A VISIT

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 4, Issue 88, 6 May 1852, Page 3

A VISIT

To one of the Islands in the Bay of Plenty, celebrated and dreaded by the New Zealanders as the residence of the Tuataras, or large Lizards—by a Party of Officers of the oSlh Regiment; to which a>e added a few notes on t/ict\ut:u<:l History of the Animals. (Tri.ni ll.u " .\W Z-:iNr.l-," ..; r.-l •-•!.,) Us ill- I Sell r>.':'<-iii'..'-;-, If! .".I '"!• ; .irty arrive.l at tin; Irgh liiil, <w.vll..;!;.i>= \S".'.- .t\-ic in

the Hay of Plenty, en route for Tarawera. Fourteen days on hnnrd a small native vessel had made our breathing short, and our feet tender, so that the hard sand and the high hills which lie between Oliiwa and Wakatane made us nil feci tired, although we had only walked seven miles, ami the sun had not yet risen hish in the heavens. It was a delightful New Zealand morning. A thousand feet almost perpendicularly below where we gat lay the Wakatanc River, twißting itself like an eel over tin: level plain through which it flows. On either bank there arc several native settlements and n few European houses: a fairer prospect is rarely seen. To the settlement nearest the mouth of the river, we descended by a precipitous path, and not feeling inclined to lace the long sand walk between Wakatanc and Alatata that day we pitched our tent. It was about noon when we hod finished our morning repast, and had listene.d.to the history of the ancient feuds between the tribes at Opotiki and Ohiwa (Wlmkatohcas), and the tribes at Wakatane, chiefly Ngatiawas. We were told how the Bonaparte of the Now Zealanders, Hongi, had, about thirty years ago, attacked the Wakatane people when they were without fire-arms, and the slaughter he had committed. Wo had admired the waterfall which tumbled and boiled over our heads, and had sketched the curious and strange Bhaped tattoo marks which several of the women have at this place round their lips ; still it was n long time to sun-down, and, as we had no books to read, we set our thoughts to work to suggest how we might spend the remainder of the <Jay ; at last it was happily proposed that we should visit one of the four small volcanic islands, distant about eipht miles from the coast, and which arc celebrated and dreaded by the natives as the homes of the fearful Tuataras, There was no difficulty in/jetting a canoe, and the permission of the old chief to visit the island; but when we came to enquire for ■ crew to paddle us, it was a different affair. Two natives of tho place would only accompany us ; and our own natives —strong active fellows, who had seen the world, and bad drunk grog in Auckland—although very anxious to oblige us, were struck with terror at the idea of facing the Tuatara in his own home ; the den of a man-eating tiger, or n mad dog, could not be more dreaded. The trip was almost about to he given up for want of a crew, when a final display of silver, tobacco, promises of more, and nn assurance that they wore only required to paddle the canoe to the island, not to land on it, got us six doubtful volunteers, a small crew for such a large canoe; but it was the middle of summer—the sen was like a lake—there was no wind—it was one of those sunny days which they only know who have visited and lived in the Bay of Plenty. One of our parly, a lover of ease and a dreader of water, remained behind; two of us only embarked. Ab the canoe was paddled alon" we were entertained with stories about the great size, numbers, fierceness, and hideous appearance of the animals we were about to visit. We were told that if they got a hold of one of us they would never let go, and that there was poison in their teeth. Other dismal tales were told —for example : An old chief, wealthy with such riches as a New Zeolander values, was anxious" to marry a young girl, who not only disliked him, but loved a young and handsome lover. For many months ,«ho refused the chiefs hand: the terrors of death, on shore, had no influence in coercing her. The chief therefore told her that if, within a certain time, she did not agree to the nuptials, lie would convey her to the island nearest the prow of the canoe, and leave her there. It was a dreadful alternative, but she preferred death among the lizards to a bridal bed with the old chief. She was conveyed to the island, and left there. Night came on, and with it the lizards. She, in the madness of despair, took to the water, and! swam to a small islet near—but the lizards pursued and cat her up. Eight miles is a long distance for a large sea canoe with a few paddles : at last we reached the island—it was low water, and there were nearly two hundred yards of rough rocks, covered with seaweed and shells, to walk over. We landed, and took with us the box which had heen prepared for conveying the captured lizards to Auckland. For the first time it flashed across our minds that the lizards had no other existence but in the imagination of the New Zealanders ; but this was not the case. At we approached the dry part of the island, thousands of birds rose to greet us, and flew screaming close above our heads, so close as to make us involuntarily bend our necks to avoid them, just as soldiers do when they are under mu-ket fire for the fust time. The birds •were in a natural stnte.und had no dread of man. The rocks under our feet were covered with the white dung of these animals, and Icaughtmyself stepping on an egg as large as a pigeon's. On looking more carefully, we observed the ground was covered with eggs, and with young

birds nimble to fly. What struck us most was that all the eggs were solitary, there were not two together ; some were exposed on the open bare rock?, others were slightly hid in the crevices of rocks. What is the cause of the birds scattering their eggs, said we ? A native, who had conquered his fears, and had crept up close behind us, muttered to himself " He manu wnngningn tahi," the bird of one feeding. It is the Titi bird of the natives, the PeticanoiJes tirinutrix of Cuvier. We were much pleased to find that one native accompanied us, and more particularly our friend Woon, alias Mr. Mirama. He was an active young New Zealander ; had fought with his father, that brave and good old man Moses Towai, for us during Heki's war in the North, when but a boy. ill's mother was a Taranaki woman, and he had been baptized by that zealous friend of the Maories, the Rev.'Mr. Woon, after himself. Wo must beg the Kood missionary's pardon for giving his namesake a nickname, for we called him Marama, the Maori term fo'l moon, the name we thought he gave us in Auckland on entering our service. As I was picking up an ej;g of the onel.gged bird, my fellow traveller called out, hero is one. I immediately ran to ivhere he was, and saw about eight inches of tail, covered with scales, sticking out between two large stones. I put down my hand to pull it out. but, although not very fastidious or nervous the sensation the skin of the brute made on my hand was so horrid and so unlike anything I had ever felt before, tint I instinctively drew it back as if it had touched a piece of red hot-iron. Fortunately I had a pair of leather gloves in my pocket, one of which I put on, the other I gave to my companion, and again took hold of the tail; it was, however, quickly twisted out of my fingers by the animal turning sharply round aud looking me steadily and fairly in the face, as jf he were asking me, What made you touch my tail? and in such a position as if he were ready to spring on me should my answer not prove satisfactory to him. We had now an opportunity of seeing the animal face to face ; what struck us most was his large mouth. If, said we, the brute bites, or is one half as savage as the Maories tell us, his bite will be no joke. Partly dreading to teturn without a lizard, and thus give our followers and the village an idea that we were afraid of them, and partly struck by a benevolent expression the animal had about his face, which made us think his appearance was against him, I with considerable dread thrust forward my hand and grasped him about nn inch behind his mouth and dragged him out of his hole. How he twisted —how the slimy, cold, horrid sensation of his tail How up my nerves to my heart like an electric spark, I cannot describe. He was quickly put into the box, and shut up. On we walked. In half an hour we had got into our box nearly forty Tuatatas of different sizes, some nearly two feet long, others three inches. One small Jizard not a Tuatara, got n bit of my finger in his mouth, and I felt his bite, although the skin was untouched through the glove. We could have collected many more but we were stopped in our hunting by the old chief who navigated the canoe pointing to the sptlirig sun, and a dark c\«ud in the horizon, and telling us to come on board. This we regretted, because the island was swarming with lizards. Almost every stone we turned over, a number of small ones scampered from below it. They were not all Tuataras, but some were a harmless lizard called Mokomoko—the Tiliqua Zelandica of naturalists. The large Tuataras kept among the rocks—they had retired for the night. In the day time they are seen backing themselves in the sun on the bare rocks; noon is therefore the best hour to visit the island. We mayhcre observe there are four small islands, on two of which Tuataras are found. They are called Ru" rima and Moutoki. The largest U about half a mile in circumference ot high water. They are all of volcanic origin, and are scantily covered with s<>il i but it is sufficient to grow a few of the most hardy New Zealand shrubs and c ieepcrs, among the latter of which we observed the delicate flower of the Pohueor Panapa (the Calysteyia Sepium of naturalists), the long fleshy root of which was formerly a source of food to the New There tfas no fresh water on the island but what was contained in the crevics of rocks from rain. (To be concluded in our next.)