A NEW HISTORY OF THE WAR FROM A NATIVE POINT OF VIEW.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XVII, Issue 5238, 17 December 1883, Page 2

A NEW HISTORY OF THE WAR FROM A NATIVE POINT OF VIEW.

♦ i TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —l am descended from a long line of ancestors. The first mortal or man ancestor of mine was the offspring of a Tanewha, who lived in the whirlpools and dark caves about Tongariro. From such a source is my origin, and as such it has been acknowledged by the Native Land Courts, one of f your legal institutions ; so I hope that no one will doubt this account of my original and immortal descent. I have, too, with my tribe, based our rights — well, I wi'l say, our claims, as it is a better word than right — to many a block of fair land. I always took money when it was offered to me on account of a claim from commissioners. When in Court, to suppoit that claim, I always swore to the truth on your Bible. I rubbed my nose well on it — our form of kissing or substitute for it — fid then I traced my descent from that old and ancient Tanewha. In the main my accounts did not differ much, and I always claimed my Tanewha for my ancestor. I always won my case, and I always sold to the Government. I invariably did thus, thanks to a teaching I had had from my Tanewha ancestor who appeared to me in a dream. "All this country," said he, •• waa mine when I dwelt in Tongariro. You are my descendant, so grasp all you can ; if you don't others will ; stick to your Tanewha ; quote him well j chant songs of no meaning. People don't like to expose their ignorance, and they will agree with you as to what you say is this meaning, as the less they know the more stubborn they will be to agree to it. Go, too ! / "ise, my son ! The Courts wait for you ! Go, and the white Christian race will protect you ! Obey your behests, and love yourself, even as they love each man themselves. E noho." And he has vanished ; but I often see him in my dreams, aud his teachings are ever * the same. My human ancestry, eighty-nine generations back, each generation marked on this notched stick, the top and biggest notch is my Tanewha's mark, made with a stout axe by himself. My mother was a Waikato, my father, the one who begat me, for I have many fathers, originally came from Ngatiruanui. The tipuna (grandfather) of my mother's sister, was a TJwera chief, who again was the geandson of a Ngapuhi, who had killed an Arawa chief under the £/eat Hongi Honga, fortunately for me, ate a portion of that same Arawa chief, so Hongi by our law became entitled to his estates, to which I have a large right, andtoTaupo and the lake district (as you courts acknowledge) so as I explain to the court, I am entitled to receive advances on the land occupied by the Ngapuhi, Arawa, Uriwera, Ngatiruanui, Rauru, and Waikato's. I could give you my own mother's ancestry, bub it is totally different to that of ber sisters. My father's ancestry was again different. Through him, I claim at the Thames and Waketu, and Whakataua, and on a yet undiscovered goldfield. My father's father died, his mother threatened to marry again, so my father married his mother. 'J hen she died, when in her right he became possessed of the j manor which has by right descended to me. So you see I am a la ge land owner, and always am willing to sell to any one, but prefer the Government to buy. Further, lam related to all the Hau Hau's and Kingites, and until the last few years have fought against you. That is over now for me, and now I will tell you why I have addressed you. It is my intention to seek out a good European, who understands our ways, and get him to put into your language what I tell him in mine, but who, at the same time, can be trusted to keep my real name a secret. Well, when I have found this European translator, seen and talked him to attention, a d told him that he must put down who and say word for word, I will give our history of the past war, and the fights and the causes that led us to fight against you. Governors have written, Premiers have written, Generals haye writen^ histories of the war. Missionaries have written, Gudgeon has written ; some of them have told the truth, Otneiß mUI ttuuu >I ...Ann if I suited them. Busmen has written, ugh ! such aMg book, but, alas ! the majority of the writers have lied and cheated, Now, Mr editor, before I seek for a white translator, before I commence my history of the fighting as witnessed by me, for our 7iislory. will you consent to publish it when it is sent to you ? I shall only speak the truth. What I have witnessed I will speak of as that I have seen, and what I have been told as that I have heard. My book will be better than the books of those pakehas who have written solely from what they have been told or read of. Write your repiy to me. I am your friend, Kowhai Ngdtu Kaka.

The mystery which has exo'ted so much interest in Wellington and other places about Podo.Euonymin, is resolved at last T!is jaw-breaking term is a patent medicine, with a second descriptive title, " Irving's Syrup," and its introduction is due to our enterprising chemist Mr L^asby. The medicine is said to be efficacious in cases of indigestion. Podo is a ccmti action of Podophylum, and Euonymin is the extract of the Japanese Laurel — a medicine that has come ! into vise lately amongst the allopaths as a I specific for disorders o"f the stomach, &c.