THE NINETY-MILE BEACH.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12255, 4 June 1914, Page 2

THE NINETY-MILE BEACH.

(Bv Archdeacon Walsh, in the Auckland Herald.)

The very name conjures up a picture of unlimited space —of white sand and blue sky, of fresh breezes and of combing rollers chasing each other in endless succession towards the shore. All this is true to fact —all but the name, which must have been given by some.weary wanderer tramping along towards the endless perspective and wondering when he would come to the end, as the real distance is only about 50: miles;..but surely that is enough. The Ninety-mile Beach faces the Tasman Sea and extends in a north-westerly direction from Ahipara. to near Cape Maria Van Dieman. It commences with a gentle curve and then runs in an almost straight line without any break; and when the, tide is. out -there is a -ievel expanse of sand a .hundred yards wide, hard :as concrete, perfectly -uniform its whole way —without obstacle or obstruction —some day.surely to be one of the great motor racing-tracks of the world. Destitute as the beach is apparently of all animal life, it affords a valuable food product in the shape of the toheroa, a sort of giant- clam, that has its home a .few inches below the surface. This'.: is found at all- seasons in unlimited quantities, ~ and the to which it was exploited--by the old-time Maoris/may be judged by the heaps of bleaching, shells that, extend for miles along the sand-hills. A crowd of women and slaves would assemble day by day tc gather the harvest of-the beach, when, in order to preserve a uniform supply, the kaumatua, .or principal chief, would draw with his taiaha a line across the sand to.mark the area within which digging might take place,, and when that area was exhausted another was marked out, and so on, until the first patch was ready for - digging again. The land adjoining the beach and extending across the east coast was occupied . from time immemorial by the Aiipori. who claim to have come from Hawaiki in a boat of their own, like the M'Leahs at the time of the flood. Though never a ; large tribe they possessed good fighting qualities, which enabled them to resist the incursions of the' Rarawa, . their neighbors to the south, who were constantly trying to get to the toheroa beds as well as to the schnapper-fishing along the coast. Fierce raids would frequently take place, and the beach seems' to have been a favorite arena for the settlement of the dispute. Here the rival parties would form into two lines, when, after working themselves up in a haka to fighting pitch, they would discharge a volley of spears, and! then, rushing in, each Maori would choose his man, and attack him .with his mere or tomahawk. A few minutes would generally decide the tide of battle. The beaten party would turn and scatter. The victors would give chase and despatch as many as they could overtake; when the proceedings would conclude with the cooking of the slain.

On on such occasion—after many had been killed on both sides without a decided, advantage on either —the principal chief of the Earnwa —a man whose valor was beyond question —drew a line across the sand about three miles north of Ahipara and addressed the combatants: "We are bleeding each other to death," he said. "Let us each keep to our own end, and make peace before we are all wiped off the face of the earth."

His proposal was -accepted, and peace was made; but it did not last very long. A dispute ".arose over the killing by the Rarawa of a pet clog that belonged to .a chief of the Aupori. Such an outrage must, of course, be avenged, and a party of the Aupori set out to see what could be done. They found same women engaged in cooking the evening meal for a number - of men who were fishina outside the breakers. These they killed lest they should give the alarm, after which it was an easy matter to despatch the fishermen as they came unarmed through the surf in the dusk.

The lives of seven men and four women might not have been regarded as excessive arfcii for the killing of the chiefs'" dog had of the men been a rangatira, or person of rank; but as it was, the Aupori knew that they must be prepared for reprisals. They therefore established themselves in a strongly fortified pa at Hukutere, from which they had been, in tho habit of harassing the Rarawa fishing parties and here for a while they waited developments. The pa was about 25 miles north of Ahipara, and was built on a hill 250 feet high just above the beach. Meanwhile the Rarawa invited the great chief Hongi, of the Bay of Islands, who had got European weapons, to come and help them to take their revenge. Hongi accepted the invitation, and the allies were met on the beach by the enemy. Some skirmishing took place, but the firearms were too much for the Aupori on the open ground, and they fell back on the pa. The allies surrounded; the hill and commenced the attack, but they were repulsed again and again, in spite of their superior weapons. They then settled down to a regular siege, and, bringing their wives and slaves, camped all round the position, hoping to starve the garrison out. The defenders were in a great strait, for although they had plenty of food, they were dependent for a suoplv of water upon a pool that lay beyond'the enemy's line. They would light their way through every second or third night, and though they generally lost several men, they still held out. After three weeks had elapsed the leaders of the allies thought of a way of hastening the end. They ordered all their people to defile the water, and when the garrison were almost perishing from thirst thev renewed the attack. Taking advantage of the vegetation on the slope of the hill, and, pushinn - hurdles of blazing fern before them, thev shot through the smoke. Thev carried the place by assault, slaughtering right and left, and as the remnant stampeded down the opposite side they were met by a party armed with bavonets on poles, who lay in ambush at the bottom. All the garrison were killed, with the exception of seven, who broke through and lied across the sandhills towards Hohoura, and of these only three escaped by swimming across the harbor.

The Rarawa then held a consultation as to whether they must go on and destroy the rest of the tribe —mostly women and children and old men, as nearly all the able-bodied warriors had been "engaged in the, defence of the pa. . There was, one old fighting chief left, and Hongi proposed that his life should be spared. "He will train up the young people into warriors," he said, "and we will come and fight them another day." He thought it would be a pity that such a race of toas (heroes) should be exterminated. All the chiefs agreed to this proposal, except one, who got up and cried out, "Everything you lia've said about this great warrior is true. But I ask you where are my five sons that used to catch fish for me and look after me in my old age ? This man has killed them all; and now you say let him go free." And with that he split his head with his mere. A great cannibal feast was then held on the spot, when a number of the slain were eaten, and the rest were lashed together and towed like a raft to Ahipara. After the excitement had died down more humane methods prevailed. The idea of the general slaughter yas abandoned, and an alliance was formed be- i tween the two tribes. This was further cemented bys a, number of marriages between .some-of the young chiefs and the daughters of the principal families on either side, when doubtless — according to the custom of the times — some of the young widows were united to the men. who had killed and eaten their husbands. All these things happened about two hundred years ago. Peace has reigned ever since, and the Rarawa and Aupori are now practically a single tribe.