STEWART OF STEWART'S ISLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13390, 19 January 1907, Page 1 (Supplement)

STEWART OF STEWART'S ISLAND.

BY K. M. Dt.'NLOP.

A romantic story has recently been revived in more than one quarter and lately appeared in the Herald, concerning a lady supposed to have been a daughter of the House, of Stuart, said to have been confined during a groat part of her life on Campbell Island, which lies to the South of New Zealand. Connected with the story is the name of Captain Stewart, which lives in New Zealand history as that of the pioneer and discoverer of the insularity of the small island forming the third in our New Zealand group, and which hears his name. The. story which concerns the lady and the old sea captain is deeply interesting, and it. is well that all the facts which it is possible to collect should he authenticated at a. stage, in our story still offering the hope of verification

In the early history of New Zealand we find records of two different persons bearing the name of Captain Stewart, around whom stories cling, and there, is some danger of confusion on the part of the historian. Obloquy is justly attached to the name of the Captain Stewart who, in the year 1829, made use of his brig, the Elizabeth, to convey To Rauparaha and his tribe to Akaroa. in order that revenue might be taken oh the Southern chief Taumaranui. Stewart was offered the reward of a cargo of flax for performing this service.

Taumaranui, with his wife, daughter, and many of his followers, was beguiled into boarding the brig Elizabeth, when a. terrible. massacre took place, followed by a cannibal feast. The details of the massacre are of an extremely horrible nature, and are well authenticated, since Stewart was tried in Sydney for his countenance to the affair. but he escaped the arm of justice.

The Captain Stewart, however, whose name is associated with Jacobite tradition and also with the insularity of the Southern island of New Zealand began his career in our waters at an earlier date and also lived on into a much later period. He died at the age of eighty-five, in the year 1851. .it Poverty Bay, on the East Coast of the North Island of Now Zealand. A little consideration will therefor© show that at the close of the eighteenth century, when tradition connects him with the exiled daughter of the House of Stuart, he would have been in the prime of his manhood, about thirty-four years of age. That his whole life was adventurous in the extreme there can he no manner of doubt, and it is by no means unlikely that at the outset of his career he was in some way associated with the members of the Royal House of Stuart, fragments of whose tartan were in his proud possession in his last days. He lived amongst the natives in Poverty Day .and was wont to relate anecdotes connected with his associations of early days, when he had drank burgundy in the company of princes." His stones were received with amusement and incredulity. Of his own private life he related that after a lapse; of many years he had revisited the scenes of his youth in search of his wife, whom he had forsaken to follow the sea.

His fate was that of Enoch Arden, for he found her again indeed, but, counting him as dead, she had married another, and the children of another husband encircled a happy hearthstone over which si;© presided. Stewart again took his departure for the Southern seas, to live and die in exile. He had, in his early New Zealand life, founded a home and family on the island which bears his name. The scenery and surroundings fof Stewart Island attract at the present time the attention of tourists. Much beautiful forest flourishes there. The rata, is extremely fine and at the present season beautifies every bay with its lovely crimson blossoms and dark shining foliage. The shooting is excellent and the oysters are noted for size and quality. Hundreds of persons are engaged in this trade, but. in the time of Stewart, the attraction to the trader lay in the number of seals to be obtaiued there, seeking shelter from Antarctic severity. Like the whole of New Zealand the aspect of this island is now entirely altered by the progress of civilisation. It was the home of the Morions, a dark race differing somewhat from the inhabitants of the North and speaking a different dialect. But. few of these people now remain in existence.

At the beginning of the last century, when Stewart ventured to cruise familiarly around the island, the desolation was extreme, and it. is marvellous that a white man should choose a sphere so adventurous and solitai v.

As regards the lady of the House of Stuart. English history shows us that Charles Edward was a wanderer in Scotland

between the years 1745 and 1750. If, as the story goes, he was joined by Meg Wilkinshaw. who afterwards followed his fortune?; to France, her daughter might well at the close of the century be from 45 to 50 years of age. and it is not at all unlikely that she'was concerned in Jacobite plots which made it desirable thai she should be removed. There is probably a large amount of truth in the story, as Captain Stewart. from sources altogether independent of the legend, is known to have been iu some manner associated with the Jacobite dealings. Either he removed the lady from a dangerous sphere by way of rescue, and maintained her on that distant isle, or as a. traitor to the Jacobite cause, and in (ho pay of her enemies, he conveyed her thither and held her there in durance vile. The story of Hie solitary lady frequently seen by whalers, and wealing a Scotch cap and tartan, needs to Ik- taken with caution, also the- fact stated thai, in her cap she wore a sprig of Scotch heather. The fact, however, that traces of her occupation remain cannot be denied, and the existence of masses of Scutch beat her covering a. solitarv "iave gives a reality 10 what otherwise might appear but a romantic dream. The pathwav laboriously constructed of chosen crystals is an abiding memorial of patient industry. If, indeed, the daughter of tie House of Stuart lingered out a solitary existence in this desolate spot, her lot wax indeed, one which calls for sympathy and pit v. Perhaps a close examination or excavation might reveal some further details tor confirmation of the story. Should it be prove.] true a suitable memorial might be to alter the spelling so that Stewart Island might become known as Stuart Island. 'lids change would also remove some of the misunderstanding or confusion of names, which attributes the place in history to the Stewart connected with the massacre of Taiunaraiiui and his tribe.

Campbell Island is now private property, having )>een purchased for use as a sheep run hv Captain Tucker, of the Poverty Bay district. It is about thirty miles in circumference, and is very broken and mountainous in character. There is a great, deal of "vain and mist, and "he soil is of fallen forest leaves uiaAv feet thick, absorbing the moisture like a. sponge. There is move than one pretty inlet, the most important being named Tucker's Cove and Perseverance Harbour.