EXPLORATIONS IN THE KING COUNTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6817, 22 September 1883, Page 1 (Supplement)

EXPLORATIONS IN THE KING COUNTRY.

[BY J. H. KERRY KICUOI.I.S. srBCIAI. COMMISSIONER FOR THE NEW 7.ISAL4SK IIKHAI.D.] MONGO-0-0 KONGO. The nearest way for us to h we reachnd civilization from Hengia would have been to aiake straight for Kihikihi; but there was great talk o£ a native meeting to be held at Mongo-o-rongo, a settlement situated at some distance further south from where we were, and as it was stated that Te Kooti and a large number of natives from all parts would be there, I determined to attend the korero, as much as anything to see the ex-rebel chief of whom I had heard so much, and afterwards pass to Alexandra by way of the valley of the Waipa. We therefore left ; Hengia at daybreak with a party of natives, who were going in the same direction as ourselves, aad took a southerly course through a district known aa Wharepapa, and which led us inthedirection of theßangitotoMountains. As we approached the valley of the Mangatutu River the country became more undulating until we gained the bed of tho stream, which wound in a remarkably serpentine course from the Rangitoto Mountains. In the bed of the river the na'.ives pointed out several ourioue kinds of stone, in form not unlike the blade of an axe, and which were formerly sharpened and used as tomahawks by the ttibes of the district. Thi country , hereabouts fell rapidly from 500 t> 300 feet, and gradually became of a lesser altitude as wo went on. Crossing the river, we continued our course through the open, fernclad plains known to the natives as Manutarere, passing on our right a rock which rose like a rude monument from the centre of a circular basin of low hills. Beyond this point wo passed through a native kainga, known aa Patokatoka, and soon afterwards reached Mongo-o-rongo. A large encampment of natives was already torined, and great preparations were b ing made for the gathering, pigs wero birinc slaughtered by the dozen, bevies of women and girls were busy at work with ileliencies intended for the feast, while mounted natives were riding to and fro in every direction. We r. de into the kainga with the natives who had accom panied us from Hengia and were received with loud shouts of ha.ere-mai from tne women, who danced abou , ; and circled their arms in the air in the wildest way. When the hongi had been performed and a tangi had beeu held, for they wept here just as they had done at Pouotepiki, we were invited to sit down in a circle with the ' natives who bad accompanied us, and soon afterwards a number of women a"d girls, who came tripping along in Indian file singinj a wild refrain, brought us pork and potatoes j and bread and kumaras in plaited flax baskets, each hapu present contributing, according to custom, a certain quantity, bo that in a short time <ve had food enough around us to last U3 for a month. Wo ate heartily of the i;ood things placed before us, but we had gre:it fights over our banquet wih the half-starved dogs assembled from all parts of the country, ! and which became ho audacious in their efforts to obtain our luxuries that we had to keep our whips going right and ltft all the time. THE KATNGA. ' We remained at Mougo-o-rongo for two . days, during which time wu h:id a good opportunity of examining the settlement anil , the general features of tho surrounding ] country. The kaiiiga, composed for tin; most part of a number of scattered whares separated by broud patches of cultivation, } was situated in a deep basinlike depression ( in the upper valley of the W-iipa, and upon ( the banks of a small river called the Mongo- j o-rongo, oue of the principal tributaries of the Waipa. The scenery of tho adjacent , country was very attractive, the Rnugitoto ' Ranges forming a beautiful and conspicuous ( featuro to the south. These picturesque j mountains, the highest points of which at- : taincd to an altitude of about 2500 feet, ; were clothed to their summits with a dense vegetation, and flanked with lower hills , covered with a luxuriant growth of fern, while winding valleys and deep ravines ( stretched far into the rugged fastnesses ■ beyond. To the westward of the . Rangitoto Ranges were tho mountains of ( the Kuiti, where the deep green forests j were interspersed with wide stretches ; of open fern, which swept down to the undulating hills at their base. Oα all , other sides the country aiound Mongo- ] o-rongo was open, and presented a series of broad, rolling plains covered with low fern, and whers the dark al.uvial soil was of the richest description. THE MEETING. We were given quarters in one of the principal wharepunis in the centre of the kainga, which was dotted around with whares, tents, and other contrivances for the accommodation of the various hapus attending the meeting. In a large whare close to our location were about a dozen or so of old men, who had formed a kind of headquarters of their own. They were nil true bred Maoris, of the old school, of HercuUan build, and they appeared to be from eighty to niuely years of age, and it occurred to me that one or two among them could have counted their moons even further back than that; and as they sat squatting about in tho sun, with their blankets wrapped round them, their weazeued, tattooed featuns looked rein •irkably grim, surmounted, as they were in every case, by a thick growth of snow-white hair. Each one of them wore a piece of greenstone in his left ear, and all had wooden pipes, which they puffed at incessantly. It was remarkable to observe tbe difference in physique between these old warriors—for they had all been great fighting men daring the war—and the younger natives. Although there were many stalvart ! and powerful fellows anions; tho latter, in general they had not the same square build and muscular frames of the old men. who appeared to be perfect and well conserved types of the primitive Maori race. There were many representatives of tha principal tribes of the surrounding country in oamp, and especially of the Waikatos and Njjatiminiapotos; but, besides these, there were sections of the Ngatuvhakatcre, Ngatiraukawa, Ngatituwharctoa, Ngatihaua, and Ngatiawa. All those various tribal divisions were represented by the principal chiefs and notables, both men and womeu, and, when assembled together, it was easy to trace their different physical characteristics. There wero many tall and powerfully-built men among tho Waikatoj and Ngatimaniapctos, but the •women of the two latter tribes were not as sturdy in frame nor as robust in appearance as those of the Ngatituwharetoa tribe of Taupo. In fact, the natives of tho latter district were, all things considered, the finest tribe we had come across during our journey, the chiefs, especially of this division of the Arawas, being remarkable for their tall stature. Tho principal business of the meeting, which had brought the tribes together, was to consider a petition of the Ngatimaniapoto to Government, respecting the lands, and in which tho chief Taonui, with Wabanui, had taken a leading pj.rt. Another important question was the settlement of certain tribal boundaries, and the oonsideration of the claim of the Ngatihaua a large tract of country near to the Rangitoto Mountains, and which they claimed to have acquired bjr conquest over the Ngatiwhakatere, a hapu of theNgatiraukawa. At this meeting the Kaingatautohe, or debateable land, was formally surrended to the Ngatiwhakateres, the originally cenqucred tribe, ,by the chief Hauauru, wbo claimed to be the direct descendant of the warriors who conquered the Ngatiwakiteres, when the territory in dispute was acquired. TE KOOTf. On the second day after our arrival at Mongo-o-rongo, there was great excitement in camp as a body of about fifty horsemen, headed by a woman, were seen galloping as hard as they could cume across the plain leading to the settlement. There were loud cries of haere mai from the women, and shouts of Te Kooti from the men as the ox-rebel chief and his wife rode into camp at tho head of a band of well-mounted though wild-looking horsemen. When the new arrivals had pitched the tents they had brought with them and were squatting in a circle round the hero of Poverty Bay, I went into the camp, when To Kooti saluted me with " Tena koe, pakeha," and invited me to be seated. I took in his outward appearance at a glance. He was a man apparently of about fifty years of age, over medium height, of athletic form, broad shouldered, and keenly knit, and with s remarkable stern expression of

countenance, which imparted to his whole visage a hard and even a crnel look. Bis feature*, cast iri the true Maori mould, wero etrongly defined. His head tyas Well formed, with a high arched forehead, and his !ip3 were well cut and firm, while his quirk, dark, piercing eyes had a restless glance about th*m as if thtir owner had ; 'cn kept nil his life in a chronic etate i'f nervous txeitement. He wore a and long poin'ed bpard which, for the apparent. a;;e of this man, appeared to be prematurely grey. There were no tattoo marks about his face, but when lie smiled in his sinister way f very line of his expressive I features seemed t;> be brought into play. I Taken altogether Iβ Kooti had a decidedly | intelligent cast of countenance, in which the traits of firmness and determination appeared to be strongly marked. Hie wife, who was apparently a few years younger than hiinpelf, was a strongly built, gaunt woman, with a remarkably bold expression of countenance, and I could well imagine that during the troubled timea of the war she must have proved a daring and willing helpmate to her desperate lord. The followers of Te Kooti,. who sat around, were mostly men of over sis feet in height, powerful in build, and stern, aud eavaop lo ikini; in countenance, and with the game air of watchfulness about them as was observable in the manner of Te Kooti, as if they like their chief had been ever on the qui Hoe for their lives during their long sojourn of outlawry in the fastnesses'of the King Country. • -"' . t ■fffk A TETE-A-TETE. -. ■:..■*> -X.-*•.;?-The first question put to me by Te Konti was to inqnire where I had come from, and when Turner explained to him the course of onr journey he replied, "They told me as sonn as I arrived that a pakeha was in camp, and that he had travelled through the country, and I said now that he had been through and seen all let him remain, I did many a long j.mfney," he continued, "during the war, but I never did a ride like that on one horse. I was always careful to have plenty of horses." I told him that I had seen the remains of his pa at Te Pourere, near Tongari.ro, where one of his great battles wan fought, and taking his left arm out of a sling he said, "This is what the pakehas gave me there," and he showed me how a rifln ball had struck him between the knuckle joints of the two first fingers, crippling tht*m both. Ever since he was wounded in this way he has always made it a rule t<> hide thie hand as much as possible, and for thas purpose he carries it constantly in a sling. He asked me whether I came from England, end when answered in the affirmative he put many questions to me' about the country, and was especially anxious to know whether the Queeri was' still alive, as he stated that he had often heard of her when at War with the Euro-* peans. He then said the Maoris did not want that war, but the pakehaa would fight, 1 and the Maoris fought them. I.remarked that it was now time for '< the ''".two, races to be as one, and that.; all the troubles of the past should bs forgotten,' and that the King Country should "be opened by roads and uot object," said Te Kooti, " to.roadsVahdj railways; but," he continued,;>" we...must: hold the lands; it will not,; do '., for natives to lose everything.": I pnintod.out that in India a handful of pakehas, ruledi over 200,000,000 of people, and that roads' and railways had been made., in i.that' : country, aud the natives had ; Te Kooti, without a moment's hesitation;-; v replied : "In India the pakeha rules justly!;] h-re the Governments have not treated this , Maoris fairly : one Governmeut has promised' ■ one thing and one another, and they have all; ■ broken faith." Tβ Kooti then referredito; Tawhiao in the way in which I pointed ; in my introductory articlo to these papers; 'f and which I will repeat here, in.. order,<;to carry out the sequence of his remarks.', * When I stated to him that since the formal tion of the colony one law and one sovereigtv ■ reigned from one end of New Zealand to tho other, and that that applied to.the.King! Country as well as to any other part of 'the; : island, he replied : " That But," he continued, "you have your Queen]; and Tawhiao is our King. Whatevcr ; Ta;; ; whiao says, we must do. Tawhiao's mana extends over the lands, aud we... must keep thein. fc'o long as the pakeha acts justly, I will act justly; but if he,attempts to take our lands, I am still Te Kooti, and will rise again," At this stage Te Kooti burst forth with a wild chant —a kiod of song of Welcome, which was jn-. tended as a compliment to our visit. As Te Kooti Bang, his voice was singularly, clear and mournful, and his intonation very distinct, while every word, as it fell from his lipii, appeared to. be uttered with the..wild impulse of a fanatic. During this time, his followers, as they had in fact .done4a.ll . along, sat listening in muto attention/as if anxious to hear the words, of,.'one- , whom they appeared to look upon as-a kiud of deified man, or as, one ...would. ' say as one endowed with a charmed., life.. , that had made him the hero of: brave and extraordinary exploits, which recalled i to*; mind some of the moist daring and bloody? ! dc-edu of Maori warfare, and as I listened to" I his wild refrain, and marked the earnest ; yet animated expression of his features as" • he sang, I could well realise the influence , , which such a man would exercise;over..the; ; superstitious minds pf the Maoris,'. a-nd u .y«t' when I recalled to mind his remarkably; career, his marvellous escape- : : from ~ the: • Chatham Islands with his devoted band,'; his desperate and bloody raid upon ,;the". ; settlers of Poverty Bay,, and the series of daring achievements which rendered J. the.' name of Te Kooti a terror and 'a ..menace, during the war that followed, I..could,.._not: but help thinking that many of the,. Caesars" and Napoleons of history must have been madoof'much tho game stuff as this, fanatical Haubau leader, ... ■ ■»*£ss?[sl \ THE WAIi>A i It was a bright morning when" .yrcftleft Mongo-o-rongo to do the last stage or, our eventful journey. Although our horses, had rested for two slays, it was clear that they', were now utterly exhausted from their past fatigues, while their legs were so swollen that, wo could hardly get them to .move along. Leaving the settlement, the.whole broad valley of the Waipa lay stretched before us in the form of a wide expanse,of open plain, through which the winding river frjm which it derives its name meandered in the direction of the north. And here 1 may point out that the Waipa does nit take its rise in tho north side of Mount Rangitoto, as shown on the maps, but on the southern side of Mount Pukeokahli, which is situated a little to the eastward of the former mouutain. Ft omits source it winds round the western end of the Rangitoto Ranges, and finally pursues its way along the Waipa Valley. Besidas receiving, however, a large portion of the watershed of the Rangitoto Mountains, moat of the streams flowing from tho ranges of the Kuiti How lulo it, while to thu wtst it is fed by numeious watercourses which have their EOUice in high coast ranges. Its principal tributaries are the Mongo-n-roqgn, Mangapn, Manga-o-Rewa and Mangawhero, with the Panui as the chief. The whole wide valley of the river lies veiy low, its altitude noar the margin of tho stream being soarcely a hundred feet above the level of the aea ; but the country rises gradually towards the west into undulating fcrn-.clad hills Which, mount in a, kind of terrace formation, one ibove the until they reach the high wooded ranges which border the West Coast. The plains of this valley are composed for the most part of rich alluvial soil, which is everywhere covered with a dense growth of low fern. Many native cultivations and settlement!!are dotted about along the whole course of the rirer, and taken altogether this valley is one of the most densly populated portions of the King Country. From every point of view the scenery is most attractive, especially, when looking in the direction of the north, where the tall forms of Pirongia, Mattngatautari, and ICakepuku tower high above the surrounding plains. -■■;■■. OUR "LAST DIFFICULTY/ '■■ ■ ""' It was already night Wheii we had nearly reached tho end of our journey, and just as «-e pulled up at a native wfcare to enquire the bestipoiut at which to cross tr i& Waipa, my horsi.sank under mo from shf exhaustion as 1 sat on his back, A li e y e -oaxing got " Charlie" on to his legs a ~a, itt and we hastened down to the banks o' /the Waipa to find that the river was almo Aab n igh d oot i. There was a canoe at the fot . a bat aS i\\. luck would have it it &.- to be ou the opposite side of fit tirmm. We shouted lustily in. thg fl<) that some one would hear us and cor if . d f across, but there was no r e ~ ODSe but . the echo of our voices, and it sc 4 tbftt we would haVe to pass another v :i ht; j n the open or swim our horses at t;h , e o{ our Jives, The night was bitter x nd we wer6 na t ur . ally auxioue t o 7 reaph 0 «r long looked foi goal, and ;u' as were making prepsrationa to ewir A tb e r ; V e r voices ivore heard or :. tho other e- /fl d j n a few momenta more

the canoe shot across the water under the; skilful guidance of three; ypnng Maori girls. It did not take us long to unsaddle, and putting everything into the car>oe with ourselves we swam pur exhausted anitiiala across, bat Dot before " Td.mpay,* 1 by being swept under the frail craft, by the force «.f the current, had nearly succeeded in. upsetting it intbe centre of the rapid stream. I'nce on the opposite sid a , we pressed Upon our dark deliverers alt the xrtnney we could muster, tind, entering tbe Kiug's settlem-nt at Wfcatiwhatihoe, We cms.-ed the. aukati line fo'ixiißg the northern boundary of tbe King Cmiitry, when the tnoOn was high, oa the night of the of May, after a journey, which, taking all distances traversed into account, was not far short of 500 miles. :iCooelnded J