THE OPOTIKI EXPEDITION.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 12, Issue 936, 21 April 1868, Page 3

THE OPOTIKI EXPEDITION.

Lerom otje own coerespondent.] Whakatane, April 3. According to promise, I send you a few notes respecting our movements since leaving Napier. We arrived at our destination, Opotiki, all well, and pitched our camp. Contrary to the expectations of many, Hau Hauisrn seems to be rather on the increase than on the decline ; hence it happened that the force lately raised in our sister province was summoned hither; The expedition, it was originally supposed, would have started from Opoiiki ; but the steamer Sturt, on arrival there, re-em-barked the Constabulary Force and the Native Contingent (Arawas) to the number of 140, and sailed for Whakatane. We were congratulating ourselves on a cessation from moving about, when the alarm sounded in our camp, and we were sent to the mill at Baupiroa, which vro reached on the evening of the Bth March last. Marching at night, at this season of the year, is preferable to a march by day. The mill being gained, we prepared to seek Dame Nature's choicest gift, which was effected by some ; but in one instance we heard of a warrior who was found sleeping in a stye, pillowed on a pig. At daylight, on the 9th, the expedition, consisting of the Armed Constabulary, Taiiranga Volunteer Engineers, amd the Native Contingent, again moved forward, over as rough a country as could be wished, far into the Uriwera country. In the afternoon smoke was seen issuing from a, hill side, convincing us that the rebels were or had lately been there. A pah was next seen. The expedition halted, swags were pitched off, and the Constabulary Force was thrown into skirmishing order, with the Tauranga Volunteer Engineers and Contingent for a support. We advanced on the pah, and reconnoitering parties were despatched ; but, unfortunately, the pah, on being reached, was found to be deserted, hot embers being all that rewarded us for our precautionary movements. Weary and hungry, we looked for something to eat, it having been found impracticable to carry anything but biscuit, as we wore heavily laden, and the country so rough that even a paek-horso would have been unserviceable. A fatigue party was next called into requisition, to assist in supplying us with the necessaries for subsistence. Binoculars were anxiously raised in the hope of discovering a quadruped of some kind. At length a mob of horses were seen ; off went the fatigue party, and bagged an antiquated mare, which, on being cooked, was found to be palateable. A sleep was now indulged in, after which the expedition again moved forward, to encounter a steep hill facetiously styled " Axint Sally," and we were considerably blown ere we reached its summit. Passing through high fern and clown a rapid descent, we reached a plain, and arrived, at 5 a.m. on the 10th, within hail of another pah. At Waimena a night attack was anticipated — fires being again seen. Great caution had to be observed here ; we crept stealthily forward, and, to our satisfaction, we found the Opotiki detachment, under Major St. John, here before us, they having found the pall deserted. The next day we gave ourselves up to peach-eating, and to fossicking for " kai." We slaughtered another horse, and consumed him at 6 p.m. ; thon again moved forward, crossing rivers and scrambling through, bush. We then halted for two hours Dy the river side, and, being wet and weary, fires were kindled. We moved forward at midnight, and arrived at a Maori Izainga, which was deserted, but showed symptoms of having been very recently inhabited. Melons were found here, on which we hurriedly feasted, as "we" weror "only allowed to halt for ten minutes. We started again, and found ourselves in a bush almost impassable, stumbling over logs, and wading through mudholes. At length we made our exit from this labyrinth ; the force, as it moved slowly forward — the lunar raj's shimmering upon it through the trees — was, perhaps, as impressive a sight as could be wished fop. Daylight brought us to Otara. Before approaching the pah, a bush intervening, we heard the braying of the rebel bugle, and the ixsual Hau Hau sentry's challenge, " Haere mai ! Haere rnai ! to palceha." We had all but surrounded the pah, when we saw two men and a woman (said to be the last of forty who were living there) make their escape. A few shots were exchanged, and we were in possession of the pah. After a short rest, wo (Englishman like) looked for some breakfast ; plenty of potatoes were shortly at hand. We were, during the morning, variously occupied — some at levelling a redoubt, which had been raised in a good position. Presently, little expected, we received a volley out of the bush by which Otara is hemmed in. We stood" to our arms, and exchanged shots in the direction of the rebel fire — with. what effect it is impossible to say, as the bush was too dense for us to see our foes. It would have been folly to have pursued them, in the dh'cction of the fire, as there was no visible track, and, besides, no doubt an ambuscade awaited us. Inlying and outlying picquets were told off and stationed at various posts in case of attack. The greatest caution was used by the relief parlies, as wo were continually expecting an attempt to surprise us. Dawn at length came, and a beautiful clay succeeded it. Our provisions wero by this time at their lowest ebb, and we looked forward anxiously for the arrival of our commissariat, which had been sent forward by another route. At length a goodly train of horses were seen laden witli provisions. As it was purposed to proceed further up the gorge, four days' rations were to be held in reserve. At 8 a.m. next day, the various companies were paraded and inspected, previous to resuming our march. After being told by the commanding officer' that the sick, lame and lazy might fall out, we resumed our inarch. No sooner had we gained the river, than wo Avere greeted by a volley from the rebels — the bullets, on one occasion, plunging into the water at our feet. A steep hill had next to be mounted ; it looked anything but pleasant, laden, as we were, with four days' provisions, swags, and 80 rounds. A good fire was kept up as we ascended, but it gradually diminished. One of the Arawas was mortally wounded (since dead). On gaining the summit, wo found they had held a very strong position, and, if in way numbers, might have proved very troublesome As soon as the Arawas saw their comrade wounded, they resolved on returning, as, from the nature of the country, if men got wounded, it was impossible to carry them. A Tiorero of officers was held, and it was thought inexpedient to go on without the Native Contingent, who positively refused to go further. We took a last look at the country we were to have traversed, and congratulated ourselves that we were to return. The country beyond was much more broken than any we had yet encountered. We now returned to Otai'a, and, the contingent having arrived before us, we wero shown a corpse (that of a Hau Hau) whom they had shot and partially interred. He was a runner or spy — ono of Kereopa's men — and was evidently under the impression that he was rushing • into the arms of his friends. When in ; , conversation with the Arawas, he re- ' marked upon the red bands winch they J; ! wore on then' caps, and they told him they ;

wore them to resemble the Arawas, to which tribe they really belonged. They -discovered who he was, and found him to be Hore Koru Tau, a noted rebel. They fired on him; he fell, and was conveyed . Otara for general inspection. By nightfall, we found ourselves a morning s march from, home, Next morning we started for Whakatane, . and felt only too glad to be on the road. By 12 o'clock we had arrived {here, and were narrating our adventures. I may say that this was . the most illplanned expedition it is possible to conconceive. Unnecessary ' hardships were : undergone; superfluous marching was done ; and even the famous No. 9 were dissatisfied, -, and they are, for the most part,. good specimens of bush soldiers. We are now at Camp Poronui, near Whakatane, and have commenced a track to Puketi, where a redoubt and a block-house is /to be built. This will^probably, be our work for some time. We keep a sharp look-out for the rebels, but as yet they have not turned up. -We work under shelter of a covering party. P.S.— Since writing the above, I have been favored with a perusal of that tissue of rubbish, styled the Tawcmga Record, It contains a native's account of our expedition ; and a worse written or more untruthful account could not possibly be conceived.

Miss Rye. — It is stated that Missltye, in consequence of the stoppage of supplies • from Victoria, for female emigration, intendsleaving England, in May, for Canada, with one hundred young women, there toeing a great want of servants in that colony. Toronto alone, it is said, can absorb 5000, and the extreme destitution now prevailing in the East of London makes it very desirable that this work which Miss -Rye has commenced should be continued. — Lytbelton Times'. The Angoba Goat. — At the annual meeting of the Victorian Acclimatization Society, the Chairman made some observations on the success which had attended the introduction of the Angora goat, and the high price which was received for its wool. He also read from the Edinburgh Encyclopaedia the following extract with reference to that animal : — " The climate of Angora is dry and salubrious. It is celebrated for a particular breed of goats, from whose fine hair the Angora stuffs are manufactured. These goats exist only in a space of about thirty miles round Angora. Their hair, which is about eight or nine inches long, is formed naturally into tresses, and is as fine as silk. Some of it is of such a superior kind that it is a capital crime to export it, as it is preserved to make camblets for the seraglio of the Grand Signior. The common kind is employed in the fabrication of the camblets in the Levant, and in the best manufactories of the same stuffs inEurope. No less than 500 or 600 camel loads of this precious article are exported annually by the English, French, and Dutch, who have resident agents in the town. It is transported in caravans to Smyrna, which is the emporium of Angora. Several houses in Constantinople have established factors at Angora> and carry on a very lucrative and extensive trade in this article. The Turks will not allow the valuable hair of these animals to be sent out of the country in a raw state, but in the form of thread, as multitudes of the poorer classes obtain a livelihood by spinning it. The population of Angora is about 101,000." Sib Henry Lawrence and his Wife. — Mr. John William Kaye, in his " Lives of Indian Officers," says : — On one occasion after his marriage, we had to enclose alarge tract of the Dhoon, at a season of tfieyear when Europeans had never ventured to expose themselves, so he took one side of the area himself and gave me the other side, and we were to meet. It was a dense jungle at the foot of the Nepaul hills, intersected with belts of forest trees— a famous tiger tract. The dews were so heavy that my bed under a small tent waa wet through. Fires were kept constantly lighted to keep off the tigers and wild elephants, which gave unmistakeable indication of their proximity, and it was not till 11 or 12 o'clock that the fog cleared sufficiently to permit of our laying a theodolite. It was in such a tract that, after three or four days, we connected our survfey, and when we met, to my surprise I found Mrs. Lawrence with him. She was seated on the bank of a nullah, her foot "overhanging the den of some wild animal. While she, with a portfolio in her lap, was writing overland letters, her husband at no great distance was laying Ms theodolite. In such roughings this admirable wife (a fitting helpmate for such a man) delighted to share, while at other times," seldom under circumstances of what other people call comfort, she would lighten his labours by reading works he wished to consult, and by making notes and extracts to which he wished to refer'ih his literary composition. She was one in a thousand ; a woman highly gifted in mind, and of a most cheerful disposition,: and fell into his ways of unbounded liberality, arid hospitality with no attempt at external appearance of luxury or refinement. She would share with him the wretched accommodation of the " Castle" —-little better than cowsheds of the Khyful district, and he the happiest of the happy. Or we, would find her sharing a tent some ten feet square, a suspended shawl separating;her bedroom and dressing-room from the hospitable breakfast-table ; and then both were in their glory. No man ever devoted himself more entirely to what he considered his duty to the State, but it did not prevent his devotion to the amelioration of the condition of his fellowcreatures, whether European or native, and no man' in either duty ever had a better/helpmate than he had in his wife. It was one day, when on leave for the benefit of his health, that these two, in happy commune, were reclining on the side' of the Sonwar mountain, opposite Kussowlee, when it occurred to one, was responded to by the other, and taken up hjppih., that they would erect a sana- . torium for children of European soldiers on that very spot. The result is well known, and the noble institution, now tinder the direction of Government, bears his honoured name.