RAUPARAHA.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 170, 7 June 1845, Page 55

RAUPARAHA.

To ran Editor op thk Nbl«on Examine*. Sir — As public attention has lately been directed towards the chief Rauparaha. with the history of whose actions of late years the inhabitants of Nelson are unhappily hut too well acquainted, I beg to draw the notice of your readers to the leading article of the Wellington Inedpendent of the 14th instant, which contains sentiments of a nature to warrant us in the surmise that that journal has become devoted to the Protectorate and Philanthropyprofessed interests, and that the southern settlements are at length di.-graced by the attempt being made in one of their papers to conciliate the public mind to the chief promoter of the Wairau quarrel and contest, guilty as he has been throughout his career of crimes only exceeded by his last outrage. For the information of such of your readers as may not have perused the article in question, I have made the following extracts: —

"In accordance with the promised visit, Te Rauparahii arrived in Wellington on Monday evening, in company with Bishop Selwjn. Every effort was made by R mghiaiata, upon Rauparaha's arrival at Porirua, to prevent hi^procved.ns? to this place, hut without effect. This chief maivtnined his reputation for irresistible influence over his fellow men, when superior intellect can have it* influence. All Runuhiaiutu's arts were powerless ; and he acknowledged Rauparaha's power before they purred, by the savage modes of submission. * * * He proceeds to the Hutt this day to prove he is the great chief we believe him to be, or to show that he n powerless ; at all events, he is acting in good faith, and has placed himself in a position that many a stout hearted Englishman would have quailed at. * * * He is in the white man's power; and he is here in consequence of his believing the white man's word to be his bond. He need not have come here, but he is bound to complete his contract, and believes in the honour of Englishmen. Let that be kt pt in mind, and Te Rauparaha will, toe believe, be remarkably useful to Port Nicholson. Act with wisdom and honour towards him and we feel confident he will settle the land question. * * * Many evidt ntly feel that Te Rauparaha was a destroyer at Wairau ; but a careful perusal of the evidence will show they are unjustified in this belief. We bdieve him to be innocent — there is no proof of his guilt. We cio not, however, intend to argue the point Englishmen, fortunately, are not allowed to take the law into their own hands; and we will conclude by declaring our conviction, that the man who insults Te Rauparaha (an old man of seventy years of age), is not only a bad member of society, but ought to be handed over to be dealt with by law and prosecuted to the utmost extent. We ask for no display of feeling in favour of this chi f. but, as he may be the cause of preventing much bloodshed and misery, we suggest the propriety of giving him at least all the encouragement tj do his work which abstaining from every offensive proceeding will afford. Let the people of this place act justly and with temperance, and they may yet admit, hereafter, that more is due to this chief for our progress and prosperity, than to any other individual now in, or who way come to, New Zealand."

From the tone of these extracts, Mr. Editor, one might imagine, and a person ignorant of bis character would believe, Rauparaha to be a chief who had always evinced a kindly feeling towards European settlers, and had acted in strict good faith towards them, except perhaps in one instance, in regard even to which there was much difference of opinion. I have, therefore, in order to render some of those who may have been thus misled in their opinion of this savage slightly acquainted with ihe leading events of his past career, furnished you with a brief sketch of his life.

During the migration (about fifteen years since) of the Kawhia natives, before their enetnies the Waikatoes and Ngapuis, from the country north of Taranaki to Cook's Straits, Rauparaha much distinguished hirnseh as a fighting man ; so much t>o, indeed, that on the ultimate location of those natives at Ka;.iti he was allowed to assume a leadership in the tribe. Te Pehi (the father of Hiko, the prebent coequal of Rauparaha), who had visited England, was then chief of the whole tribe, and was as remarkable as his 6on for hia attachment to Europeans.

Jealous of this chief's superior power, Rauparaha took the firat opportunity to rid himself

of his presence. The Kawhia natives having followed to near Akaroa the Ngaitao tribe under Tuawaike, to which the Wairau and adjacent coast belonged, met them in force by Banks' Peninsula.

Te Pehi attacked these natives early in the morning with a small party of men, while Rauparaha with the greater force delayed advancing. Te Pehi was soon in close combat. Rauparaha was urged to join in the fight, but answered that he was awaiting the result of an augury with which he had been made acquainted the night previous ; and that should the smoke from an adjacent fire trend towards the sea, he would join in the fight, assured of complete success. The wily rascal knew at what time to expect the sea-breeze, and as he spoke the first breath of it driving the smoke landward, he and his party retired, leaving Te Pehi and his men to be overpowered.

Rauparaha was now chief. Hiko was too young to be influential, but there was nevertheless dissatisfaction in the tribe at the manner in which his father met with his death. To divert what threatened to become a division in the tribe, Rauparaha proposed an expedition against the Ngaitaos to revenge Te Pehi's death. The barque Elizabeth, Stewart, master, was engaged to convey about fifty of the Kawhia tribe from Kapiti to Otago, to be remunerated for such service in flax and whalebone. On arriving in that harbour, Rauparaha and a few others landed, and advancing towards the pa with an appearance of amity, assured those whom they met that, being now missionaries, they had taken the earliest opportunity to effect a reconciliation, and had even engaged a ship for the purpose. They concluded the customary dis-cus.-ions with an invitation to some of the principal people to repair with them on board, to partake or a feast on the occasion.

Unsuspicious of the object of the visit, the Ngaitao natives accompanied them to tbe ship, where they were immediately overpowered by the major part of tbe Kapiti people, who had remained concealed on board. The principal chief was secured to the deck, previous to his murder, by a hook which was passed through his throat, and the others were treated with equal cruelty until the ship was clear of the land, when a general slaughter took place ; and the bodies, having been cooked in the ship's coppers, were eaten during the passage to Kapiti.

In justice to the master, it must he stated that concurrent evidence cleared him of the imputation of being a party to the latter portion of this transaction.

Rauparaha kept his faith with the master in his usual manner, and the latter personage was glad to leave New Zealand without getting either flax or whalebone. The Elizabeth was shortly after in Sydney ; and the circumstance being known there, Stewart was impeached for participation in murder, but, owing to the only witnesses (his crew) having absconded, to secure themselves from similar treatment, he was acquitted for want of evidence. He has since committed suicide.

The Ngatitumata-Kokiri tribe, inhabiting the shores of Blind Bay. having been destroyed by the Kawhias in fights at the Moutere and Wakatu, and the Rangitani natives of the Sound and Pelorus river being (with the exception of a small remnant driven to the lakes) annihilated, Rauparaha, for want of other amusement, achieved a quarrel with the whalers on Evan's Isle, near Kapiti. There, however, he found his match ; for the whalers, never disposed to concede to native imposition, cared no more for him than for others whom they had before quieted. On the natives making their usual exorbitant demands, Rauparaha, to add to the impressiveness of his speech, flourished his tomahawk over the head of an Irishman of the whaling party, who with his fist immediately knocked him down, and holding a whaling-spear to his throat as he lay under foot, awaited the answer of his leader as to whether he should take his life. On the liberation of the chief the natives retreated in their canoes to Kapiti, and, collecting a considerable force, shortly after made a combined attack on the station.

The islet, not more than 200 yards in diameter, consists of a confused mass of rocky fragments, with an eminence in the centre, on which the whalers had mounted a 4-pounder carronade. This gun played upon the natives as they advanced, and on attempting to land they were everywhere opposed by the points of harpoons and whaling lances ; and Rauparaha was foiled in his engagement with Englishmen. This happened at the commencement of the fishing season, during the greater part of which the natives sought incessantly to obtain possession of the island. Whenever the spout of a whale was observed, boats and canoes were launched simultaneously, the boats for the pursuit and the canoes for the invasion, and races between them would often occur as to which should first arrive at the island. Sometimes the whole gang would be required, and at other times but a portion as a guard ; but they always met with the «,ame success, and the natives, defeated and weary of the steady resistance, at length abandoned the project. It was the practice, about this time, of Rauparaha and other of the Kapiti chiefs, to board any small trading vessel that might visit the I place and seize whatever of the cargo they might desire, giving as remuneration whatever number of pix« they deemed sufficient, whether tbe owner of the property was satisfied with such payment or otherwise. In 1839 Rauparaha and his followers boarded a colonial schooner at Kapiti, and demanded a case of muskets and other things said to be in the t>hip. The captain, having to take these articles elsewhere, declined disposing of them, and on his refusal was, with bis crew, immediately overpowered by the natives. Rauparaha

and his party then opened the hatches, and having tied the captain to a stanchion above the hatchway, proceeded in his sight to possess themselves of the property. Finding the muskets, they proceeded to rig a tackle for the purpose of hoisting out the case, which was too heavy to be raised otherwise. By this time the captain had, unperceived, loosened one of his hands, and, opening his knife, cut the rope by which the case was now suspended, which, falling heavily into the hold, killed a native who had assisted to lash it and injured another. The crash of the fall and the yell of those under the case so astonished the natives on deck that they heeded not the captain, who, having regained his freedom, proceeded to liberate his crew. The natives, still terror-stricken, were then driven over the side into their canoes and the wnter, and the vessel immediately left the roadstead.

Shortly after this occurrence the Company's first expedition ship, the Tory, arrived at Kapiti, and Rauparaha was invited on board. He had, however, heard that when in Queen Charlotte's Sound sentries had been placed at the gangways of the ship; these report had converted into soldiers ; and from the circumstance of the vessel being heavily armed, and always firing sunrise and sunset guns, he concluded 6he was a man-of-war, come for the purpose of punishing him for his late outrage, and deemed it prudent not to accept the invitation. Although die object of the visit was the purchase of his land— a thing lie much desired — he would not Venture to the ship until he had been repeatedly visited on shore, and assured by the native interpreter, his own relation, that his person would not be molested. Another cause also influenced him : he feared that he might be met by some Ngatiawa natives on board, who it was repotted had come in the vessel from Port Nicholson, and a portion of whose tribe, resident at Waikanai, he had, on the morning of the Tory*s anchoring off that place, instigated the Ngatirokawa natives of Otaki treacherously to attack. Rauparaha, although professing friendship towards the people at Waikanai, had undoubtedly lent his assistance to their enemies ; and being perceived in tbe background, out of the fight, as usual, was attacked by a party out of the pa, which mußt have captured him but for the desperate opposition made by some of the Ngatirokawas, who defended him to the water's edge, whence he swam to bis canoe, and retreated immediately to Kapiti. The party in tbe pa afterwards repulsed, with the loss of about 45 men, those by whom they were assailed.

During the transaction of the purchase of the Wairau and of the other possessions of the Kawhia tribe, Rauparaha's constant demand was for arras and powder. "We want not," he said, " such things ac hlankets, soap, and ironware. Of what use are they to us for war ? What does it matter to us whether we die clean or dirty, hungry or full ? We must have dou-ble-barreled guns, plenty of muskets, ball cartridges, powder, lead, and cartridge paper 1" ft After the affair at Waikanai—the same place, by the way, in which Governor Fitzßoy pronounced judgment in the Wairau case and Sir Everard Home shook the old savage's hand — Rauparaha remained tolerably quiet until he interrupted the Wairau survey; of which interruption and its sequel I need not recapitulats the circumstances, as they have already become notorious. I cannot better conclude this sketch than by quoting the opinion expressed in the despatches of Colonel Wakefield, at the conclusion of the purchase above alluded to. " Notwithstanding," the Colonel writes, " the many bad qualities of this old man, his blustering, meanness, and unscrupulous treachery, he possesses some points of character worthy of a chief amongst savages. He is full of resources in emergency, hardy in his enterprises, and indefatigable in the execution of them. " Making every allowance for his condition, and knowing how his intercourse with the refuse of European society has affected him, it is impossible for the most charitable to have any feeling towards this old fellow but of aversion. It will be a most fortunate thing for any settlements formed hereabouts when he dies; for with his life only will end bis mischievous scheming and insatiable cupidity." And it is this Rauparaha of whom the Independent " feels confident that, if treated with wisdom and honour, will settle the land question ;" that subject of dispute which has hitherto been his chief pretext for exaction and outrage. It is this monster, the history of whose past life can only be capitulated by a narration of his acts of treachery, cruelty, and cannibalism, whom the Editor of the Independent believes " may be the cause of preventing much bloodshed and misery." And to him, whose demoniacal existence has been a curse to the poplation, native and European, of this part of the islands, is the credit hereafter to attach "of having done more towards promoting our progress and prosperity than any other individual now in or who may come to New Zealand." The reception, Mr. Editor, given to this wretch by the Bishop and others at Wellington reminds me forcibly of the counsel given to King Ahasuerus by Haman, the Protector Clarke of his age : " And he whom the King favoureth shall be clothed in fine linen, set upon the king's horse, and with the royal crown on his head do led through the city. Thus shall it be done to he whom the king delighteth to honour." I am, Mr. Editor, Nelson, May 30. Anti-Palliation. Lieutenant F. E. L. Moore and Mr. J. Bodie have been appointed to make magnetic observations in the southern hemisphere. They will be joined at the Cape of Good Hope by Lieutenant Clarke, Royal Engineers, who has been appointed to the same service.