HUMPHREY WISEMAN: A COOPER OF BEDFORD.

Otago Witness, Issue 3804, 8 February 1927, Page 76

HUMPHREY WISEMAN: A COOPER OF BEDFORD.

— By South. (For the Witness.) The following is a true account of an adventurous episode in the life of an old Bedford man, one Humphrey Wiseman, who acted as cooper on a whaler that sailed from that port about the year 1845, bound for the New Zealand fishing grounds, and who died at the ripe old age of 93 in a little settlement in the South Island. Wiseman at the age of 19 was a man of over six feet in height, very powerful but exceedingly slender,.while his assistant cooper was a short, rotund young man whose bodily fulness seemed to accentuate the leanness of his superior. Their vessel reached North Cape after a voyage uneventful except for shortness of water, which was unpleasant enough in itself to cause them to break their journey to Stewart Island by entering Whangarei harbour, where they anchored and sent a boat ashore in search of water.

The boat’s crew numbered eight, including Wiseman and his assistant, and they had gone but a short distance through the bush before they came upon a shallow creek where, with one accord, the whole party cast themselves down to drink their fill of the sparkling water. Suddenly, from the bush that fringed x the clearing, there burst a hunting party of Ngapuhi warriors, and before the unfortunate whalers realised what was amiss the flashing greenstone meres had accounted for half their number. Two, more agile than the others, jumped the stream, doubled back on tlieir tracks, and pushed off in their boat to the ship, to report that the rest of the . party had been killed by the Natives. This, however, was incorrect, as the Maoris, seeing that they had but a small party to deal with, seized Wiseman and his assistant, collected the tools and weapons of the dead whalers, and struck off across country to their pa in case of pursuit from the ship. The captives had by this time given themselves up for lost, as the fate of their four companions at the creek gave them no cause to hope for mercy from the Maoris, for at that time the ruthlessness of the Ngapuhi tribe towards the pakeha was a byword among the whalers. °

Their arrival at the pa was the signal for a great demonstration from the tribe, and the cries of “Komate! Komate! Komate nga pakeha!” needed no translating to strike terror into the hearts of the hopeless prisoners. However, beyond a few rude buffets from the children they were not molested, but were led before the chief, who, after staring impassively at them for a few moments, ordered them to be confined in a small raupo whare in the centre of the pa. Their arms were freed and a meal was set before them, so that, after the warriors had tossed some mats to them for covering and withdrawn, their spirits, rose, thinking that these attentions were auguries of good treatment for the future.

For three days they were left to themselves, food in plenty being brought to them, -but on the morning of the fourth day Wiseman’s assistant was led forth by the guards, all unconscious that he was to figure as the piece de resistance of a cannibal orgy. Wiseman was left with a horrible uncertainty as ’To his comrade’s fate, and the sounds of revelry during the night did nothing to appease his fears. Next day his suspicions became certainties when he was led forth by two warriors and taken before the chief, who ran his hands over the captive’s body in. the manner of a farmer at a cattles, , e - Completing his examination, the chief grunted in a disapproving manner, allying, “E Tupuhi ana ia” (He is too thin), and ordered him to be led back to the whare.

From that day he lived on the fat of the land, kumaras, eels, shellfish, and birds being served up. to him at every meal, and he was allowed a considerable amount of freedom inside' the pa. He soon made friends with the children by carving for them in soft wood models of dogs and pigs and other toys, He also learnt a little of the language -i 3 l ° din g <liffercnt articles up to the children, whereupon they would pronounce the Maori name of what he held. borne three weeks passed in this manner, until what with the abundant food and the lack of hard work, he noticed, much to his dismay, that he was rapidly gaining in weight, but could tinnk of no means of preventing this. One day while carving fob the children he noticed a party of young men and women hauling a long tree trunk into the pa, and, curious to see what they were about, he watched them at work. First they raised tlie log from the ground by laying it across two large stones that were placed some distance apart, apparently for that purpose, then, while some commenced chipping at the underside with axes of stone, others built a row of small fires along the upper surface, feeding them continually with dry wood. ' ’ . ' It was not long before his expert eye saw that they were engaged iu fashion-

ing a rough dug-out canoe, and a means of ingratiating himself with his captors and at the same time removing their temptation by working off his superfluous tissue was suggested to him by the sight of their primitive carpentry. His ignorance of the language was the difficulty, and he was afraid to pick up an axe without any explanation, for fear they might misunderstand the action, and waste no time in-getting the first blow, so he strolled away to see what information he could get from the children. _ Squatting down in a group of boys and girls ■who were engaged in making flax matting hq drew out his clasp knife, and from a piece of soft wood carved a very fair model of a whale, which he handed to the oldest of the girls. Immediately every child in the group held cut a hand, so as well as he .could, with nods and smiles, he promised each of them something to play with. Pointing first to a half-completed mat and to his own ragged coat he indicated by marks on- the ground the size of mat he required, and then looked enquiringly toward the girl to whom he had given the whale. As soon as she caught his meaning she nodded, but immediately fierce dispute broke out amongst the other children. One would touch him on the shoulder, and say: “Maku c hanga to kahu” (“Thy mat shall be made by me”). Another would seize his arm, and angrily exclaim: “Kahore! Maku e hanga to kahu!” (“No! Thy mat shall be made by me”), and such excitement was raised that he had perforce to quell it by commencing another carving, this time of a native canoe.

He held up the finished article, and pointed to it in a manner that had become familiar to the children. “Waka!” they shouted, knowing that he desired its Maori name, and Humphrey, well satisfied with his invitation and thinking himself a brainy fellow for his ingenuity, sabntcred casually down to the group of workers around the log. One Native, more enterprising than the rest, attempted to use the adze that Humphrey had brought off the ship, and not being used to a tool of that shape or such razor-like sharpness, succeeded in gashing himself above the knee to his own annoyance and the amusement of the other workers. Humphrey, with carefully-assumed nonchalance of manner, bent down and picked up the adze, saying as he did so: “Maku e hanga to waka” (“Thy canoe shall be built by me”), and straightway commenced trimming off one side of the log, doing in five minutes quite as much work as the whole working party could do in an hour. Then taking no notice of the silently-watching Natives he clambered on to the log, and kicking some of away made the chips fly in all directions, while his audience looked on in open-mouthed astonishment. From that moment until the completion of the canoe he was the most popular man in the pa. All the tools taken from his ill-fated companions were brought to him, and every day he toiled from morning till night in the blazing sunshine, getting thinner and thinner as the canoe took shape. And what a canoe! Never had such a one been seen. Here was no ungainly hollow log charred and blackened inside and out by the slow burning, but a graceful craft all smooth and shining, with high posts at stem and stern, neatly dove-tailed, and locked in place by wooden pins.

Humphrey waxed fat in idleness, and, despite the fact that he was still a prisoner, was not unhappy. . He was learning the language rapidly, and made many friends among the older men, although the young warriors continued to eye him in a speculative manner that caused him much uneasiness, and, but for the presence of the chief and the ciders, things would have gone badly with him.

One day the chief and the head men of the. tribe departed on a ceremonial visit to another village to attend a tangi, and then poor Humphrey found himself once again in danger. For 4 some days the ■warriors contented themselves with threatening gesture, but the storm broke one evening, when a group of them held a conference followed by a haka, in which he caught- certain illusions to himself that caused him to fear his time had come, and taking up his axe he stood at the door of his whare resolved to give a good account of himself before he was sent to follow his assistant. The haka ceased,' and the leader signed to the women, sayipg: “Nga wahine! Homai he kohua mo te pakeha ra” (Women! Bring a pot to cook the white man), and. advanced on Humphrey, brandishing his long-handled mere. Then came a quick patter of bare feet, and a soft voice cried :

“Taua! (hold). Who is it would dare slay this pakeha that is your chief’s . property. Porangi! (fool). Heard vou not his promise, ‘Ka utua Koe ina mutu to mahi’ (I will reward you for your work). The chief’s presents make this .man tapu, and none but I, Ngata, may [ touch him, and as the daughter of your chief, I warn you. Harm not this man, for my father has promised him to me for my husband.”Sulkily they retreated, and Humphrey, bewildered by .the sudden change of events, 'and unable to follow the girl’s rapid speech, crept thankfully to his whare in ignorance of the honour in store for him. '

On the chief’s return, the marriage ceremony,-which consisted chiefly in the" Natives" over-eating themselves, was conducted with all dispatch, and Humphrey, being young and a sailor, was not at all averse to having a good-looking young bride thrust upon him. Two years passed with nothing beyond occasional inter-tribal skirmishes to enliven the monotony, and Humphrey and Ngata, his wife, had become greatly

attached to one another, and were quite happy, although he was at times assailed by longings for his own kind and. for the deep sea. One. day while wandering through the bush in search of a tree suitable for converting into a canoe lie sighted a ship heading up the harbour, and, running down to the beach, he waved his flax mat —by that time his only garment—to attract their attention. The whalers, for such thev were, were for a long time suspicious of a ruse on the part of the Natives, against whom they had been warned, but Humplirey’a excited gesticulations interested them, so that they lowered a boat and came ashore, warily and with muskets ready for use at the first sign of treacherv. Great was their astonishment at finding a white man. But for his light hair and .English speech they were hard to convince, that this wild figure was indeed their own countryman. Their vessel had put in merely to reconnoitre the harbour, and they wished Humphrey to return with them immediately. He prex ailed upon them to delay for an hour until he could return to the pa for his wife, and no amount of argument could shake his determination not to leave without Ngata. That night found the wanderer once more amongst his own kind, and Ngata, fearful at first of the great ship and the strange pakehas, was content to be at her man’s side wherever he should go. The whaler was heading south, being newly arrived from overseas, and having a full crew and no need of an extra cooper, they landed Humphrey and Ngata at Waikouaiti, where Johnny Jones engaged him to manage a whaling station further down the coast. He remained at this work for some years, until the death of Ngata, when he wandered round the country for.many years, taking such work as came to his hand. He finally married again, this time a half-caste Maori who was nicknamed “ Muck,” and whose real name has, through disuse, been forgotten, took up some land in what is now a small country town, and settled down for the remainder of his life. Now, it is a curious fact that this man whose slimness was instrumental in saving his life; should, in his old age, turn the scale at over 20 stone. When I saw him he was seated at one end of a rough deal table in the stone w’hare that he had built, with his enormous body filling and overflowing from an armchair that would seat two ordinary people; and when he laughed—ye gods! Have you ever seen a haystack during an earthquake? That would be an inadequate impression of the mass of humanity that was Humphrey. At the other end of_..the table sat “ Muck,” with busy knitting needles clacking an accompaniment to the old whaler’s yarns of the long ago. Every nov and then, in the middle of a sentence perhaps, the old fellow’s hoary head would fall forward, and a gurgling snore issue from his hedge-like whiskers, whereupon “ Muck,” with a stolid, uninterested expression, would reach for the basin that stood upon the table, splash a handful of cold water on his face, and resume her knitting before the echo of the last snore died away. He would then straighten up and continue his yarn from where he left off, apparently unaware that he had done anything out of the ordinary.' Well, he is dead now, this old pioneer—one of the last links with :,the time when men had new countries to conquer, and braved perils in everyday life that you who read this have to pay to read about. He was a man, my masters, and I believe his tale, but should there be some among you who doubt, doubt quietly, for there are yet some of his breed to stand up for him.