In the Fairy Land of the South.

Otago Witness, Issue 2649, 21 December 1904, Page 29 (Supplement)

In the Fairy Land of the South.

" FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD,"

Scenic Gems from Out~of~the~uuay Sounds on the West Coast.

almost impregnable pa of Ruapekapeka. On Sunday, January 10, the Maoris, who had grown to consider the Fakehas' "Ra-tapu" a day of rest, flipped out at the rear of the pa to hold service and do a little extra cooking. The friendly natives discovered this, and the British stormed th? almost empty pa through the breaches already partly made by the field guns. Ruapekapeka had fallen. A desperate attempt to retake it, made by Hone Heke and his men, failed, the Maoris retreated to the forest, and the prestige of .the Pakeha wai restored. Hone Heke's men presently sur-

rendered, on promise of a free pardon. The chief's attitude throughout hostilities had presented the characteristic? of his people. Devotion to the land, deep-rooted, unassailable ; chivalry to his foes, natural and unpremeditated. Replying to Governor Grey, he said : "You are a stranger ; we also are strangers. You do not understand our thoughts, or we yours. God has made this country for us ; it cannot- bj divided as a whale might be divided. But concerning this do you return to your cwn country, to England, which was made by God for you. Ha made

this land for us, and not for you or any stranger to claim this sacred country." When he surprised a party taking cattle to the English camp he assisted them. Too savage — or too chivalrous? — to quibble about "contraband of war." Hone Hake died of consumption in 1850. His people observed the ancient hahunga or teast of the dead for two years following his death, and finally laid his bones with much ceremony in a cave at Kaikohe. The salutary check to rebellion in the north, afforded by the fall of E-uapekapeka, was not fedt in the south. In the