PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2504, 19 March 1902, Page 69

PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

A CHAPTER IX THE HISTORY OF TARAXAKI. IH. A foitnight ago 1 wrote my second chat on T.uviMki .- to-day I'll give you an idea of tlie magnitude of the tiibal wais the Maoris engaged in, t.iking an incident quite possibly within the memoiy of pakehas and Maoris living. My principal authority is Wells' s "History of Taranaki": — ■" In the summer of 1851 a Waikato canoe came to Xgamotu foi a cargo of that Maoii delicacy, dried shaik. They pretended to be friendly, and were entertained suitably ; the fi-h was prepared, t!ie canoe repaired, and the Waika'tos left, uppaiently on the best of terms. But they were spies. Before the end of the year, there were 4000 Waik.itos on the Waitar.i. A few Ngatiawas soon fell into tiieir hands. These were sacrificed to Tv, the god of Mar, and to \\ iro, the o% il spirit. Then a party of 25 was, eaten up. "A panic seized the Xgatiaw as, who fled to their stionghold with such precipitation that they bar] not time to procure provisions. The Waikatcs made repeated attacks upon the pa, but were repulsed every time. Famine and watchfulness, however, reduced the garrison to a state of despondency. Instead of stealing away under cover of night, they made the mi.sfike of attempting ;m evacuation in the day time. Ihe enemy, perceiving this, pursued and captured numbers of the halffannshed wretches. Then mothers tlnew their children over the piecipice. and leaped into the l iver below to avoid a. more dreadful fate at the hands of their sanguinary foes. The captured were driven into whaies and guaided by sentinels armed w it'll sharp Tomahawks. On that day the Waika/tos glutted themselves with the flesh of the slain. Next morning nearly 200 prisoners were brought ort. Those who were well tatooed v. eie beheaded on blocks for the sake of their heads. 801112 of the leijjainder were slain by a blow or cut on the skull On others every refinement of ciueltv w;is piactised, particularly the thrusting of a lcd-hot ramrod up the bowcK. Children and youths were cut open, eviscerated, spitted, and roasted over fires made fiom the defences of the ditmintled pa. In the afternoon a similar massacre took place, end so .greedily did these vampire's fe^t that some died from the effects of their gluttony. The feast was graced with the tatooed heads of the slain, which werp stuck upon shoit poles, and placed vis-a-vis with the captors, who would at time pause in their tfea-sting to addiess them « iih the most insulting exprc*sion«. This took place at Pukerangiora, iibout 12 miles up the Waitara In this bittle 500 weie slaughtend. 50 by the h.iiid of IV Wheiow hc-ro, who afterwards adopted Clnistianitv. The rest of thi.s large and prosperous village were earned into shivery. In after years, some of these weie allowed to return to Taranaki. and veie one of the souice* of tumble. 'Hie same applies to those who migrated to Ntlson. Emboldened by their success, the Waikatos proceeded to the Sugar Loaves to at(ack the Xgamotu pa. the ganison of whii-h consisted of 11 Europeans and 550 Maom The Euiopeans had four carron.ide>, but the W.ukatos thought that number- would tell. For four week- the s.cj;e w.is kept up. but the Waikntos iihc unablp to eft" et a h.d trim nt Then ;i fearful onslaught w,is made. Amid terufying vel\* *■,'«„; 'enees uae cut. and a pal tv 'was v. lilify/ crip pa. befoie 'nine of th r be-ie^i'd w^ie well .iw.iUp . The < an<m;'d<^ wiie spived with ci-leiitr and ])rei:ision. 1 lie nils--!, s which they bcithfd out inflicting houib'.p wounds mi the hodicn of the a--syilants 'J'he enemy ehaiged again and ag.'.n, until a jjanic spi/pd him. .nirl he letiojteil. ('l'.'^inu hi- dead chiefs. l,ut leaving Ins uonndf-d Thr. c bundled nnd ij f (y nutiliKd I)(.ilips liv lonnd the p •-- some dead ai'.l 'onie li\ 111 _r Then the Xgamotus lushed out 10 wie.ik vengeance '■n the v.oui'ded. fstripp v, '10 binned alive (Jne pi Loner had 0 to'.futli.iwk thiu«<i into h's mouth, while an 11K1-.1011 was m.ide in his thiofit, and p v ic-ich diank his warm flowing blood. lie w,i- tl.tn qiu'rteied. and his he.ut sent to the chitf as a present. A tic? it or came into th. pa in the hour of victoiv. «,!■' sii/ed. toituicd. .md Warn The dead which t'-c enemy li-'l buried weif p\huir.ed airl de-vcuieJ. The Xgatiawa< }» I 15 cli--.. r ': iii th; fight ; these were buiicd with b.nb.i'c bonouir. Each chief h.'d eight nv'skels buried with him, and a quantiiy of amim'niuc.i, and for each 10 skaes were killfd to beco'.ie ■■ervit>.rs in the rcinga, or spirit v. oild Tin Waikatos Jiever i.-peatcc' the ftuack, thcagh they thicatencd to do c<j • ana the remnant of the Xgat^iwr.'-. finding t! "nif-e!v»s too weak to opp-j-e a;\v lcncv.ed atlaclc, migrated with their women ai.d chi!'.lrcn, and iej[vjaed t.hjc-,k relaUva 4i .Qtiiki^ Wtiliufi-

ton, Queen Charlotte Sound, and other places. Their claims to Taranaki lands afterwards became one of the causes of the Taranaki wars. A few forlorn wretches, however, clung to the land of their fathers.

. . ." In 1873-74, Mr Wells, the writer of the history of Taraiuki. Interviewed the aged chief of this remnant, and, as far as could be made out. the names of the whites who took part in this conflict are Barret, Love. Akera.ll (Akers ?). Tamiri (Wright ?). Kopni (Phillips V), and Olliver. In the Witness S omo time ago " Bodach " refers to the Maori-ised fcum* of English words ; perhaps be will kindly revise these words in his pioposed article on Maori spelling compered with English.

And now to come to the hi«tovy of Taranaki, a? it d.rectly concerns us. A gieat d.al of the early settlement of New Zealand was the result of the efforts of the Xew Zealand Company, for which Edward Gibbon Wakefield was the principal agent. On May 13, 1859, the company sent from London the Tory, 400 tons. She arrived in Qiiten Charlotte Sound in due course, and there, on November 8, a deed was executed by which the Ngatiawas ceded an enormous tract to the company, a part of it being the present province of Taranaki. Colonel Wakefield, the brother of the agent, writing of it. says: "The Natives here, some of the ancient possessors of Tarandki, are very desirous that I should become the purchaser of that distiict, in order that they may return to their native places without f:ar of the Waikatos. They will yield all the.i claims on that district to the company, but stipulate for ths reservation of land for Mr Barret and the children of the late Mr Love as for the Native chiefs. These 'mo Englishmen, having lived among the Nyaliawa during their Avars-, and having had children born of Maori wives on the spot, have long been considered as belonging tn the tribe."' The Barret and the Wais mentioned tire those I have referred to. THE PLYMOUTH COMPANY. In 1840 there was foimed at P'.j mouth, in En 2,l .:'d. a company for colonising in New Zea'and from tlu West of England. The governor of the company was the Kail uf Devon, and among the directois w •:>•<; Sir Anthony Bu'.ler and John Isull^r, Esq. Is General Buller. of South Afri'-an fame, a inemb.-r of this family? This company puicha«ed 60.000 acres from the New Zealand Company, and issued a prospectus. The lai.d wa s sold in allotments, 250 of winch co-'sisted of a quarter-a^re town section and a 50-acre rural section, the two costing £75, and, to ■encoiu age .applications, one purchaser of four allotments was given £75 towards passage money, providing the passage mr-nov of the purchaser and his family equalled that amount. In * No\ ember, 1840. the immigrant?— some 140 01 so alf told, and mostly Cornish—'.eft Plymouth in th-* William ISiyan, 312 to. is, and reached the Sugar Loaves at the end of M<uch follow ing. When the company had landed ;ts difHcuH.es commenced. Theie were no hoiscs or bullock*. so all hands had to turn to and carry th-c stores aaid implements over the Huatoke. There was a duty, but that was not much good with hand-haulage. Tm o handcarts and half a dozen w heelbairows, however, came 111 haVdy. Such was the origin of the foundation of Taranaki.