LIFE AT WHAREKAUHI.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 12, Issue 912, 28 January 1868, Page 2

LIFE AT WHAREKAUHI.

The following translation of a letter published in this week's issxie of the Waked Maori will doubtless be read with interest : — (To the Editor, of the ""Waka Maori.") Napier, Jan 722 ,1808, My friend, — Here are yy'e; K. :and'. my friend, just returned from .exile, that is to "say, from Whafekauri (Chatham Islands) . We were carried there as prisoners on account of, our Hau Hau antecedents. We belong. to the Itongowhakaata , tribe, of Turanga'. ' We have now' seen the, evil of Hau Hauism— its" fessult is calamity and sorrow. We must have been in a state of monomania . when, we joined them (the Hau Haus) . But where is there a man in the whole world who. has :no faults P When "we. joined, .the ,Hau Haus we thought their aims were .legitimate ; and praiseworthy ; but. we now utterly abjure them and their' faith. " We can never again be deceived. : : We desire to say a few words with' reference to Wharekauri. On our. arrival there, we. were taken,, on sjiore by, $he pakeha. " Having lahdedi ' we ascended to the settlement of Te Aitanga-a-Mahaki (prisoners from Turanga), which stands upon the cliffs by the shore, and here we had a; tangi. ' Food was presented to us in the shape, of potatoes, Aonv, tea, and preserved albatross. Subsequently .we erected our. houses ; the sides we built of ponga (a species „o f fern r tree). and the roofs : we thatched :with flax, .as. no toetoe is to be found in that land. The tasks imposed uppn us i consisted of building houses for our pakeha guards, working at the barracks defences, and road .making. .The generosity and kindness of the pakeha to us was great.- They* did not' return evil for evil, but they fed -us • and clothed iis. The welcome "afforded us by the JSTgatiawa residents consisted in profession only — but they gave xis.no food. The aboriginal inhabitants, the Morioris, are now living in peace, upon . .the- land of their birth. In olden times they were frequently slaughtered by' the Ngatiawas (the- invaders of the island), but since Christianity became universal they have been permitted to live as free men in peace. But they hold no land nevertheless — the Ngatiawas have it all. These people, the Jfgatiawas, have just now commenced their return to Taranaki. . But before leaving they took care to sell all the land to the pakehas, leaving but a small portion to the Morioris ; .but probably the Government will look after the interests of the Mprioris. The Jfgatiawas and the Morioris have been suffering severety from the measles. Probably hot less than 50 in all have died. We only lost two, and they were both young children. .The Ngatiawas say they are returning (to this country) from -a desire to occupy their lands at Taranaki-r-the pakehas having taken possession of Wharekauri. When we arrived at Port Nicholson we heard from a man who had come from Taranaki that Wiremu Bangi te Rangitake, of Nga« tiawa, was in the bush with 200 Hau Hau followers, and that they had been cultivating food. The same man said that when these who had come from Wharekauri arrived there, they would probably join his party, as they were a part of his people. There, is abundance of food to be got at Wharekauri, but the climate is cold, which was somewhat disagreeable to us. In its waters are to be found eels, pawas (shell-fish), fish, kaeos (fresh water shellfish), pipis and pupus ; and on the land pigeons and wild pigs abound ; also, fruit of the karaka> mamaku (a species of fern tree), and nikau (a palmtree). The "bird of the ocean," the albatross, is also abundant. The larger trees of the island are karangu, karaka, akeake, and matipo, known here as mapo. These trees in IS ew Zealand do not attain to a large growth, but there they do — they become perfect trees. There is a tree called Hokotaka, which does not grow in this country — it is of a small size ; when the pigeons feed upon its berries their flesh becomes unpleasant to the taste, and has a rank smell. The canoes are built of korari (the stalk of the Phormium tenax), and are lined with porous sea weed, to make them buoyant. The paddles are of similar manufacture to those used in this country. The canoes thus built are extremely buoyant upon the waves, and, even when filled with water, will not capsize, but they .are not fast sailers. The language of the Morioris is somewhat similar to that of the Maoris. ' " The thoughts of the prisoners on the Chatham Islands are not evil. We Relieve if they weretoreturn to this island they would not again unite with the Hau Haus — their minds are more enlightened now. They have settled quietly down in their home at Wharekauri, ana have but little desire . to return . It was only, in deference to the Governor's command that we returned (that is to say, that they had any desire to return). Had they (the prisoners) any Hau Hau proclivities remaining, they would not be. so contented at Wharekauri; But we only speak with reference to our own people— of the thoughts and desires of other tribes we know nothing. I think we have now said all that occurs to us. There is, however, one other matter upon which we would fain say a word. W e have heard, that the Queen natives of Turanga say we (the Hau Haus) have no land there. This is craft ; oh their part. We have abundance of land there — probably much more than they have. They say we have forfeited our land by becoming Hau Hans. But we think that as the Governor has. pardoned our offences, we have a right to retain our land. WiO have atoned for our .sins with our bodies, which were taken awiiy into slavery. Onr case, however, and^ theirs tbb I,'-'rests1 ,' -'rests with the Governor ansl theLahds Court. This Written by Ihaka Poaka, " Pehimana Taihuka and Tiopiha Tawhiao of Rongowhakaata. '