SUCH THINGS WERE

Waikato Independent, Volume XXXIX, Issue 3549, 4 May 1939, Page 3

SUCH THINGS WERE

The Story of Cambridge from Earliest Recorded Times.

By C. W. VENNELL

CHAPTER VI. (Continued). Not long afterwards Te Waharoa returned wounded from his ruthless attack on Ohinemutu, where “for two days after the battle there he and his followers had remained to gorge on; sixty human bodies.” Brown visited the scene of the feast, and for sheer horror his description compares more than favourably with the grimmest of the tales of Edgar Allan Poe. The Ngati-whakaue was not expected to accept their defeat and Te Waharoa, anticipating an attack on Matamata advised Brown that the women and children should be sent to Thames and safety. This was done, but the missionary himself, undaunted by danger, tramped all the way to Rotorua in a vain endeavour to bring about peace. He returned to find his station had been plundered by the natives in his absence. On Bth October the dauntless missionary was notified that the committee of the C.M.S. had decided that Matamata was becoming too dangerous even for him, and that the station must be abandoned. With a heavy heart, Brown accordingly left the scene of his labours on 24th October, rejoining his wife and family at Puriri, near Thames, after being separated from them for ten weeks. With Ngati-koroki warriors fighting in Te Waharoa’s ranks it must have seemed to the disheartened missionary that all his efforts to civilise Maungatautari and the rest of his huge territory had been wasted.

CHAPTEL VII. . TRAVEL IN THE 1830’S WHILE he was still at Matamata, and at the time when events were working up between the Ngati-haua and Ngati-whakaue of Rotorua, Brown undertook two journeys which arc worthy of record, as probably the first of their kind ever undertaken by a white man (with the possible exception of an isolated trader) through the Cambridge district, and even more so for the difficulties and hardships which he encountered and overcame. On 31st May, 1836, accompanied by his wife and Mrs Chapman, he left Matamata for Mangapouri, Mr Hamlin’s station at the junction of the Puniu and Waipa rivers, where Pirongia now stands. The party crossed the Maungakaua hills on foot, and spent the first night at a place called Noho-topu, which I have been unable to identify beyond the fact that it must have been somewhere between the Maungakaua hills/ and the Waikato river, and therefore not far from Cambridge. In his journal for that day Brown Avrote: 31st May: In so retired a spot avc expected to be free from those alarms by Avhich for so long a period Ave have been nightly harassed, but Ave had scarcely retired to rest before the report of guns spread terror through our little company. We sent out tAVO spies in the direction of the report, and Avere grateful on their return to find that our supposed enemies were a friendly party in Avhom the sound of our voices and the smoke of our fires had excited fears similar to those of Avhich Ave had partaken. Ist June: Slept at Ilorotiu, We passed a number of men during the day on their Avay to Matamata. They state that the Waikato tribes are assembling in order to join Waharoa in attacking Rotorua. Our natives pointed out to us the remains of an old pa formerly occupied by Waharoa. During his residence there he rvas on one occasion attacked by a hostile party from the Thames, and having succeeded in killing two of his enemies he had their bodies sAvung upon two trees close to the pa, in sight of his assailants, in order to deter them from reneAving their attack. A further tAvo hours Avalk next morning brought them to the banks of the Ilorotiu, Avhence they proceeded by boat doAvnstrcam to NgaruaAvahia, and up the Waipa to their destination. The Avhole journey by water, not much more than sixty miles, took nearly fhm days. Leaving the two women Avith Mrs Hamlin, Avho Avas in particular need of their assistance just then, BroAvn returned to Matamata by the same route. A fortnight later he set out again for Mangapouri to bring them home. This time his most probable route lay across the Maungakaua hills, via what is uoav the French Pass. He records spending a night “near some loA r ely lakes.” This must have been in the vicinity of Ohaupo, Avhich is in a direct line Avith Matamata by the French Pass route. While at Mangapouri on this occasion, BroAvn experienced a phenomenon Avhich had a peculiar effect on the natives. We have all seen siioav on Maungatautari —that is a sprinkling of Avhite on the tree-tops, heavy enough to be seen from Cambridge, but not enough to survive the first feAv hours of morning sunshine. On sth July, 1836, he notes a severe frost and a heavy fall of suoav. Next morning both “Maungatautari and the Pirongia range Avith their snoAV-capped peaks formed a splendid vieAv,” Avhich though admired for its beauty by the pakehas, Avas looked on Avith awe by the natives. On his Avay back to Matamata some days later BroAvn found that this snowfall, which must have been of unusual severity, had produced much amazement among the natives. They seemed to regard it as a sign from the pakeha God. One chief asked the missionary if it Avere not Jesus Christ! While on the subject of native superstitions it is interesting to note that the Maoris (according to Hochstetter)* “once believed that Karioi, near Raglan Harbour on the West Coast, prepared rain for- Pirongia, and that Pirongia poured it OA r er the Waipa and Waikato countries. This, hoAvevcr, held good only Avith rain coming Avith a north-Avest Avind. When, on the other hand, Maungatautari put on a cloud-cap, then the natives said the mountain Avas enquiring of its neighbour, Aroha, Avhether it also Avas ready for rain. When Mount Aroha also Avas Avrapped in clouds, then rain Avas certain, but in this case rain accompanied Avith northeast Avind.” * Baron F. C. von Hochstetter, the Austrian geologist, who was engaged by the New Zealand Government in 1859 to make a geological survey of these islands. (To be Continued).