"THE OLD WHALING DAYS."

Northern Advocate, 13 August 1913, Page 4

"THE OLD WHALING DAYS."

Mr. Robert McNab's latest book, " The Old Whaling Days," covers the period between v IB3O and 1840—a period of brutality and savagery in New Zealand's history. A vast amount of research has been expended on securing the material for this work, which forms the first connected account of the whaling industry during the years anterior to British sovereignity. One narrative that is printed for the first time is the story of the defence of Nga Motu. Scrappy accounts of the terrible seige of one of the Sugar Loaves at New Plymouth have been published. Wells, in his history of Taranaki, gives a few details. But no account traverses the whole period of the siege as does Mr. McNab's, and the author explains that he unexpectedly discovered it in an old rare copy of the " Sydney Monitor "of 1835. The account comprises a series of five letters, which have been anotated and elucidated especially in regard to the Maori names by Mr. W. H. Skinner, of Nelson, whose assistance the author states he sought. It is a most absorbing description, and the incident related gives, a vivid idea of the barbarity of the Maoris in those days, and their cruel methods of warfare.