A SURVIVING NKW ZEALAND CHIEF'S RI-MINISCENCES of CAPTAIN COOK'S VISIT.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume V, Issue 106, 13 January 1853, Page 3

A SURVIVING NKW ZEALAND CHIEF'S RI-MINISCENCES of CAPTAIN COOK'S VISIT.

[From the "New Zealander."] We have been favoured by the SurveyorGeneral with permission to insert in our columns the following graphic communication intended lo be forwarded to a London pi'liodical, as an accoinpaniinenl lo a sketch of the celebrated Maori Chief Taneiva. We have seen the portrait, which is an admira <de likeness of "Old Hook-nose.'' and We have no doubt that both it and the narialive will be r. garded with much interest at home.

Auckland, New Zealand, > Blh December, 1852. c fi tßi —As. some of your renders may feel inter- ■ esicd in knowing (lint one of the natives of ' Ibis country is still living who remembers the visit of onr illustrious countryman, Captain Cook, I send you a sketch of the only surviv- • ing individual* I have met or heard of. He is ■ known among the natives by the names of Jlornla and 7'anewa, and more fnmiliary by the Kuropeans as " Old Hook-nose."' Hp is a c' ief of some importance, and has always evinced much friendship to the settlers. I ' saw him lately, when on a visit 10 ihe newly ' discovered Gobi Field at C'oroinandel Harbour. As soon as he heard that gold h<il been found on his land lie was the first ehief who came forward lo meet Ilia Ixcellrncy Lieutenant-Governor Wynyaid, and to make arrangements f.-r the Kuropeans lo dig for it. Upon my showing him some specimens of gold which 1 found on the river W'niati, claimed by him, he said that he should now be content lo die—that hi- had lived many days, but that t'.is day was the brightest of them all. He did not sei-m lo value tbe consideration of the gain it would be id him, so much as the thought that his land, the place of his ancestors, should be the first to produce gold. He glanced at the (iine-bonoured peak of Motu Teic (Castle j IliM) and turning then to the setting sun np- '. peared to commune with the generation he had ' oullired. I could not help thinking that he J felt hehad well performed his duty in guarding j and protecting the boundaries of his inheritance j diirin/a !ong life.a t.isk of no easy accomplish- ' merit among the warlike tribes of New Zealand in former days. The following is the account he gives of Capt. Cook's visit lo Mercury Uay (Witianga). From what he says respecting his own age at Ihe lime, it would appear that he must have been about twelve years old. " We thought that Captain Cook's vessel was a large kind of whale, and the men 011 board were gods. When we saw them pull injr wilh their backs to the bows of the boats we thought they must have eyes in the back of their heads. When ihe natives saw the salt pork which was used on buard the vessel they thought it was the fl-sh of whales, it was so very fat. For some time I was afraid to venture on board, but I did so after some of the men had returned in safety, home other boys went with me. Captain Cook spoke very little, —less than any of the others. He seemed to take most notice of chi'dren. lie placed his hands on our heads and patted us. By making signs he got our men to draw a large chart on the deck, with charcoal, of as much of the coast as they were acquainted with, which he copied on paper. He appeared lo learn everything respecting the shape of the land. As regards the Norlh Cape (Cape Maria Van Diemen), the men took much trouble, by sinus, to explain that at this place their spiri:s, after death, took a plunge to the rua'ms beluw. Captain Cook seemed much puzzled by the mode of explanation used on this accassion. He gave us the first potato?." we had seen—a double handful. These we planted, and in three years called a great feast to commemoiate their introduction, at which, fo- the first time they weie allowed to be used for food. " The Nga Pui's (ihe tribe living at the Bay of Islands and Hukianga) have asserted that they were the source of potato, but this 1 am happy to say is not Ihe case, wc were Ihe

true- root in this matter. The speeches of ur chiefs are still handed down to us—the speechts made upon the occasion of that great feast " After Captain Conk went away we saw 01.oilier party of Kuropeans, who got spa's of Kaliikatea (Podocarpus ..cxcclcus) from the river Thames, and after that a larger vessel than either of the other two came to the 1 hames. On taking her departure she fell in with a fishing canoe which had been diiven out to sea. The wind was so strong that, after taking the two )oung chitfs on hoard which it cuutained, she could not again make the land, "Thetwo young men were taken to Prance, and in about two years were brought back in another vessel, which at the same time introduced pigs." The following story of an acl of theft on the part of a native thief named Marn-tu-ahu. at Mtrcuiy Bay (Wilianga) al the time of Cooks lisil, and the subsequent adjudication on it by the natives, tends to illustrate (he Mroug sense of justice so conspicuous amutV-t them, which they still possess up to the present lime. It also shows how much mischief one bad man m-iy produce under such circumstances. '• Among the natives wlio wcul to trade with Captain Cook's ship was Maru-tu-ahu, a man who was always stealing- He was so had nrui that if any young mail was found stealing, hewas, as a proverb, said to he the son of Maru-tu-ahu. The words were quite known in the neighbourhood, lie went in a canoe, Hill) tijjlil other men, lie sat lu the middle, fuur

were in the stern, and four in the bows. He sit on a dogskin mat. When he Rot alongside the ship, the gentleman whose business it was to collect the flowers of trees, shells, and tilings of that kind (the naturalist, it is supposed) made signs to barter for the skin, and producing a large roll of calico let the end of it fall into the canoe, and unrolled a considerable quintity—quite a heap. He then took a knife out of his pocket and cut it off, making n sign for the mat to be handed up. " Instead of being obeyed by Maru-tu-ahu, ns lie should have been, this thief made a:sly use -of the proverb, Te uri a Ularu-tu-aJiu I (the son of Maru-tu-ahu), in order to let his I companions know his bad intentions', I " They were but too willing to take the hint, and striking their paddles into the water made for the shore. The disappointed naturalist disappeared from the deck for a moment, and returned with a double-barrelled gun, with which he took a steady aim over the bulwarks, ami fired at the retiring canoe. "In the excitement of the paddling the extent of the injury done by the discharge was not noticed, for Maru-tu-ahu had scarcely altered his position, but upon reaching the shore he was found sitting nearly dead upon the heap of calico, which was dyed with his blood,.and before be could be lifted out he expired. The ball had ente ed bis back. A great meeting of natives took place to investigate the matter. 'I hey came to an agreement that he had deserved the punishment, and that his death should not be revenged upon the strangers. They said also that as he had paid for the calico by his death it should not be restored, but that he. should keep it, and they accordingly wrapped it round him as a winding-sheet. That he had stolen, and was killed for so-doing, one for the other. That he should not be deprived of that for which he had given his life, lie should keep that for which he bad paid. Captain Cook and others landed soon afterwards and traded as if nothing particular had h.ippened." Your obedient and humble servant, CItAIU.FS W. I,io»n.