JOURNAL kept by two British Officers, on their OVERLAND ROUTE from WELLINGTON to AUCKLAND.—IB 46.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume V, Issue V, 12 September 1846, Page 112

JOURNAL kept by two British Officers, on their OVERLAND ROUTE from WELLINGTON to AUCKLAND.— IB 46.

[From the New Zealander."} Wellington, March -I6th.—Owing to the state of affairs on the Hutt, there was considerable difficulty in getting natives to go up the coast : however, hy the influence of the Rev. Mr. G— — , a missionary at Waikanae, we succeeded in engaging four natives to go as far as Wanganuu . , 17th.— Started at half-past eight, a.m., in company with the Rev. Mr. G— — , on our *oad to Wanganui. At about eleven, arrived iat Johnson's clearing on the Porirua road, where about forty of the volunteer militia were stationed, ufitier the command of Captain Clifford, and were constructing a stockade as a protection to the'few settlers in the neighbourhood. The road thus far is good ; afterwards there is a mere buahpath to Jackson's ferry, fourteen miles from Wellington, at the extremity of the Porirua harbour. We got a boat, and proceeded about four miles to the whaling station, where we halted for the night. There were several natives at this place, who said that they had been on the Hutt while the soldiers were firing, and who seemed to think it rather a good joke. They described the way they avoided the balls, and gave the soldiers credit for being very bad shots. _ , , 18th.— After breakfast, went to Rauparaha's pa at Parramatta, about a mile further along the beach. Ranghiaiata was in the pa close at hand, bat did not make his appearance, and we had no wish to pay a visit to that amiable individual. We stopped at Rauparaha's place for about half an hour, and found him very civil, although his countenance is a true index of the treachery of his character, for which he has ever been distinguished among the natives. He had only a few men with him, and had a singular appearance, being clothed in a dirty mat, and his grey hair adorned with two peacock's feathers. There was a human jaw bone lying before him, which we were rather curious to know the meaning of. He gave us a letter to Heuheu, at Taupo, of which the following is a translation : — " Friend Heuheu — This letter is from your father. Listen to me. I have put away this disturbance, that good may come among men. My son, there is no one of authority, save you, myself, and Te Wherowhero. Listen to this letter. My son, these foreigners are going to see you. Let your love for them be great. These foreigners have come from England. They belong to me, to the Queen, and the Governor. This word is enough from me to you. " From Te Rauparaha." The disturbance he referred to related to the affair at the Hutt, about which it is doubtful whether he is not playing a double game. He also dictated a letter to his son at the Bishop's College, and the Bishop. On leaving Porirua, we proceeded seven miles through the wood, and then came out on a shingly beach, along which we went for about four miles, and then along a good beach for about ten miles to Waikanae. The native church is well worth seeing, as an example of Maori ingenuity. It is forty feet long by thirty broad ; the inside is neatly fitted up with reeds, and a kind of arabesque painting on the wood work has a good effect, and is executed with some taste. 19th. — The natives we hired at Wellington to go to Wanganui changed their minds and refused to go on. Remained the whole day at Waikanae, being unable to get carriers, as the natives were giving a feast to 300 people, who had come from the south side of Cook's Straits, about Queen Charlotte's Sound; there were several pigs, and six canoes full of flour and sugar, besides potatoes and kumeras, laid out on the beach. However, about five o'clock, we succeeded in persuading four men to go on to Otaki, ten miles distant. At Waikanae we saw a most extraordinary looking being, a white man with red hair ; we were with difficulty convinced that he was not an European, but Mr. G eaid he. was a true Maori. 20th. — The men we got at Waikanae not being willing to go on, we engaged with some Taupo natives, who happened to be starting, to take our baggage on to WanganuL They had brought pigs down for sale, intending to go to Wellington ; but owing to Ranghiaiata having stopped the road to Porirua, they were obliged to sell them at Otaki for small prices. Ranghiaiata had a notice stuck up on the hill above Porirua, prohibiting pigs and cattle going on to Wellington, as he said war was going to commence, and the soldiers should not be fed. The country, as far as Otaki, seems to be thickly populated, as there are several large pas : but they say that a great part of the population of Waikanae is about to remove to Taranaki, from whence they formerly came. We only got on about ten miles this day, and halted at a place called Waiwetu, where there were the remains of some deserted wares. 21st. — The natives would not move on to-day.

A European, employed in the whale-fishery, said if we came back to Otaki he would get a crew and take us to Wanganui in a few hours. We went back with him, but had our walk for nothing, as ne could not get a crew.

22d. — Remained at Waiwetu. The natives began to get very troublesome, by continually begging for tobacco. The principal chief of the party, Ehare, took a piece of greenstone out of our box, and was going quietly to appropriate it to his own private use, when one of us squeezed it amicably out of his hand, which he took in very good part, asking us to give it to him when we got to Taupo, which we agreed to. 23d. — Started at half-past seven along the beach : on our way met a European servant of Mr. R 's, a settler at Manawatu, going towards Wellington. While he was talking to us, the natives took the opportunity of picking his pocket of tobacco, &c. It was very amusing to see his face when he found it out, as he had just before been boasting of his knowledge of the natives, and seemed to pity our helpless situation among such a set of thieves and rogues as the Taupo natives have the character of being. After a twelve miles' walk, we arrived at the Manawatu river. The man that ferried us over was named by the Bishop " Wellington," as he had been a great warrior in his youth. His native name, however, was Kaitangata, by which it would seem that his powers in man-eating were as great as in fighting. He had now adopted the more civilized occupation of keeping a ferry, and extorting a price for crossing his ferry that would shame even a Gravesend waterman. We were hospitably received here by Mr. R , a retired officer of the Indian navy, who recovered, in the climate of New Zealand, the health he had lost by a long residence in the tropics. He told us that three years before, he had gone overland to Auckland by way of Taupo, in company with a Mr. Harrison, a surveyor of the New Zealand Company, and that at a place named Rotorua, they had been robbed of everything, by a chief named Te Wetu and three others. They were in considerable danger of their lives, but were protected by the chief Heuheu, at Taupo, who kept them for a week, in order to try and get back their clothes, in which he was not successful. They afterwards got to Kawhia, on the west coast, in a miserable plight, and were two months getting to Auckland from Taupo. 24th. — Very rainy day. Remained at Mr. R 's.

25th.— Still raining. A chief we named the " Ogre," from his size and ugliness, came this day to try and get a native slave boy who was dying of consumption at Dr. B— 's house, about a half a mile from Mr. R 's, in order to take him to Taupo with him. The poor boy had heard him, and refused to go, as he said that they had taken a sick boy with them before, and left him to die on the road. Dr. B — , with great humanity, had kept the boy for some time without the knowledge of the natives, or they would assuredly have taken him by force. 26th. — The natives suddenly came to the determination of starting at twelve o'clock, when we went about six miles only, and halted among the sandhills. 27th. Went six miles to Rangitiki river, where there were remains of a pa; some good pasture land near it. Mr. R -*s cattle run extends to the river, and he has sixty head on it ; he pays rent for it to the natives. At about nine miles further on we stopped for the night on the beach.

28th. — Moved off at daylight six miles to the Turakino river, which is dangerous on account of quicksands. Mr. Mason, a missionary at Wanganui, was drowned here about three years ago, while trying to cross it on horseback. Three miles further on we forded the Wangaehu, which nearly five feet deep, and after a walk of nine miles arrived at Wanganui, 110 miles distant from Wellington. Near Wanganui some men passed us, carrying the remains of a man who had been drowned crossing the bar a few days before; nothing remained but the head and hands, the rest having been destroyed by fish. We slept at the Rev. Mr. T 's house, who was kind enough to accommodate us. 29th and 30th. Rainy weather, unable to move out.

April Ist. Went across to the so-called town of Wanganui, which consists at present of some ten or twelve small houses, and a rather pretty little wooden church. It seems placed in a good situation, although, from there being a dangerous bar, there is little chance of vessels of any size getting up to it. The inhabitants, however, already talk of cutting a canal, the chances of which, in the present state of affairs, seem very remote. 2d. Went over to see Mr. B— , a settler, who has a good deal of land in cultivation. He lives about two miles up the river ; and by his energy and perseverance has succeeded in overcoming considerable opposition, both from the natives and from the nature of the ground he has to cultivate, and has now his farm in a flourishing state, with very little assistance except from his own strong arm. Mr. T— — spoke to a chief, one of the principal men at Taupo, named Herekeikei, who was going to start next day, and we made a bargain with him to give us four men to carry our baggage to Rotorua for £5 4s. He told us he was one of the most deceitful natives he knew, but that be would treat us well. He added, also, that he had been informed that he himself was only going a few miles up the river, and that he would strike off to the left, by a path which leads to a pa called Waitotara, on the coast, intending to surprise it. The natives at Waitotara had been informed of his intention, and

were fully prepared for him, and would most likely annihilate him and his people, as they

had done his father and fifty of his men some years before. 3d. — Poled up the river about eight miles, the banks on either side level, for a mile or so inland all the way, and seemed very fertile; covered mostly with fern and shrube, and some few trees. 4th. Heavy Tain, the nver much flooded. sth. Continued rain and flood. 6th. The rain having cleared off, but still flood in the river, we started ; the river shut in by ranges of high, bare hills on either bank ; passed two large pas ; we landed at Kanihini, about nine miles, where there was a large pa, and a considerable number of natives ; the pa is built on a very strong position on the top of a hill.

7th. Flood too heavy to move on. Bth. Still heavy flood. The natives had a secret consultation, which we suspected related to what Mr. T told us at Wanganui.

9th. Some of the natives asked us this morning for powder and caps, on which we told them that if they went to Waitotara they would most likely come badly off, as they were prepared for them. They seemed greatly surprised, and were very curious to know our informant. After a little talk, they said they would move on, and that by-and-by they would come down to Waitotara. They said they would have eaten them, if they got the better of them, and offered us some of the flesh, which we fancied was an idle boast. They had only four or five guns, but we believe they would have got others at the pa ; and we were informed that they had forty baskets of dried kumeras (a favourite food on a war expedition). We then embarked, and proceeded on our voyage up the river, still among high hills, which now became wooded, and the scenery very fine. There were several rapids, which required a good deal of labour to get up. At nightfall we landed at the foot of Taupiri, a mountain visible eighty or ninety miles off. There was a small pa there, the old chief of which lamented the bad situation of his village between the hills, as he saw so little of the sun, and said he would prefer living on the coast. 10th. Went about two miles further up, when we halted at a large pa, it being Good Friday. 11th. The river at this place was running like a mill race, and with great difficulty we got up the rapid ; however, we got seven or eight miles by means of pulling ourselves along by the branches on the banks, and poling, and landed at a potato field, where the whole tribe set to work digging potatoes and building wares, which they did in a very short time. In the night it came on a gale, and blew down most of the wares, ours among the number. 12th. Heavy thunder-storm during the night; the old priest praying to the lightning the greater part of the night. 13th. Received a letter from Mr. T , who had gone up the river beforp us, recommending us to return to Wanganui, and go up the coa6t, as the rivers in the interior were much flooded.

14th. The rain having fallen about ten feet during the night, we went on at two miles distance ; passed Operiki, a large fortified pa, from which there is a path to Taupo. The river is still picturesque and wooded, but the sameness of the scenery becomes tiresome, as the hills seem never ending. Proceeded five miles further to Ikurangi, which appears to have been a large pa. There is a path to Taupo from the opposite side of the river. 15th. Difficult rapid near this place ; the banks now become a good deal cultivated, and so on till we reach Pukeika, a large settlement, on the spur of a hill over the river, with a good deal of cultivation all about it, and would make a fine spot for a European village. We did not stop there, as the inhabitants were not friendly to the Taupo people, but went across to Pateareho, another large settlement on the opposite side. 16th. Went over to Pakeika, and saw the native church now building of totara wood : it will be sixty- four feet by thirty- four feet. They are building a much larger one at Pikirike, of brick, which is a novelty in New Zealand architecture. There are about 800 natives at these two settlements, and about 4,000 along the course of the Wanganui river : most of them are missionary natives. 17th. Halted. The natives along the banks seem to have abundance of provisions, judging from the quantities they supplied to the Taupo people all the way, for at every halt they had as many pumpkins, kumeras, vegetable marrow, and potatoes, as they could eat, which, considering that they are not on friendly terms with the Wanganui natives in general, is very praiseworthy, but they say themselves that they are told in Scripture to feed their enemies. 18th. The people of the pa gave a feast to our natives, who consisted of about 100 men, women, and children, and after gorging themselves with pork they left the pa, and went about two miles, and then halted on a hill over Pateareko, on the way to Taupo, where we bivouacked for the night. 19th. Moved on about a mile, when a report reached us that a war party had arrived from the Waikato country to join Ranghiaiata, when our natives halted to hear the news. They told us that 200 men had come down to the river to drive all the Pakehas from Wellington ; to which, of course, we gave the credit that Maori stories generally deserve. We then went about a mile further into the wood, and halted. [To be continued.]

The great soap-house of Messrs. Stockdale and Sons has stopped payment for, it is said, £250,000. It was a most extensive and respectable house, and the report is, that it will ultimately meet all its engagements. It had nothing to do with railway speculation. — English paper.