui' merchants at the time—was amongst the number awaiting "the sale, for the- cominissariat contract .was drawing to a close,, and lie had Hie option from Lewis and Co. of taking the store over at the termination of - the. contract, and starting in business onj his own account in the new township* after the sale. When the sale'did take place he was successful in securing the section he wanted, and lost no time in moving building stack up from the old township to ■ the new.

It was about this time that the flaxdressing industry had started in 'New; Zealand, and the Government of the day Avere giA r ing every encouragement to get it firmly established. The district in those days, from one end to the other, Avas .a Avilderness of fern, flax, and. tutu bushes, and the flax avms noted: for its quality, especially about Manutahi and Kakarairw?a. To giv'e the industry a start the Government offered as’ an inducement the free use of a section of land at Kalcaramea (200 acres, I think) to anyone Avilling to make the venture, the conditions be-, ing that if iso many tons of exportable flax were manufactured Avitliin a stated number of •years."tlie- land would become the property of the manufacturer. The inducement Avas considered good enough to immediately proceed to form a company on, tlie directors of Avliich soon got going by” calling tenders for fencing in a portion, of. the property with a ditcli-aud-bank fence. - Having nothing to do at the time, I tenderer for tlie job and got it. I avus not Avit h - out ii unite, for my younger brother Arthur had followed in my footsteps and migrated from Tutaenui (no\v known as Marten) to this land of promise. :The fencing pro Added a Avinter’s job for us, and Avas no sooner completed than the directors called for tenders for clearing tAventy or thirty acres of the fern and tutu that Avere groAA T ing on it. Being on tlie spot, and having built ourselves a comfortable little toi-toi but, we put in a tender and succeeded in getting the job again. We took on another hand, ami completed the job in time to allow Messrs John and James. Laird, nurserymen, of Wanganui, Avitli Avliom the directors of tlie flax company hud arranged to plant the clearing AAnth tlie best species of flax plants for dressing, to proceed AA’itli their Avork. Here again Ave were inluck’s way, for the Laird Bros, sublet us another good contract, to dig the holes for them to put the flax in. This Ave did Avhile James Laird and liis men with horse and dray went round the adjacent country selecting the particular plants lequired. The holer, had to be’ dug a certain size and depth, in roA-vs a certain distance apart, and a certain distance apart in the toavs. So far the directors had done avoll, for the plants grew and thriA'ed remarkably, but the after-story of the company’s failure Avould be too long to detail here; suffice it to say the conditions Avere not complied Avith in the time, the land rcA-erted to the and the company AA’eiit into liquidation and wound up. Looked at in the presentday light on things, perhaps Ave should not regard thi s as altogether . a misfortune, for had it turned out a success there might have , been a flax-dressing machine on each farm noAvadays instead of a milking machine. What I have Avritten so far the reader may regard as purely introductory to the purport of this article, Avhich avus to recount a reminiscence of a little excursion up the Patea riA r er in those early days. This excursion had' been under consideration for six or eight months preA'ious to the time of Avhich I Avrite by a party of three, A'iz., Mr. George Northcroft, my brother Arthur, and myself. Mr. Northcroft Avas just entering on his profession as a surA r ejmr, and Avas connected Avith tlie GoA’ernment Smwey Department of the province. He Avas a younger brother of the Stipendiary Magistrate cf that name, Avell known in after years rears throughout- these districts. Mr. Northcroft some few years later

migrated to the- •i’rajisvaal,-; S.A., since when I .have- heard nothing of him and . know not-whether lie-be dead or alive.

What I have to relate now of our excursion up. the river is taken from an old letter written by myself, dated November 16, "187,0 —54 years ago—and written shortly''after our return. The letter was written ,to a younger sister in Eaiigitikei, and was considerately returned’to me after her death ten. years later. The text .of the letter will be adhered to as closely .as possible, and by cutting out such portions as are not relevant, and making, such alterations as liiay be here and .there necessary, the letter may be read as follows:

“Since Major Noake’s military ex T pedition up, the river in June, 1869, when the old; chief Tauroa and his liapu were . taken prisoner and sent to Dunedin for three years, no white man has ever been up the river beyond twelve or fifteen .miles from the mouth. Being anxious to know what the interior of the country was like, Mr.

North croft, Arthur, -and myself had oiur made up our bunds .to"/hive * own'' eXpWl,tion 1111 river on our own. account, and 1 as, circumstances seemed now favourable—Mr, Northcioft with nothing to do; at the time Arthur apd myself with two, good contiac.ts finished- and m good trim for a holiday after some months of very lard work, and the summer just setting in we decided to embrace the opportunity and set about making our preparations forthwith. Out of the fleet of Maori canoes that'were i'tied up on the mud-flat of the river we got Tiermission to select one suited for our purpose. We got a baker to bake us a week s supply of biscuits and provided ourselves with" whatever., other necesri we thought would' be required. We, borrowed a couple of revolvers and ammunition, and Arthur took his rifle We thought it better to go armed, for it was the- general opinion in Patea tjiat there were rebels still up, the river. ' ■ \ . . . . 1 .

, on the Ist of November we started and paddled our canoe up stream for about 28 miles from the mouth. The tide runs up for about twelve miles, after which-the river narrow's considerably, keeping an average width of about a chain as far up as we went and running through very pretty scenery. Thp; river: is very- tortuous in its course, in no case running more than two hundred or 'three, hundred yards - straight ahead, and very seldom that. A person might- fancy himself on a _ narrow lake, locked in by gigantic hills covered with dense bush, with here and there tlie face ofa naked cliff showing 'through'-the trees.' At every bend of the river the spur of the hill generally terminates in a level piece of ground covered with koromiko or other light bush, and varying in extent from an acre or two to" five or, six, and in some cases, more. A. great many of' these beautiful spots have been cultivated by the Maoris and fruit trees planted on 'them. There is an. eel-weir at most of these places, which is constructed by driving a great number of long stakes right across tlie. river, and binding them together at the top, leaving narrow passages here and there in .which they place, their eel-baskets. Some of these eel-weirs are very difficult to get through, the water rushing through them with great force. The Maoris’ wliares are still standing at these pliices, but most of them tlie wild pigs have taken possession of.' At one eel-weir a long wav' up the river we found a number of'first-class eel-baskets,- nicely stowed jfway ,in a wdiare. We just left them as we found them. About twenty miles up the rapids become very frequent; they are very (longerons, and very difficult to get either up or down, rushing and. foaming over tremendous rocks ail'd snags. Our first day out we nearly came to grief in one of them; our canoe getting almost broadside' on, w r e were washed down with great force against a. large rock. Arthur’s paddle, coming in contact with it, was snapped in two, but we managed to'hold our own, and after another hard struggle got through into still water, after which we proceeded for the rest of the day without further mishap, and brought our canoe inshoie for the -night as the sun was sinking behind the hills. We carried our arms, blankets, and what ‘tucker.’ we wanted up into the bush, and encamped under a large tree for the. night. One kindled a fire and got the ‘billy’ en. another got’ firewood, and the other gathered formtree leaves for our bed. By the time thus was done it was dark, r-o we ate our supper by tlie light of the fire and discussed the various events of the day, the distance we had come, which we estimated at- about twenty-eight miles, our chances of meeting Maoris on the morrow, what we should do in case wc- did, and whether we should meet with worse rapids than those we had passed through. The evening went by -very pleasantly this way, chatting and joking and singing songs, taking care not to kick up too much rove in case of alarming our Maori friends if any happened to be within earshot. At last, tired out, we rbllcd into our blankets and were scon in the land of dreams to the tune of “ more-park,-more-pork,” echoed from all parts of the bush. I was first to awake next morning, and, sitting up, saw the other two were asleep with their heads under the blankets, so T began to make a noise such as pigs make when they are bailed up by a dog. You should have seen how they started up, • thinking they were beset by a herd of wild boars. How I did laugh over it!

“After l breakfast Arthur managed to mend his broken paddle, by strapping it up. on .each side with a piece of rata vine and some wvire nails, wc had fortunately brought Ayitli us. We then got everything on 1 board again, and lashed all safe to the canoe in case of an upset, and' placing our revolvers close to our hands in case we should have to use them, we started once more. . AVe found the. river ran swifter and the rapids became more frequent as we went, on/ About ten o’clock we came to a most formidable-looking rapid, but we, found a narrow side passage- through the rocks, up which we managed to get our canoe, and then on round the next bend, where we halted to rest and look at a seam of very fine, gravel we saw oil the bank there.' Starting once more, we had not proceeded many .chains when I chanced to look up, and there, just above a slip that had been .washed away by the river, I saw ‘the top of a Maori whare peeping .out of -the bush. I‘drew the attention cf the others to it, and we put the, canoe inshore close under the

slip. Arthur was left in charge ; of the canoe, -while ! North croft, .md' L wc lit reconnoitre. Taking our revolvers .with us;we elrinbed'the slip to a place where in, falling it had- left a cliff about eight'or ten feet high, up which; we feund. we -could; notyget. but from the. -position 'where we stood, on , the steep - slope of the slip, .we could just see over the edge;-of. the cliff,. seme little'distance ’to our right, the open gable of the whare with a ‘kete’ hanging underneath. . We began to think on seeing this that the ; Maoris must be about. Close to the Whare the roots of a tree, that had not gone over with the slip were. hanging down, and presented a means of reaching tlie top;, so, working oiir'.way alon'g the slip till we. caine to the place, I pulled myself up by them till I could just peep over. I was now; close;to the ivliare, which whg only a few yards away, and could see everything in it, There was no sign of ahyone aboutj so up I clambered and into the whare. Several ‘ketes’ full of things were hanging from the roof, and a rough stage had been erected, on which ■. were; stowed, a ,number of boxes and other things. I called out to Northcroft to come up, that there was a whare full of loot for us, and tip he came. We were soon, engaged in ransacking .‘ketes’ and bursting open boxes with a- tomaliawk, on hearing which Arthur came Up, too, .to sec wliat was going, on. In one box we found three ne>v white blankets, two rolls of print (about- 14 yards in each roll), a new shirt,mew tpwel, two pairs of men’s riding pants, and a purse'with a £1 note in it. In one of the ‘ketes’ we . found two very line Maori mats made of dressed flax; both were uufinished,..though..".'.The other two boxes and ‘ketes’ contained a variety of articles, some useful, others valuable only as curios. There were bulletswhich up to then had not found a billet—powder, and shot, pipes,- two frying-pans, Maori books, letters and other papers written in Maori, writingpaper, a bull’s, eye'■ lantern, small bundles of dressed ilax, a small ‘kete’ containing all their fishing tackle, knives, spoons, tools, an old flint gunlock—a regular Captain Cooker—two good tether ropes, a new bridle, a liendstall, several bottles full of pumpkin, melon, and calabash seeds, a bottle cf wheat,-three new hair-combs, a looking glass, a string of rosary beads, a let of Maori women’s things, besides other articles too nuincrinis to-mention'. • One thing we found which proved more useful to us than all the l'est was a new paddle, and it soon had to take the place of the one we-had broken. Out of the three boxes, two were very good ones, .with locks and hinges, one-having painted on it. in conspicuous white letters itlie name of ‘Alexander Mitchell, passenger per s.s. Wanganui,-New Zealand. Wanted cn the voyage.’

.'“This Mitchell was a Kakaramea settler, and occupied the land adjoin-, ing the property which we had been fencing and clearing for the Flax Company. Ilis whare and our whare were only about- a quarter of a mile apart and many a long winter’s evening we had passed while working there in tire genial company of Sandy. We come to the conclusion there and then ithst the box had been looted from Sonde during the war, and you may imagine our surprise on seeing his name in large letters on a sea-chest thirty-five--miles up the Patea. river; but 'Oil enquiry from him after our return, he told us that he sold it to a Maori two years ago, just before the- war. . “Well-, after we had-packed all the most valuable things into the three boxes again, and stowed them' away, in the whare, we continued our course up the river until about 2 pan., when we came to a rapid more dangerous than any we had hitherto passed. There was one passage only, up which we might attempt to get our canoe, and that only a few yards wide, through which the water came dashing # and foaming over the rocks and snags, with a roar that drowned our voices. All the other passages rvere choked up with snags and great trees that had been wafdied, down by the floods. We tried poling our canoe up, but tlie water was too strong and'deep for us, so we undressed, one staying in the canoe, while the other two took a long stout rope, which we had fortunately brought with us, and after fastening one end to the nose of the c-anoe, made our. way over .the snags and through the shallows of the rapid to a favourable vantage point up stream, from where, ‘with a long pull and a strong pull,’ we succeeded in hauling up the canoe, while our mate in the canoe kept

her clear of rocks and snags during the passage. This bit of v business took ns about two hours to negotiate, and we thought no ‘small-beer’ of ourselves after, it. Paddling on for another two or three miles, we came to the place where Major Noake’s expedition came up with the retreating war party and took them prisoners.' We would probably not have' discovered this spot, but that the sun Avas getting low and Ave AA r ere on the lookout for a camping place for the night. It Avas a small busli-coA r ered flat on the- river bank, and' tlie rude, hastily-erected sleeping shelters of the Maoris Were still there just as they had left them. AA r e camped on the. opposite side of the riA’er and passed the night much the same as the previous one, but felt a great deal more .assured that there Avere no Maoris up the river, hot haA T ing seen' tlie least . sign of their having been recently about. This Avas our second day out, ' and avc Avere uoav about 38 miles up the riA’er. J

“Next day we i decided to tal?e a trip inland and seV Avliat the country Was like away from the river; so, seeing a very high peak some little distance up the river, we took our canoe louiid the next bend and brought her to shore in a still; deep pool. AVe then took our. way up hill through the bush, blazing our way here and there as we went in order to find -our Way back Sn-n Af i er ; about an kour.’s hard J’* 1 . ' we reached Ayliat we thought to be the summit of the hill, but there Avas still another peak above and Ayhenfhat was reached another and still more after that. But Ave pushed on, determined to reach LT 11 ?’ lf possible, Avliicli we attamed after about four hours’, hard work through the bush. AVe Avere now and ‘wi Wate r hed bet ween the Patea' o Inm! 1 ni U H kUra rivers ’ bl ?t eould see ’ surrounding countrv for managed to climb an old rata bv the aid of Its vines when we got a splendid, view of thee aqinlry around us. It seemed to be one chaos • pea ¥>cliffs and gullies covered Avith dense hush, and or w he l gllt of about. 1000 ft. o 12Q0ft. above the river. Mt. Eginont ' ' l ,- t , s . grandeur rose above all, and through two or three openings in the ,hills Ave could see the blue Pacific. We had seme very pretty .vieAvs of the nver as Ave ascended the hill. It seemed iJce a shining vein :of silver, three or , 1U Wldth > winding its Avay ' “ b^ a tiful curves amoiig tlie busheiaf] „ihs, at our feet, Avhiclv Avere noAV radiant in their . summer dress of a thousand shades of green, against Avhich the blight red floAvering of the giant' ratas, which werenow. in: bloom, stood out in . glCAving , contrast. The Avild floAvers. .of, the Ijush, scented, the air u uile uli.e hum- 6£ bees and insects, in*ri!?o i t wittering of the 1 rmalkbirds and the; joyous contralto or flute-1 ike notes of tlie tui, ringing out on every hand, with the'lazy flap of the duku .(wild pigeon) as It "flew'from tree to tree; in. quest of its seasonable deliewey,- or sqaie favourite,limb of a rata . where; with ,its mate,. it could, sit and bask aiid prune its feathers in the sun —Aill seemed to harmonise Avith the profound solitude of the place. “After resting ourselves for a Avhile on the summit, and Northcroft had' ' taken our bearings. Avith his compass, v e began our-descent,' AA'hich occupied about two hours, and reached our caiioe tired and hungry.. Arthur. s<;t to work \ to boil ‘the billy,'while Northcroft and P had a refreshing bathe in thr river. . ’ After satisfyihg the inner . mail we went ■ >• oil up the .’river-, until evening, when ' we came to another bad rapid, in which our canoe, broadside on to the current in diir endeavours to get round a nasty snag, was washed down with ’ ' great force, her bow striking on one snag and her stern on another, almost ' upsetting the canoe; but by good luck I managed -to free her stern from the v snag, Avhen she' dropped : down stream; and Ave afterwards hauled her up with, the rppe! AVe halted here for the night/ and as there Avere signs of rain .Northcroft and 1 proceeded to erect a shelter of iiikau palm leaves, while; Arthur cooked supper. The. raiu. came, down in torrents during the night; but we Avere pretty snug under our primitive'shelter. Tins was . our third day out Vand we " Avert! now about 45 miles; up the riveri . “AVe, new began to think, of turning back, as the river was getting; more . ; rap’d . and dangerous, and s avc began to' be afraid of the rapids, thinking they, would be as difficult, if not- more so, to get doAvn as they were to get up. So avc made up cui: minds that on the 'morrow, we would go up as far as tlie next bad rapid, and then turn.

“Next‘morning turning out fine, off wc went again, but we only-got about five or six miles before. .'we came "to another -bad. rapid; so here we stopped, and went into- tile- bush and cut a piece of rata vine, on which we curved our names and ,the date and nailed it to a conspicuous tree oh the ri-yer bank. We were now about fifty miles lip the fiver, and further, probably, than any pakeha had ever, been before. It was with great reluctance we-; now turend to go badk. We reached the rapid ■where we had stayed the night before, and here poor Nortlicro'ft came to grief on the very snag on which we had stuck the day before. This: was a large log running a long way out into the, river, round the end of which-Ave were obliged to pass, but the current-, taking a turn almost at right angles round , a large snag a little further up stream, washed the canoe down -on this log every time. At length we had recourse to the rope again to get ds out of our difficulty. Arthur went up stream and let her down to where Northcroft and I waited on the log with. our poles, toady to shove her off round the end of the log; but NorthevoftV pole slipped and lie tumbled- off the log into the rapid, but fortunately caught hold oftlie log, which prevented liis being washed under and a possible -disaster. I helped- him up again on to the log, but we found the. force cf the current was so strong that we ■ eouldn.it' push the nose of the canoe round the .end of the log. so we had' toialter our tactics. Northcroft now took charge of the rope, and Arthur and-1 undressed and went into the rapid, and'between tlie three of us we managed to . get the. nose of the canoe a little bit. past the end of the log, and there she stuck, with her nose against the.lend of the log and her stern against the -snag .up stream, and broadside on to the rapid. I now went up stream above the snag and, taking hold of the stern, managed to swing myself and the -canoe across the deepest part of the rapid, and upon gaining a footing, with Arthur’s assistance at the other end, we soon had-her clear of the leg. I then'jumped in, and Northcroft let- her down with the rope and brought her up again below the log, when we all embarked, and off we went again in high spirits. -We found it much easier and quicker going # with the stream than pulling up against it, and every rapid we passed the subconscious within us gave vent to his excitement in sundry yells and eockcrowing and shouts of ‘another mantrap cleared.’ On we went until the big i-apid was reached that took us so long to get up. i Here we thought it better not to run the risk of an upset

by attempting to slioofc tlie rapid, so adopted the safer course of letting the canbe Rown by the rope again. This necessitated; the getting out into the fiver of Northeroft and Arthur, while I stayed iii the bow and kept her clear of. rocks and snugs. In- this rvay we cleared the big rapid, all safe, and off Ave went again, yelling and shouting. If you could only have seen us: three half-naked savages, all ready to take to the; water at the shortest notice. It Avas ' exciting Avork shooting rapids and shalloAvs, and called for quick decision and nice precision also also on the part of the stee.fsnian in selecting his course and steering her clear of the n ? a ay.perils ahead. Someitmes they required to be just grazed,, in order to avoid others a little further on. One false, move of his steering paddle Avouhl find him in difficulties among the huge v boulder-rocks and snags that obstruct his, passage, and lucky for. him if in avoiding Scylla lie doesn’t ruii foul of CharybdiS, or if the rushing Avaters (don ’t, get him broadside on and upset his canoe. We shot all the rapids but two, b.ut Avould need> I think, considerably. more practice at'the game before attempting those. We arrived at last at the place A\diere Ave found the Maori Ayhare on our way up, and'stayed there for the night. Thus ended our. fourth day out. . . “Next* .morning Ave got the Maor loot aboard and lashed firmly to the canoe, then started off again, intending to reach home, if possible, that evenings We were pretty well loaded now, and had to be careful in negotiating the remaining feAv rapids W front of' us. We cleared them all, however, in good, style, and about 5 p.in. reached Hukatere —a; Maori pa, uoav deserted, on the Wheuuakura side of the Patea river, about five of six miles up from the Patea township. Here we tied up •oUr canoe and landed her cargo, leav; ing it on the river bank for the night, and, shouldering our swags, made for ours AA’hare, about a mile and a half from the river, arriving there about sundown. 5 “Rext day Ave spent in carrying the loot from the river to our wliare, where we divided the plunder.”