A WARRIOR IN RETIREMENT.

Otaki Mail, 27 August 1930, Page 4

A WARRIOR IN RETIREMENT.

SOME riEST-HAND RECOLLECTIONS OF TE RAUPARAHA. 'EVENTFUL LIFE ENDS WITH CHRISTIAN BURIAL. To have recollections of the great raiding chieftain Te Rauparaha, in the days .when he had come under missionary- influence, -was one of the privileges of the late Mrs Elizabeth Hollard, and in the reminiscences which she wrote in the last few years of her long life she has left some vivid impressions of him, in which both grave and -humorous features are presented.

Writing of the time when she lived with her "parents, Mr and Airs Kobert Robinson, senr., at Otaki, ilrs Hollard says, "Our next and nearest neighbour was the old chief Te Rauparaha, who in liis younger days, terrorised both hostile tribes and the white settlers. ; She goes on. to say that the setters had some good and true friends among the Maoris, but To Kauparaha was too well known to bo trusted; and when Governor (Sir George) Grey had reason to believe that, while professing friendliness, Te Rauparaha was colluding with his son-in-law, the bloodtmrsty Raugihaeata, to raid Wellington, uo was "arrested and imprisoned cu board ILM.S. Calliope, as hostage But Maori honour demanded that he, would die rather than be captured; and n was said that he lost mana and never regained his despotic, sway over the tribe—although it was plam that he had no choice. He was surprised jit night, when in bed. naked and unarmed; but in his resistance he bit off the thumb of a sailor and fastened his teeth in the shoulder of one of his captors. "The exact fairness of Governor Grev's action has been question-ed,"-the narrator adds, "but it may be that critics would have more ground for censure had he been vacillating at. that time. Numberless sanguinary cruelties in his past did not commend the prisoner for compassion; yet Governor Grey sought to restore the humiliated chief's self-respect; and after a few months' retention he was released and taken home in a warship, accompanied by the Governor-—but this is history. Te Rauparaha was noted for treachery, cunning, cruelty, lie is described by one historian as, 'The gluttonous devourer of his own countrymen.' "

"MILD-MANNERED OLD MAX." In his later years the raider cam" under the influence of missionaries, and professed Christianity. "When we knew him," says Mrs Hollard, "he was a mild-mannered old man who gave no suggestion of the one-time ferocious cannibal warrior. He often came to our house, and, squatting on the floor, would silently observe all that went en. But his visits invariably coincided with our dinner-hour; and, being mindful of Maori hospitality, he was always invited to eat. But so frequent and *so well-timed did those visits become, and, moreover, so redolent 6? unwashed humanity was lie, that the/ were not at all regarded as angelic. THE LURE OF THE FISH.

"My father had obtained a very large fish, one day, and as it bung near the door Te Rauparaha camo by. He looked longingly at the fish, and inquired when it would be cooked. 'Aianci? Apopo pea?" (To-day.' To-mor-row, perhaps.") Losing patience and discretion, my father said, 'He aha teua ki ha koe?' 'What is that to you?') But the broad hint was lost on the old man, he turned up duly and had a share of the fish.

"The eld chief's son Tamilian*, adopted the role of a Paltclia gentleman. He dressed well, lived in a goo:,, well-furnished house, and insisted on a European regimen. But Enita (Ruth), his wife, did not take so whole-hearted-ly to the shackles of civilisation; and in her husband's absence she would don a 'roundabout,' shut up tin' house, go right back to Maoridom, and have a good time with her people in the pa. But she would again be the Pakeh.i lady in time to welcome her husband on his, return. 'J/^ A NOTABLE TAXGL When Te Rauparaha died. _ a great tangi was held adjacent t<> the housi'i where Mrs Hollard lived as a child, and she wandered hi and out among' the Maoris and once ate with fcheiri. The food was served in small round baskets made of green flax, and Singers and teeth were the implements. She vraa given a small eel that, when cooked, had been wrapped in the leaf of some 'tree or plant, which gave it a pleasant, spicy flavour. But after taking -i bite or two, she discovered that it had I been cooked intact. Not wishing to offend the Native hospitality, she" concealed hi-r nausea and the remainder of the fish as well as she could, and made her exit. "Raugihaeata came to Otaki for the tangi,'" she continue*; "but lie- preferred his Maori mat Jo the suit of fine broadcloth which Taruihana had provided for him to wear to the funeral; and when the procession was about to leave, he took ,t shorter route, alone, and still clad i» his mat. Selecting a position overlooking the graveyard, ]j e squatted there during the service. But when the earth was being cast into the grave, ho rose. and shouted the word, 'Pouri!' 'Stand aside'), and immediately the ermvid parted to right and left, leaving a lane, through which lie passed to the graveside; and there he stood, looking down into the grave, uiitil all was coveredOne wonders what memories or thoughts passed in the brain of Kangihaeata 'is he looked into the g.-aye of Te Rauparaha. My father was master of the mission school at that time, and ti» him fell the task of superintending the i funeral arrangements; and he was the . last one who looked on the face of the old warrior. Te Rauparaha had two long front teeth, and in death Ihey vrere not quite hidden; and as my father took that last look when sispping-olj the lid of the casket, be could not fro* bear the thought, 'Those old teeth have picked many a human bane.