PAGES OF THE PAST

Taranaki Daily News, 16 June 1923, Page 9

PAGES OF THE PAST

(By

“Juvenis.”)

JOHN RUTHERFORD. j

A PICTURESQUE FIGURE, Part I. John Rutherford is a picturesque figure in the early history of New Zealand. Rutherford states that he left New Zealand in 1826, and after a sojourn of nearly a year at Tahiti, and of some further time at Port Jackson and Rio de Janeiro, arrived in ‘England early in 1828. Being himself unable to jvrite, he got a friend to commit the story of his adventures to writing, at his dictation, in the course of the voyage from Rio to England. The substance of this story was published /in JB3O by Charles Knight, in “The New Zealanders,” a volume of the Library of Knowledge, which is said to have been revised and in part written /by Lord Brougham. After several voyages in different parts of the world Rutherford shipped on board the Magnet, a three-masted schooner, trading among the islands of the Pacific Ocean. This vessel having put in at Hawaii, in the Sandwich Islands, Rutherford fell sick, and was left on that island. Having recovered, however, in about a fortnight, Jie was taken on board the Agnes, an American brig of six guns and fourteen men, which was then engaged in trading for pear] and tortoiseshell among the islands of the Pacific. On her return from Hawaii the Agnes approached the East Coast of New Zealand, intending to put in for refreshments at the Bay of Islands. A gale of wind, however, drove her some distance to the south of the East Cape, and on March 6, 1,816, she was opposite a large bay which is called Takomardo (Tokomaru). Being in great need of water, the captain somewhat reluctantly determined to stand ; n for this bay, and ultimately came to anchor off the termination of a reef of rocks, immediately under some elevated land, which formed one of the sides of <the bay. Canoes soon came off' from al! parts of the bay, paddled chiefly by women, who gave much trouble by their pilfering propensities. THE SHIP ATTACKED

In the moYning a chief named Aimy (Hemi) came on board in a large war canoe, carrying above a hundred men, and trading proceeded with such vigor that, by the close of the day. about 200 pigs had been purchased, with a large quantity of fern-root to feed them on. The captain had also arranged with Aimy that he should take the ship’s boat on shore for a supply of water. This having been hoisted on board, the boat was sent again for a further supply, but did not return till the following morning, when the captain paid

Aimy for his trouble, giving him two muskets, with a quantity of powder and shot. There were now about 300 of the natives on the deck, and the captain, being apprehensive for the eafety of the ship, ordered the sails to be loosed, and preparations to be made for putting to sea as soon as the crew should have had their dinner. Just as this order was being carried out, there being none, of the crew on deck excepting the captain and the cook, the natives commenced an attack upon the ship. The captain was killed at once with a tomahawk, and the cook, who ran to his assistance, was despatched in the same manner. The chief mate was next struck down as he came running irp the companion ladder. Four of the crew jumped overboard, but, being picked up by some canoes that were coming from the shore, were bound hand and foot. The rest were soon secured, and all were taken on shore. The ship was then plundered, and the cable cut, so that she was soon stranded on the beach, where she was set on fire. Six more of the crew were killed on the following day, and their bodies, together with those of the captain, .cook and chief mate, were cooked and eaten. SAILORS TATOOED. On the third day Rutherford and his five surviving companions were taken about ten miles inland to a village which was the residence of a chief named Rangadi (Rangitati), and on the following day, each of them was stripped of his clothes, and being laid on his back, was held down by five or six ! men, and taiooed. At this village Rutherford and four of the others remained for about six months; one of them, named John Watson, having been taken away by a chief named soon after’ their arrival there. After this they set out in- -company with Aimy and another chief to pursue their journey further, into the interior; one ot their number, however, whose name <s not given, being left with Rangadi. On their arrival at another village, the chief of which was called Plama, another, whose name was John Smith, was left with him. When they had travelled about twelve miles further they stopped at a third village, and here they remained two days. The chief of this village,/Ewanna tfEwani), treated them very kindly, and one of the white men, named Jefferson, was left with him. From thence Rutlnerford and his remaining companion resumed their journey with Aimy and another chiet until they came to Aimy’s own village, which thenceforth became their home.

A ■ TOHUNGA’S PRONOUNCEMENT. The first event of imnortance which occurred at this place, the death ol Rutherford’s companion, more than a rear, perhaps, after their arrival/ though the time is not distinctly marked- It occurred in this wise. Aimy and ms family went to a feast at another village a few miles distant; and while they were away the chief’s mother, who had been ailing for some time, died, un Aimy’s return there was much discussion as to the cause of the old woman s death. After Hearing all the circumstances from the tohunga. who had been in attendance on the invalid, an old cluer gave it as his opinion that it was clear that the immediate cause of the old lady’s death was that she had eaten potatoes which had been peeled with a white man’s knife, after the said knife had been used for cutting rushes wherewith to repair a house, on which account he thought that the white man to whom the knife belonged should be killed. Rutherford ventured to pldftd for his comrade’s life, but it was all in vain. The chief who had pronounced the sentence proceeded to execute it by striking the poor man on the head with his mere, so killing him. Rutherford was now left alone among the hatives, and his clothes bffing all worn out, he had to adopt in his dress the fashions of the country. Fop the first sixteen months of his residence at

Aimy’s village, he kept a reckoning, oft days by notches on a stick, but whcß he afterwards moved about with thn chiefs he neglected this mode of tracing the progress of time. At length proposed, in the presence of the tribe, that he should be made a chief. To this proposal he consented,- whereupon* his hair was cut in the most approved fashion, his head and his face adorned with red ochre and oil, and hit newly acquired dignity was further marked by presents of some mats and a handsome stone mere. He was invited moreover to select a wife from among the marriageable young ladies of the tribe. His choice fell on Aimy’s daughter, Ehore, whereupon Aim/lhsisted on his taking her younger sU^r f Epeka, with her. VISIT TO TARANAKL < 'Some time after this he took a king journey with the chief Aimy, attended by a suitable retinue. In about a incdtth they arrived in Taranaki, on the cOpst of Cook’s Straits, where they were fe- , ceived by Otago, a great chief, whojiad 1 come from near the South Cape, -fibre he saw an Englishman named Jmm* Mowry, who was the sole survivor of a boat’s crew which had been cut off W the natives, had lived eight years among them, and had married Otago’s daqgh* ter. This man .had been well tattooed, and made a chief, and had become so thoroughly at home with his that he had no desire to leave them. Be had heard, Rutherford says, of the capture of the Agnes, and gave him an account of the deaths of Smith and W- 1 eon. “On leaving Taranaki,” the storjr continues, “we took our way along the coast, and, after a journey of six weeks, prrived at the East Cape, where we met with a great chief named Bomurry, belonging to the Bay of Islands. He told us that he resided in the neighbor- . hood of Mr. Kendal, the missionary, jfie had about five hundred warriors #ith him, and several war canoes .... had plundered and murdered nehrly every person lived between th® East Cape and the River Thames; snd the whole country dreaded the name,of Bomurry .... He and his followers having taken leave of us and set sail in their canoes, we also left the East Cape the day following, and proceeded ( on our journey homewards, travelling during the day, and encamping at in the woods. In this way we arrived in four days at our village.’* A SECOND EXPEDITION. In the course of time another important expedition was undertaken, the account of which shall be given mainljr*ift Rutherford’s own words. “One , da t * I messenger arrived from a neighboring village with the news that all the chiefs for miles around were about to set Ottt in three days for a place* called Kai-' para, near the source of the River I Thames, and distant about 200 ndlea from our village. The messenger i brought also a* request from the other chiefs to Aimy\o join them, along With his warriors, and he replied that h* would meet them at Kaipara kt tfiw time appointed. We understood that/ga were to be opposed at Kaipara by a Mgh- 1 ber of chiefs from the Bay of Islands and the River Thames, according to an appointment that had been made with tpa| chiefs in our neighborhood.” _ After describing the preparatidni the journey, the narrative continuestj “We were five weeks in reaching,nyy para, where we found about 1100 MM* natives encamped by the side of a On tha opposite side of the river, wkWl was about half-a-mile wide, and not more than four feet deep in any about 400 of the enemy were encamwwj waiting for reinforcements?’ W£h these people was a white man, “who., says Rutherford, “told me that name was John Newman, that he gnal a native of Port Jackson, and that hg bad run away from the Tees, sloop-ofl war, while she lay at this island. had since joined the natives, now living with a chief named matty, whose daughter he had marruVj and whose residence was at acalled Sukyanna, on the West Coast within fifty miles of the Bay of 11 lands.” |

(To be continued.) |{