CANNIBALISM AT OPOTIKI.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXII, Issue 2658, 7 April 1868, Page 2 (Supplement)

CANNIBALISM AT OPOTIKI.

TWO FRIENDLY NATIVES MURDERED ANDEATBN BY THE HAUHAUS. By the arrival of the cutter Whitby at Auckland on the 20th instant, the Neio Zealand Herald has received intelligence from Opotiki. The Whitby sailed from that place on the 15th instant for Te Kaha, with the 1 intention of returning to Opotiki on Saturday last for despatches and passengers, but , owing to the dangerous state of the bar on that day, Captain Doughty deemed it prudent to proceed to Auckland. The reporj. which was circulated to the effect that the militia had been struck off pay is incorroot. Every available man is under arms, and expeditions are daily on foot. The intelligence from Opotiki is of a most startling character, and all the horrors and barbarities of cannibalism appear to be revived in a form that could have been little anticipated. We have had many instances of the extent to which this fanaticism has awakened all the savageness and brutality latent in the Maori nature, and of the degree to which it has excited feelings of the most cruel animosity against the white settlers, but we were little prepared for such a phase as Hauhauism has now again assumed. It would seem that not content with murder and pillage against the Europeans, the fanatics have resorted to acts of equal, if not greater, barbarity against their fellow countrymen. We had been among those who had fain hoped that cannibalism in New Zealand was a thing of the past, but we find it has been revived in all its horrors in Opotiki. Owing to the precautions adopted by the officer commanding the Opotiki district, the Hauhaus were frustrated in their attempts to cut off and murder the European settlers, but it would seem that, in their disappointed rage they had sought revenge upon the friendly natives. We learn that a party of friendly natives have been for some time past located in a pa situate on 'an island on the Ohiwha River, between Whakatane and Opotiki. The majority of the occupants of the pa were temporarily absent, leaving only two of their number in charge. In the meantime, however, a strong band of Hauhaus attacked the place and killed the two friendly natives. They then mutilated the bodies in a most barbarous manner and ate them 1 The Hauhaus have avowed their intention of killing and eating everything that comes within their reach.