In the Days of Te Rauparaha

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17527, 2 May 1925, Page 19

In the Days of Te Rauparaha

Fiendish torture used in killing of Tamaiharanui.

(Continued from last rued?,)

TK RUAPARAHA brooded much over this murder of ; his relative, who, having accepted a secondary position in the tribe, no longer excited his jealousy, and had greatly assisted him as a wise counsellor and valiant leader. After full consultation witl.i the other chiefs of the tribe, he resolved that his revenge should be carried out by an act as treacherous as that by which the death of Te Pehi and his companions had been brought about; and whilst ' ti 11 revolving in his mind the best means of accomplishing this design, a European -esse l arrived at Kapiti from Sydney after having passed through Foveaux Strait and visited the Auckland Islands for the purpose of leaving a part)- of sealers a. 4 ; the latter place. Amongst the. passengers by this vessel was Hohepa Tamaibengia, a near relative of Te Rauparaha, who, on leaving Foveaux Strait, had heard of the murder of Te Pehi and his companions from the Maoris there, llohepa himself at once conceived the pro- : ject of seizing and killing some of the Ngaitahu chiefs in utu for their death, and entered into arrangements with the master of the vessel to proceed to i Akaroa for that purpose. This plan. I [ however, having become known to , ' some European passengers who were J about to join a .whaling party in j I Queen Charlotte Sound, they dissuaded • j the master from carrying it into effect, j and the vessel proceeded direct to i Kapiti. Ilohepa communicated his design to j Te Rauparaha, who determined to follow it out on the first convenient opportunity. Some time after the de- j parture of this vessel, the English brig ; Elizabeth arrived at Kapiti This ! vessel was commanded bv a person j named Stewart, to whom Te Rau- ; paraha offered a large cargo of flax if J he would carry him and a chosen, party of warriors to Akaroa, for the purpose of seizing Tamaiharanui. the principal chief of the Ngaitahu, who had been ; present at Kaiaooi, at the time of the I murder of Te l?ehi, and had indeed taken an active part in counselling it. ] Stewart assented to the proposal, and conveyed Te Rauparaha and his warriors to Akaroa, where the European scoundrel, at the instigation of his I charterer, opened communication with the unsuspecting Tamaiharanui, and

and daughter, by the promise of some guns and powder, to come oil beard, where he was at once seized by Te Rauparaha, who, with his men, had up to this time remained concealed in the hold of the vessel. Having bound the captured chief, they remained quiet until nightfall, and then landing in the ship's boats, attacked the Ngaitahu in their village, of whom they killed large numbers. The bodies of the slain were taken on board the vessel, which at once set sail for Kapiti. On the passage up the successful taua feasted on these bodies, using the ship'c coppers for cooking them. Jt may be that when Stewart engaged his vessel for this expedition he was not made aware of the intentions of Te Rauparaha, or did not forsee the results which followed, whilst he was certainly unable to prevent the atrocities which were perpetrated on board of her, but his name will always be infamous for his connection with this atrocious affair. It appears that the. unfortunate Tamaiharanui attempted to commit suicide, in consequence of which he was chained in the cabin, but his hands being free, he managed to .strangle his daughter and push her body through one of the after ports, in order to save her from, the indignities to which she would be subjected by her ruthless captors. But he himself i was taken alive to Kapiti, where he | was delivered over to the widows of Te Pehi, who subjected him to frightful j tortures, until at length he was put | out of his misery by a red-hot ramrod i being passed through his neck, j The following is the account given ! to me by Tamihana Te Rauparaha of the mode in which the unfortunate | chief was delivered to his death:— " When the vessel arived at Kapiti it I was proclaimed that Tamaiharanui was j on board ,and the people were delightI ed. Ngaitahu had thought there was 1 only the flowing sea (i.e., that there | was no one going ::o attack them), but 1 they were deceived, and Tamaiharanui J was taken. There was not many people j left in charge of Kapiti when the ship returned; they were at Waikanae cind Otaki scraoing flax as cargo for the ; vessel. Te Pehi’s widows were at Waitohu, near Otaki, scraping flax. Tamaiharanui was then taken to Otaki in Te Rauparaha’s canoe to be shewn to those widows, as it was to be left to them to determine whether he was to be killed or allowed to live, j “ When they arrived at Otaki he asked Te Rauparaha to spare him, but Te Rauparaha replied: l lf the partv kill- | ed, that is, Te Pehi, belonged to me, l

would save you. but as the dead belonged to Ngaititoa, I cannot save you ' : lie was then taken to Waitohu, to be seen by the widows, and by Tiaia. the ; chief wife of Te Pehi and was then delivered over to them. They hung him on a tree and killed linn with great torture, and he died when a red-hot | ramrod was put through his n~ck by j Tiaia. Te Rauparalia did not i his death. ’ It is impossible to conceive that ; women could descend so low in the , scale cf humanity as to commit such , atrocities without! any sentiment of i compassion or of remorse, but those who are familiar with the history of i the times of which I write, may recall many frightful instances of barbarity' of j the same kind. Amongst these, one of the most cruel i which has come under my notice is i the following, related by Wilson in his | '' Three Chapters in the Life of Te Wn- j haroa ”: “ We may here mention a ! tragedy—-all arc tragedies in this chap- 1 ter of horrors. Mr Knight was accustomed. every morning about sunrise, to attend a school at Ohinemuta Pa, but as there were no scholars on the morning of the 12th May, he went to the place where he v.as told they would be found. There he perceived a great number of peo’ple sitting in two assemblages on ' the ground— on* entirely of men, the other of women and the chief Parigo. The former company he joined and conversed with them, as well as he was able, on the sin uf cannibalism, but Korolcui and all laughed at the idea of burying their enemies. I “Their conversation ceased, however, i on Knight hearing ;he word patua »kill) repeated several times; and looking round towards the women, he was | horrified to J-ee the widow of : the late 1 chief Haupapa, who had been killed I at Maketu, standing stark naked and farmed with a tomahawk, whilst an- f other woman, also nude. arid. Range* j i were dragging a woman taken prisoner at Te Turnu, that she might be'killed [ by Mrs Haupapa, in the open space between the men and the women. Mr Knight immediately sprang forward and entreated them not to hurt the woman, but Mrs Haupapa, paying no attention, raised her hatchet; on this.. Knight caught the weapon and pulled it out of her iiand, whereupon the other woman angrily wrenched it from his grasp and would have killed him had not Pango interposed by running at him and giving him a blow and thrust chat nearly sent him into he lake. He was, . however, about :,j re-

Hern when the natives seized him and held h m back. ! '' Just then, the poor woman, slipping j out of the garments which sne was held by.“rushed to Knight, and Tiling j down, clasped his knees convulsively, [in an agony of terror. Her murderers came, and abusing the pa k-a ha the while for pokanoaing (interfering or I meddling!, with difficulty dragging her from her hold. The helpless pakeha ssvs, ‘ It would have melted the heart o* a. stone ’ to hear her calling each relative by name, beseeching them to save her. for though a Tauranga woman, she was connected with Rotorua, and to see her last despairing, supplicating look, as she was taken a lew yards off and killed by that virago Mrs Haupapa. “ Now this scene occurred siniplv because Haupapa’s widow longed to assauge the sorrow of her bereaved heart I*\ despatching, with her own hand, I-*rd. The tribe respected he* desire; they ii.'.-tuio ed to witness the -pectacle. and furnished a vict’m by .handing over a chief's -widow tc her will." It may. as T have before observed, s-aem strange that To Rauparaha did not at once take the bolder and more manly course, of attacking the Ngaitahu at Kaiapoi. in the ordinary way ol warfare, lor the purpose of avenging t he murder of Te Pehi and his brother chiefs, but. I was informed by his son that the course he adopted was strictly Lka, or in other words, in accordance with Maori etiquette in such matters, and that, indeed, any other line of actum Tvould not pfoperly have met the exigencies of the case. That Te Rauparaha was not limited fo the adoption of what we should consider tiie treacherous plan of revenge above related is clear from the events which I am about to refer to, for in about a year after the capture of Tamaiharanui our chief determined, in furtherance of his original design, to attack the great pa at Kaiapoi. For this purpose he assembled a large force, comprising Ngatitoa, Ngatiawa, and Ngatiraukawa, part of whom made their way through the Wairau Gorge and the Hanmer Plains to the Waipara River, which flows into the sea near the north head of Pegasus Bay; whilst he with the main body of his forces passed over to the East Coast, and from thence down that coast to the mouth of the Waipara, where. they were ioined by the inland part' . ITo be Continued.)