The Phantom Canoe.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5944, 14 June 1886, Page 3

The Phantom Canoe.

A STRANGE STORY STRANGELY CONFIRMED. [SrECIAL TO THS " STAR."] WELLINGTON, Jone 14. Our special correspondent at Wellington writes : — You remember that in the first accounts of the Tarawera disaster, the story waa told of a phantom canoe seen on Lake Tarawera by a party cf tourists and Natives. I have seen some of the touriefc who w«re present,

and they have corroborated the story in most particulars. They were on their way from Wairoa by boat to Rotomahana. The day was very bright and clear, not a cloud in the sky, or the least obscurity in the atmosphere. Presently they saw a canoe, with high ends, going along parallel to them, apparently racing, her crew standing up and paddling in the old Maori fashion. At first they counted eleven men in her, and afterwards not more than three. Theirownrowershailed the strangers several times, but there was no reply. The bodte continued side by side until the teurists turned into the arm of the lake leading towards Rotomahana, when the stranger, keeping up Tarawera, was soon lost to view. This is Blightly different from the "sudden disappearance" of the early account. My tourist friends thought nothing^ of the matter, except that they had an idea that the big canoe was part of the show ; but observing the excitement of the Maori guides and rowers, and the effect the newß of the canoe had on other Maoris, they made enquiries, and were informed that no such canoe as they described had ever been seen within the memory of the district. The oldest Maoris were very decidedly of that opinion, and Mr M'Rae, of the hotel at Wairoa, who has been seventeen years in the district, declared positively that he had never heard of or seen such a canoe. According to the description of these witnesses, whose competence I can vouch for, as they are personal friends of my own, the canoe was recognised by the Maoris and others as a war canoe. The party was on its way back from the Lakes, and had just reached Auckland when the eruption took place. "One of them mentioned the circumstance to the proprietor of one of the newspapers there, and thus the etory found its way into print. <BHB BTOBT is that the tohnngas (priests) kept a war canoe stowed away in oome creek, which was probably made tapu, in order to make portents on occasions of disturbance, such as took place not long before the great outburst, such as hearings of the waters of the lakes, and the sudden rising and falling of springs, appearance of new holes, and bo forth.