THE MUSKETS OF RAUPARAHA.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1715, 11 January 1905, Page 76 (Supplement)

THE MUSKETS OF RAUPARAHA.

SOME INCIDENTS OF MAORI HISTORY. FROM HOEOWHENUA TO PORIRUA. THE LAKRDWELIiEIRS AND THEIR CONQUERORS. Few parts of New Zealand are so redolent of antique memories as the district in which the Maoris of the Ngatiraukawa and Ngatitoa tribes gathered last week to do honour to their young white cthief Huia Otaki is a story-name to every Maori, and to every “pakeha,” too, who 'knows the colony’s history. It has for three generations been the central gatheringplace for the allied tribes who eighty years ago wrested the fertile plains between the Tararua mountains and the sea from the “tangata-whenua,” and by vlirtue of their ferocious bravery and their, newly-acquired muskets, caused the fame and fear of Rauparaha’s army to “strike against the sky,” as theMaori phrases it. The tribes which met in the marae at Otaki last Wednesday represented every West Coast native village from Lake Horowhenua southwards to Pori run harbour. These tribes —the Ngatiraukawa (with Ngatihuia and other sub-tribes), Ngatitoa, and Ngatiawa—formed a most powerful confederacy in the olden days, and the record of their migration hither from the north and their conquest of the country bordering Cook Strait is one of the most enthralling stories in the national history of the war-loving Maori. Te Rauparaha! It was, indeed, a name to invoke in the early decades of last century. Rauparaha was the Napoleon of the West Coast Maoris. The missionaries say the cannibal wamor became a Christian convert in his last days, and died in all the odour of sanctity. It is, howevdr, difficult to accept the belief that the Rauparaha, who had all his life revelled in the roar of battle and tbe feast on the human “fish of Tu,” should so completely renounce the “atua Maori’’ and all his works as te become a humble follower of the mild and peaceful divinity of the pakeha. if he really did, the idea suggests itself that it was only for the same reason old King Thakombau, of Fiji—the original “King of the Cannibal Islands” —in his declining years abandoned maneating—because he had lost his teeth. One may prefer to think that Rauparaha remained to the last a sturdy heathen in liis heart —in spite of hiis benevolence to the early missionaries and his latterday church-building. It was as early as 1817 or 1818 that Rauparaha realised the practical advantages of cultivating the white man’s friendship. His descendants at Otaki and Porirua tell the story to this day. Tamati Waka Nene (of Ngapuhi), Rauparaha, and other northern chiefs led a destroying army down the West Coast from Kawhia, killing and eating as they went. On the seas of Cook Strait they saw the white sails of a pakeha ship, and as they gazed on the rare sight Waka said, “Oh, ’Raha, those whit© people are a good people and a useful!

If you obtain possession of this land you will become a great man—you will possess guns and powder in abundance.” And straightway Rauparaha resolved to take the land, so that he might be near the European traders, and obtain the musket® that were to become the most potent gods of the Maori. About a year later he and all his tribe of Ngatitoa abandoned their homes on Kawhia harbour, and after many months’ marching and fighting, at last arrived at their promised land, and proceeded to establish their title by the summary process of eating the then owners, the Muaupoko, Rangitane. and kindred tribes. THE LAKE—FORTS OF HOROWHENUA. The islet-dotted, shallow lake of Horowhenua (close to which the township of Levin now stands) was the scene of some of Rauparaha’s most frightful slaughters of the unfortunate Muaupoko. The district is full of reminiscences of those days of strife. On the northern and western shores of Horowhenua the remnant of Muaupoko live to-day. They have not yet forgotten (or forgiven) the conquering raid of Rauparaha. On the southern shores are some of the Ngatiraukawa, whose tall and handsome half-caste chief Rere Nikitimi was young Huia Oslow’s escort through the Raukawa marae at Otaki, and who was described"" by an English visitor present as possessing “the walk of a Grenadier, and the features of an Arab chief.” Old Rnngimaireh.au, the white-moustached ex-soldier chief of Muaupoko, is the principal man of rank of the much-harassed lake-dwellers. He is a mine of information concerning Horowhenua and its ancient history—but mention not to him the name of Rauparaha! For was it not the elder Rangimaiifehau that Rauparaha seized at Kapiti Island, and throwing him upon a fire, roasted him alive? The most remarkable features of Horowhenua to-day are the six artificial islands, or lake-pas, which were built about the year 1820 by the Muaupoko, as a means of protection against Rauparaha. . At the northern end of the lake are the islets of Karapu and Namuiti. Near the south end are the islands W ai-Kiekie, Roha-c-te-Kawau (which are close to the Hokio stream, the outlet of the lake), Waipata and Puke-iti. The waters of the lake are nowhere more than twenty to twentyfive feet in depth; one of the deepest parts, opposite tlie road leading from Levin township to the lake side, is the fabled dwelling-place of the “taniwha” Kawau-a-Toru, Muaupoko’® genius loci. The largest of these artificial islands are Karapu and Wai-Kiekie. (Most of them are in shallow water, not more than six or seven feet in depth. They are now luxuriant tangles of raupo, toetoe, flax, and shrubbery; one or two of the southern ones are mere dots of flax-olumps, with heip and there an ancient palisadepost. In building them, the Muaupoko first of all drove down lines of strong stakes in the lake-bed, making large circular fences. Then tussocks, flax, raupo, etc., were brought in canoes and pressed down over the sharp-pointed stakes, so as to form a wall; and baskets upon baskets of earth from the shore were emptied within the enclosure, until the islands were made. Inside the encircling fenoe more

saplings and stakes were driven down into the soil and others crossed upon them, and as the ground grew solid, huts were built thereon, and strong lines rf stockades were built round all. The approaches to the islands (all of which are close to the mainland) were defended by a marine cheveaux-de-frise —sharp stakes driven into the water until their points were just below the surface, in such positions as to offer serious obstruction to canoeists who were not acquainted with the intricate channels. When Rauparaha came, he found that most of the Muaupoko had taken to these lake-strongholds, where they fancied themselves quite secure from even the conquering Ngatitoa. They had previously repulsed a Waikato war-party, the Muaupoko women valiantly aiding the men in attacking the invaders in the night-time, heating the sides of their canoes so furiously with their paddles and chanting such a wild war-song as the warriors advanced to the combat, that the Waikatos fled after a very brief resistance, fancying that an overwhelming army was upon them. But now the invaders had guns, which take no account of the most thunderous of war-chants. Rauparaha’s men attacked the lakedwellers both by firing at them from the adjacent mainland and by paddling out to the islets on rafts made of korari (flax-stalks), and in canoes brought up from the sea-coast through the Hokio stream, and storming the island-stock-ades. The southern pas, near the Hokio, were first attacked. A story is told of Muaupoko’s first intimation that the gun was mightier than the old Maori weapons. . A chief named Te Rangirurupuni was standing at the waterside on Wai-Kiekie Island, when Rauparaha’s force opened fire. “Ah—h !” said he; “Listen! ’Tis thunder sounding.” But ’twas dangerous thunder, for presently the bullets began to strike the Muaupoko down, and Te Rangirurupuni received one through the hand. Then the islanders saw that it was not good to be there, and they fled in their canoes. Wai-Kiekie and Te Roha-o-te-Kawau fell easily, and many scores of Muaupoko were shot down and tomahawked here, so that the lake w r as red with their blood. The defenders had only their spears and clubs and axes, besides “pounaro,” or slings, with which they cast stones. The islets at the northern end were similarly invested and taken. HOW NGATITOA KILLED THEIR “ MEAT.” The little island Namu-iti, now shady with willows, became a prison-isle, on which some hundreds of miserable captives -were penned in, while their cannibal captors camped on the mainland' opposite, literally living on their prisoners. Whenever the cooking-ovens needed filling, tlie Ngatitoa would wade out through tlie shallow water to the island, fifty yards away, pick out the fattest Muaupoko, kill them, eviscerate them, and drag the bodies back through the water to the shore. For many dJays the waters were stained red with blood for great distanoes, and ghastly tales are told of how the monster eels of Horowhenua congregated there, and gorged l till they floated, helplessly bloated, about the lake, and how the seagulls from the coast and the hawks from the

plains liovered continually round the soene of butchery, feasting on what the Ngatitoa left, and screaming the dirge of the daily-lessening band of captives. In Lake Waiwiri (or Papaitcmga, aa it is generally called), south of Horowhenua, there is a similar low-lying artificial island, named Papawliarangi, now covered w r ith a beautiful grove of karaka-treas and rich with ferns and tipaims. This island pa was also taken by the invaders, and at the same time the larger island (Papaitonga) in the j lake (now part of Sir Walter Buller’s beautiful estate) was captured. It is related that many of Ngatitoa swam across to the island, and so ferociously dauntless was their onslaught that the place was easily stormed. One warrior, Te Tipi, armed with a double-barrelled 1 flint musket, struck terror to the hearts of Muaupoko' by actually firing his gun as he swam—a veritable water-god. On Horowhenua to-day one may see | some survivals of the ancient modes of life. The* Muaupoko remnant still navigate the lake in their old-time dug-out canoes; dredge for the kakahi shell-fish . with the rou-kakahi (just as do the natives of Lakes Rotorua and Rotoiti), and snare the wild duck by means of nooses set in the narrow winding channels amongst the raupo and flax that fringe the shallow waters. SPEAR AND TOMAHAWK. Innumerable are the stories of battle and murder, treacherous massacre, and thrilling open combat one hears to-day amongst the descendants of both conqueror and vanquished. Near the shore of Lake Waiwiri, close to Muhunoa Kainga (where the carved house of the Ngatihamua liapu contains effigies of Rauparaha and other departed heroes) a terrible slaughter occurred soon after the invaders began to make things unpleasant for Muaupoko. Rauparaha and his people Were invited by the owners of the soil to a feast. The Muaupoko held out as inducements the sweet kakahi and the abundant eels of the lake, and further promised Rauparaha some canoes. Though generally exceedingly astute and wideawake, Rauparaha fell into the trap. Rangihaeata, his relative and lieutenant, was more wary, and tried in vain to dissuade Rau’ from accepting the invitation. As Rangi expected, there was treachery afoot. The Muaupoko attacked their guests in the night-time and killed most of therm with tomahawk and club. Rauparaha, who was armed only with his greenstone “mere,” narrowly escaped in the darkness. Another man, Te Ra-ka-herea (“The Sun-god Snared”) was speared in five places. He fell into a little stream near Muhunoa and floated down it, halfdead. Next day he was found by Rauparaha’s war party, and eventually recovered from liis Avounds. After this occurrence, Rauparaha was even more severe upon the Muaupoko, and systematically hunted down the members of the unfortunate tribe of I “tangata-whenua/’ ! One of tlie leading chiefs of Muaupoko in those days Avas Tanguru-o-te-Rangi ('‘The Rumble of the Heavens”), the father of the late Major Kemp, of Wanganui. Tanguru has been described as a splendid-looking Avarrior, tall, athI letic, and tattooed all over-tire very • beau-ideal of a Maori “toa,’’ or brave, i Ixl a battle fought on the sea-coast, I when the Muaupoko Avere retreating be-

fore a superior force, Tanguru, armed with a long spear, took post in the rear, and bravely defended the retreat of his wife, who was carrying an infant on her back. The route lay through a swamp, and the flight of the woman and child was slow and difficult. The leader of the invading enemy was the celebrated chief Rangihaeata. He also carried a spear, and singled out Tanguru for pursuit. Tanguru turned and defied him, and both warriors danced and grimaced, and dared each other to “come on.” Tanguru presented so dauntless a front that Rangihaeata hesitated to attack him, and the sequel was that the brave chieftain’s wife and child escaped, and' Tanguru rejoined them in safety. Another notable encounter between the two opposing forces was at Pukehou, on the coast, between Horowhenua and Otaki. The Ngatiraukawa and others attacked a pa. ■ One of the defenders was a man named Ihaka, who was sent to climb a tree outside the palisaded village, and watch for the enemy. He had scarcely climbed into the branches when Rangihaeata and his warriors appeared underneath. The scout was seen and fired' at. He leaped from branch to branch, and from tree to tree, in his endeavour to escape, and jumping suddenly, to the ground quite close to the enemy he “received, but recked not of,” a volley, and leaped clean over a cliff by the side of their track. Rangihaeata’s men took no further trouble to shoot him, concluding that he must have been killed by his -fall. Ihaka, however, was caught by some -friendly vines that hung on the cliff-side, and he swung himself down by these to the tree-tops below, and in the end escaped unhurt, and made lais way hack to the pa. Of Rangihaeata, both Ngatitoa and Muaupoko have many characteristic stories to tell. Naturally, the former revere him as a hero, while the Muaupoko look on him much as a South of Ireland man does upon Oliver Cromwell. Rangi, on one occasion, captured a Muauapoko wife in a rather summary manner, while taking one of the Horo-

whenua stockades. He shot her, and ' broke her elbow, but considerately made amends by giving her half his mat. Shortly afterwards, however, lie discarded her for another handsome captive. Divorce was easy in those days, and the lady usually considered herself lucky ' that the decree nisi was not pronounced with the tomahawk. THE “OVEN OF PUMPKINS.” The memory of Mahurangi still haunts the minds of such veterans of the Muaupoko as Te Rangimairehau. Mahurangi is on the sea-coast, and here in the days of Rauparaha, the Ngatiawa, from Taranaki (who had allied themselves with Ngatitoa), “played it low down” on the harried Muaupoko. Ngatiawa sent an invitation to the people of Horowhenua to come and pay them a visit, and partake of some “new pakeha food,” to wit, pumpkins, etc. It is singular to hear of tile simple way in which the Maori, skilled as he was in treachery and deceit, was so frequently entrapped by an invitation to a feast. Muaupoko went to Mahurangi, eager to taste the “paukena” and other new-gotten delicacies. They were received with great ceremony by the Ngatiawa, who danced a thundering haka as the guests arrived. The ancient custom of challenging the visitors with the “wero,” the spear, was observed, a swift runner darting out from the ranks of Ngatiawa, and casting a spear at the Muaupoko. who. pursued him back to his tribe. Then Muaupoko halted, while Ngatiawa performed the customary war-dance. At a given signal the Ngatiawa host suddenly advanced with fearful stamp of feet, lolling tongues and rolling eyes, each warrior with his sharp spear at the charge. “They are doing it well,” thought the innocent Muaupoko. Aue! Too well—it was not mimic war! With a frightful yell they dashed at the unexpectant Muaupoko (who had laid down their own spears and other weapons), and there was murderous work for a few moments. Nearly all the Muaupoko - party were slain, and their bodies cut up and cooked in the hangis. One of the relatives of the slain was afterwards called “Te Umu-Paukena” (“The Oven of Pumpkins”), in memory of the massacre, and in order to keep alive the desire for revenge. Muaupoko are still mindful of the Oven of Pumpkins. Some few years ago Te Whiti, the prophet of Parihaka, sent an apostle to Horowhenua to warn the people that the end of the world was approaching, and -that they must all come and watch the final dissolution from Parihaka, which alone would he safe. Rut Muaupoko would have little truck with Te Whiti and his Ngatiawa, of Taranaki. And old Rangimairehau laughed a sarcastic laugh, and said ’ to the apostle r—“No; we won’t go to Parihaka, to the land of Ngatiawa. We haven’t forgotten Mahurangi!” In the Taranaki war of 1868-69 Major Kemp and the Government soldiers of the Ngatiapa and Muaupoko tribes who served under him (Rangimairehau amongst them) took a grim revenge on any Ngatiawa they could find. Many a head disappeared from Ngatiawa shoulders in the Taranaki bush-fighting, because of the deeds at Mahurangi and

Horowhenua nearly half a century before. MUAUPOKO'S “ RATA-TREE.”

It was some years after Rauparaha and. his Ngatitoa subjugated the Muaupoko and their neighbours that the Ngatiraukawa permanently settled in this district, having migrated from the Upper Waikato at Rauparaha’s invitation. Te Whatanui. a powerful chief of the Ngatiraukawa, was the instrument of salvation to Muaupoko. Rauparaha would probably have exterminated them altogether had it not been for his intervention. Whatanui is described by the Maoris as a noble-looking man, with a very fair skin v which was deeply and thickly tattooed. He was very tall, standing several inches over six feet in height. Muaupoko, assembled under their chief Taueki, together with the Ngatiapa and the Rangitane, sought his protection. Pity was seldom shown by the Maori; hut this was Whata'nui’s chivalrous and merciful reply to the appeal of the remnant: “Ae, I will shield you from the wrath of Rauparaha. I will he the rata-tree that will shelter all of you. All that you will see will be the stars that are shining in the sky above us; all that will descend .upon you will be the raindrops that fall from leaven.” So Muaupoko—or what were left of them—lived, and were suffered to retain some of their lands around Horowhenua and its neighbourhood. Pathetic laments for their lost "mana,” lands and men were sung, and are still to bo heard. One, chanted by Taitoko in a lamentation over his dead, is universally known by the Maoris: The .sun is setting, Drawn to his ocean-cave— Sinking o’er the peak of Pukehinau. Here wild with grief am I, Lonely as a bird in the Great waste of waters. , Wait-, wait a while, O sun, And we’ll go down together. RAUPARAHA AT PORIRUA. When New Zealand became a British colony Rauparaha’s chief home seems to have been at Porirua harbour, although he also spent considerable time on Ivapiti Island —the great stronghold of the piratical Ngatitoa—and at Otaki. It was to Otaki that lie took the South Island chief Tamaiharanui for execution after his capture at Akaroa harbour in 1830, when lie was so treacherously enticed on board the notorious brig Elizabeth. At Porirua Rauparaha had a strong palisaded village, called Taupo, which stood near the sandy point just seaward of the present village of Plimmerton. It was at Taupo that lie was unexpectedly seized in 1846, by Sir George Grey’s orders, and taken on board a British war vessel. All the country around here is historic. A few miles away is the flat-topped island of Mana, where Te Rangihaeata lived in savage state. His carved house is figured in Anga-s’s rare portfolio, “ Now Zealand Illustrated ” (Angas visited Mana and Porirua in 1844). In the modern Maori settlement of Porirua there are one or two men who are well informed on

these old-time matters. Here, too, one may hear the ancient song which commemorates the discovery of Mana and Kapiti and other landmarks of the coast by the pioneer Polynesian navigator Kupe, whose name is memorised in innumerable places along the western seaboard of the North Island from Hokianga in the fax* North to the mouth of Wellington Hai'bour. “ Ka tito au, ka tito au, ka tito au i a Kupe,” etc.: I sing, I sing;, I sing of Kupe— The maxi who cut the land in twain, Who severed Mana from the main, Who set Kaoiti’s isle apart, And sundered Arapaoa. These, th-ese are the signs Of my ancestor—• The signs of the deeds of Kupe. A PICTURE OF OLDEN PORIRUA. An. early missionary of the Wesleyan Church, the late Rev Gideon Smales (who died some years ago at Auckland), has left on record interesting reminisoenoes of Porirua in heathen times. In 1843 Mr Shinies arrived at Takapuahi, in Porirua Harbour, in a schooner from Nelson, and had a thrilling meeting with the Rangihaeata. The cannibal chief, decked in his war-paint, savagely brandished a tomahawk over the missionary’s head and ordered him to depart. He foamed and threatened and shouted as he danced round Mr Smales, “I’ll cut your head off! I’ll cut your head off!” But in the end the missionary was permitted to remain, and he thus describes the scene at his Porirua station in those wild old days: “ We had crowds of half-naked people of both sexes from early morn till dewy eve, and occasionally during what ought to be the still hours of midhight, pressing their innumerable wants; and whilst the hunga whakapono (Ohristian-believ-ing people) were chanting and repeating snatches of hymns which had been composed for them, the heathen were practising the rurerure, or haka (love songs) or their tuki-waka (canoe songs), or their ngeni (war songs). All united would certainly have formed a chorus and would

have made a more significant picture than even the impressive one of Hogarth, in which he so strikingly depicts the noise and confusion of ‘The Enraged Musician.’ Whilst attempting to rest, with water laving the very near shore' to t-lie front of our dwelling and the gentle murmur of the dense forest behind, the weird bird of the night, the ruru (owl) threw out the melancholy notes which revived the recollections of home and the narrow escape which I had just had from a fearful death ; but no sooner had my thoughts begun to depress iny nerves than the mystic bird screeched out in loud and distinct notes “E toa ana koe ?”—“Have yon courage ?” as the Maori tcliunga interprets him. “As the morn began to break I was serenaded with the music of the woods. The bush in those days seemed alive with songsters. They whistled and chanted and sang as though they were celebrating the jubilee of creation. The mellifluous notes of the tui and the belllike strains of the titimako (bell-bird) floated in symphony amid the umbrageous foliage of the primeval forest; and as the waves of sound reverberated from glen to glade-, from leaf to- leaf, and from tree to tree, they fell with a thrill of enchantment upon the ear, reminding me of the joyous bells o-f a faroff home.

“Among the many beautiful trees that then covered the hanks of the Porirua with their umbrageous foilage there was not a finer on more picturesque tree than a splendid matai which spread its leafy shelter a few yards from where we had pitched our dwelling; and it was soon brought into requisition. I found it necessary to addi'ess the people in the open air, and availed myself of the beautiful matai tree which Nature had provided. I got together a. few boards and 'improvised against the trunk of the tree a not very highly decorated but very useful pulpit. Here I was defended from the heat of the sun and the stress of the weather • and here Tie Rauparaha, Rangihaeata, Rawiri Puaha, Te Hiko, and the other leading chiefs, as well as the multitude, collected' around the tree, and under its delightful shelter; and here day after day they united in our worship, and though surrounded with what the natives call raruraru (confusion) of one sort and another we spent many pleasant- and gladsome days while thus endeavouring ‘to allure to Heaven and lead the way.’ ’’ The descendants of the men who conquered Horowhenua and Otaki and Waikanae and Porirua are now quite as advanced as the pakeha in the aids of peace. The Ngatihuia, of Otaki, in particular are an object-lesson to the stranger who would) question the Maori’s ability to equal the white man in the walks of civilisation. Their local racing club takes rank with mar y a pakeha one. Their brass band pjrxys modern music-hall airs veritably “next door” to Rauparaha’s monument.. But what would the old warrior have said could

he but have survived to witness thiQt crowning proof of his people’s progressive march—the Otaki Maori Minstrel Troupe, with their bulging shirt-front®, their corner-men, their and their “Brudder Bones”—the flower of the youth of Ngatihuia! What he would probably have said would havq been brief but forceful: “Aue! Auet Bring me my t omahawk!”