AN INCIDENT IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE COLONY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 597, 18 October 1880, Page 2

AN INCIDENT IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE COLONY.

In the North Island lived a great ohief called Rauparaha. ■" He had gradually acquired supreme.power there, and had conquered or exterminated all his enemies, Like Alexander, he sighed for new worlds' to conquer; and unlike that classic-gene-ral, he was not content with sighing, butproceeded to aotion, He manned his war vessels, and set out on piratical expeditions, southward, and under pretence of buying greenstones and other valuables,he visited the different pahs, put the inhabitants to death, and seized all. the plunder he could lay hands on. The men' of Kaiapoi, were the first to offer any serious resistance; he Bent.sixteen, chiefs on shore to deal-.with them; they understood .the kind : of dealing they might.expect, and.slew the sixteen chiefs without further parley; Astonished at this unexpected resistance, Rauparaha withdrew;. only, however, to collect new forces. Chartering a brig in one of. the northern ports from a man named Stewart; he put his men on board

of;'her i; and' sailed trinetoiKaiapoibut toAkaroa.;, Entering the harbpr he caßt a,: .mesßage..'as from : Stewart, ■ requesting the. chief to come on board, and the) Bale of greenstone and other articles; The r old :chief,; accompanied by his wife ahdi daughter, complied.. When they reached'! the brig they saw nothing to alarm them, for all Rauparaha's men were all hidden; but when tha : great.warrior at ; last:ap? ; peared, the old man knewthat 'hei :was? lost. So, indeed, he began;to : torture in the still.houraof chief sfrangled.their daughter—their only ■ child—to save her from a' worse;.fate.;;;t Finally Eauparaha preaented the chief to, the widdwa of the sixteen war- i riors slain at Kaiapoi, to deal withas they;:' pleased, and by them.he.was tortured to' death. Meanwhile, the Maoris, to the number of four hundred, left their different pahs and hastened to the fortress on' the island—called then or afterwards by.:: the touching name of yOnawe"-Hny : ' scars. Here they might have defended ut themselves against three times the num-. ber of assailants.that. Eauparaha could : possibly bring against them; but treachery: soon'did what force could not efiect, Rau- - par'aha demanded their submission only J and then .promised to-let' them go' freil They believed him, and openedtheirgatJ| Then the fatal word was given and one of those four hundred, men was Blain where he stood. They appear to have made no resistance at all;, probably their -. arms had been taken from them; anyhow the slaughter was complete. A few boys," women, and children;were.carried away as slaves, but all the men were Blain. The after details are siokening to hear and to tell: How the cannibals 'feasted for three days on their dead enemies; eating all they could, and salting the remainder for future use) ■ : Thus were the Maoris of the peninsular all but exterminated, a little before the arrival of the French' settlers.' ThVfew survivors who escaped the massaore seem : to,have been the weak and worthless members of the tribe,.and they have de< teriorated in every way, mentally as well , aB physoially. A few of Rauparaha's slaves escaped and returned, one, a fine ; stalwart gray-beard, tells the above details. His own share in the fight is not' 1 unworthy of record. " :

.... "I was but a boy," he said, "and I hid ;■ myself. In the hut was a spear; I took if in my hand. One of Rauparaha's men 3 looked in and saw me. I thrust the spear ' at him; it entered his eye; I coutinued : to push it; it entered his brain, and he '""" fell dead. A warrior saw him fall, anii.. • looked in; but instead of killing me, he said Iwas a young brave. He tied- me \'. hand and foot, and flung me into his canoe, _ He took me to the North Islaui>v with him. I was his slave for. many years' then he became a Christian, and. set. all his slaveß free. I came down here to niy pahj but I find none of' my old. friends; all, all, are dead-slain at Fort Onawe,"-. Marlborough Express.