NAPIER TO TAUPO.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3129, 21 February 1871, Page 2

NAPIER TO TAUPO.

[From the special correspondent of the Hawke's Bay Herald.] native affairs. We arrived at T&puaoharuru on the afternoon of Friday, the 17th ulfc. Next day we went on to Puketarata, a place some ten miles hoyond it, in a northerly direction. Wo found Poihipi and tho Taupo natives, who were engaged with the road works in the neighborhood, encamped there. From them we heard that the famous old kingite chief of the Ngatiraukawa tribe, Maiht te Ngaru, (famoiw at least among tho natives, though his name has not very often got into European newspapers) also Hori Ngaware and several other quandom Hauhtvus, were at Orakeikorako, ready to tendor their submission to the Government as soon as Mr Locke should arrive to receive it, and that tho feast, at which this business was to be consummated, was to take place in a day or two. One section of tho Ngatiraukawa tribe have, with their chief, Matone te Whiwhi, been all along loyal ; another section, about equal in numbers, and possessing about an equal extent of territory, being under the influence of Maihi to Ngaru, were Btaunch supporters of the king ; and, in tho late troubles, even wenc further than the king in hostility to the Europeans, as they openly sided with To Kooti. They appear, at the same time, always to have fought fairly, and were not concerned in any of the massacres. On the first institution of the kingship, Maihi te Ngaru himself was one of the candidates for the throne, and ran such a fair chance of winning it, that the clique who supported Potatau only carried their point by hurrying through the election before Maihi's supporters could arrive in sufficient force. Tho fact of his submission is the strongest evidenco than wo can have that thejking movement is rapidly verging towards extinction. It must also be observed that its occurrence, at the present time, is an extremely opportune event. When wo found that we had a good road all the way from Napier to tho projected bridge over the Wuikato at Te Niho-o-te-Kiore as will be the case in a month or two, and when we knew that there was another good road running southwards from Auckland as far as Cambridge, that is within thirty miles of Te Niho-o-te Kiore, as is the case already ; when further we knew that the country between tho terminations of the two roads was clear and level, and presented no engineering difficulties whatever, wo should have felt an intolerable grievance that this break in our communication should be allowed to remain. Continual attempts would have been made to pass thrrugh Buch a small belt of hostile territory, and these attempts in all probability would have led to ever renewed complications. This difficulty, now that the natives have given in their submission, will no doubt quietly settle itself in a very short time. For several months past, tho Ngutivaukawa tribe have been putting out feelers to ascertain tho temper of the Government towards them, and the terms they might expect it they submitted. Tho native officer for Hawk e's Bay and the East Coast had, on various occasions, received messages from them through the loyal natives, intimating a desire to come in. At this stage of tho negotiations, very careful handling of the business was needed j any blunder, even such a blunder as a display of over-anxiety for their submission, would have put everything into confusion again. No blunder however was committed, and the result is, as we see, that the affair has been brought to a successful issue. On the occasion of Mr Locke's last visit to Taupo, tho last, that is, previous to the one with which we are at present concerned, several of tho minor Ngatiraubawa chiefs visited him, and expressed thoir readiness, in tho name of their tribe, to give in their submission. This was, bo far, satisfactory; but in order that tho business might be finally concluded, it was necessary that Maihi and Hori themselves should put in an appearance, and this they have done on the present occasion ; further, to make assurance doubly sure, Maihi intends paying a visit to Napier in a few days, to set everything right at head-quarters. It will be the first time that he has seen Napier, and the first time, since the original outbreak of hostilities, that he has seen any European town, unless it may have been some little outscttlement with, perhaps, a public house and a store in it. The next day was Sunday. The meeting, as we now heard, would not take place till the following Monday. I made uso of the interval to visit Orakeikorako, a place which contains eomo of tho greatest wonders in the whole region. I will pass it over for tho present, however, and go on to the native meeting which occurred on Monday, the 23rd ultimo. THE MEETING. The place of the meeting was Otuparahaki, a mile or two beyond Puketarata. The Taupo natives spent tho morning in boiling thoir potatoes, baking their bread, and putting everything in readiness for a Maori banquet of tho first order. About eleven o'clock, the Hauhaus, as they called them — that is, the Orukoikorako natives, with Maihi, Hori, and the others who were about to come in — were to be seen deploying out of a valley some two or three miles to tho north. They carried a flag in front, which, on a closer view, turned out to be the " Union Jack." They disposed themselves ao ns to make tho most of their numbers, and presented rather an imposing appearance. There were about sixty or seventy in all, as we saw when they came up. When they arrived on the ground, they ranged themseveß in line, opposite to a parallel line, about fifty yards off, formed by tho Taupo natives. In the middle of the latter stood our solid and, for the nonce, solemnlooking friend Poihipi, a vast mountain of flesh, tho gravity and dignity of la's aspect marking him out as the man who bore the cares of the commonwealth on his Atlantean shoulders. One could easily have imagined that he had been transported to one of the valleys of tho Scottish lowlauds, and was attending a conventicle of Covenanters j mid when the dolorous monotone of the tangi began, with its dirge-like resemblance to one of their old psalm tunes, the illusion became so overpowering that we involuntarily refrained "from laughing, and found ourselves almost in the act of taking off our hats. When the tangi was over, the speechmaking began. From two or three gentlemen who were sitting near me, who have a considerable knowledge of the Maori language, I gathered a good deal of information with regard to the proceedings. Most of the speeches were thickly interlarded with songs, proverbs, and all manner of enigmatical incomprehensibilities ; bo that the residuum of common sanso was, in general, very small indeed. What there was of it was characterised at least by one admirable quality, straightforwardness. Indeed, for the most part, it consisted in lavish praise bestowed on tho speaker by himself, and of violent abuse liberally supplied to tho hon. gentlemen opposite. The abuse, however, did not seem to rouse the slightest indignation, but waa taken quite as a matter of course. The first speaker was Hohepa, Poihipi's second in command— a big, raw-boned, roughlooking fellow. He eaid, "It is you who have brought all the trouble upon Taupo. You brought Te Kooti here. You did nil you could to make the place desolate, but you did not succeed. That wus owing to us. Now you come back because you have had a good Bound thrashing. Welcome, all the same. Let us, in future, bavo but one coat, one shirt, one pair of breeches, and one pair of stockings." (This meant, I was informed, let us be in all respects ono people). Tho honorable gentleman concluded with a song. Poihipi rose next, but not much was to be made of his oration, so full waa it of songa, enigmas, and mere truisms. In practical matters he has the keenest and shrewdest of heads, but in his oratory he probably goes on tho principle that the least said is the soonest mended, and so introduces as little as possible that could by any ohanco need mending. He

| began with a song ; then he said—" Come here old man (meaning Maihi), and join us; another song. " Come here, Tongariro," referring to. Tukorehu, a Ngatituwbaretoe chief, I who lived in the neighborhood of the volcano ; be had joined Te Kooti last year, and now came in with the others to submit. "We have been a long distance apart, not of late i only." — Song — " Come and be enlightened. I did not keep Taupo shut up. That was you. Come, come," &c. ad libitum. Tukorehu, who was seated opposite, then rose, and his speech had really something of nobleness and pathos about it. He said — " You have called to mo, my younger brother (means to say, I belong to the elder-branch), to come to you, and I, your elder brother, am coming. Mountains, lands, and peoples, I salute you. Let us speak our whole minds, J and let nothing be hidden. It is your turn to boast fca-day. Ifc might have been mine had things gone differently. I come back I now, but not holding the same position that I I held when I went away. Talk on whatever you think proper. Eewiti te Eumi, anotherTaupo native, then rose and said — " Welcome to Taupo, to the good land, that we have just been playing the very devil with" ; and a good deal more that j was neither amusing nor interesting, concluding with a song, which was, in this instance, accompanied with a chorus. Hori Ngawahare, an old and influential' warrior (too old to manage the journey to Napier, I bolievo), and, next to Maihi, the most important man on the ground, next made a speech, containing the following observations, of which let any one make what he can : — " Why did you cut the rope that held us to gether? Let us mend it." — Song* — Let us stop and cry for food like children." — Another song, — " Talk on, and we will listen to you," &c. Poria, a Taupo native, whose talents lie in the comic line made some remarks, which wore received with shouts of laughter. What the joke was, I could not make out. He sat down, and the speaker was no less an mdi- j vidual than Maihi himaelf. If one had expected to see a gigantic, heroic- | looking chieftain rise to his feet he would have been signally disappointed. The speaker was the oddest- looking little figure conceivable; fcatooed, ot course, so that no spot in his face was its natural color, with a bunch of white downy, albatross feathers in one ear, and a large piece of greenstone hanging from the other. He was about five feet and a half in height, and, being bent, looked even smaller than he was. His ascendancy 'among the Maoris is sufficient proof that it is not size and perfection of physique, but brains and energy, that carry the day among them, as among Europeans. As soon as he began to spoak, it was clear that we had a genuine orator before us. To us his gesticulations might seem grotesque, and his cadences merely ridiculous, but they held his audience entranced, and they had, after all, their analogue in the graceful movements of a Chatham, and the rounded periods of a Burke. It is, of course, impossible to convoy anj notion of his eloquence here. One sufficient reason is that very little of his speech was comprehensible to any of us, the number of eongs introduced being more than usually large. He began by giving a list of half the tribes in the island worked up into a peculiar sort of chant ; this he repeated two or three times, rushing forward and clawing the air in an alarming manner. Then he said, " These all joined the king through my influence. As for you, you stuck by the Queen. That was for the sake of the food you got ; because you thought only of jour bellies. You were too lazy to make a living as your forefathers had done (by eating your neighbors?) That was not the way with me. I don't come in for the sake of my belly. I come back with clean hands. I hereby peel the dirt off myself. (This was accompanied with the appropriate gesture). Hauhauism, Kingism, &c, hero it is. I cast it all from me. Poria, the last speaker, ia a ," something quite untranslateable, say an extremely contemptible old blackguard. (The gentlemun alluded to evidently thought it a good joke). " Dig your road. I won't trouble you. No more Btopping of the roads for me. I always fought fairly ; I never was a murderer." Pihipi again said — " When the white men came here first I saw how things would go. I was not such a fool as to join the Hau Haus like you new people." The last remark roused the wrath of Bakatoa, a returned Hauhau Ngatituwharetoa chief, who said, " Don't call the Ngartirnukawa new." Then followed a song, with a chorus, which presumably bad reference to their pedigree. " Our return is a true one. We have been all to blame. You two, Hohepa and Kewiti, are a pair of double-faced rascals j but you are my younger brothers." Mr Locke then addressed the meeting in the following words — "Friends, I have listened to all your speeches, which appear to be satisfactory. You say you have entirely abandoned the king party and Hauhauism ; that is to say, you have abandoned that section of the people whose object is to obstruct the advancement of the country in peace and prosperity, which they might as well endeavor to do as to stop the flow of the Waikato with a straw. All well thinking men will see the folly of such a course in time. I tell you Maihi, Hori, and Ngatiraukawa, the same as I told those of your tribe who came to me on my last visit to Taupo, and the Bame as I told the people of this district whon I first came up here on the part of the Government. I wish to see the troubles that have disturbed the land for years past at an end, that the people may prosper. I want to see the people act together for that purpose. At the same time I desire all parties to consider well before deciding. If you have not fully made up your minds to settle down with Bingleness of purpose, go home again. It ia better for you to be there than to come here upsetting those whote minds are fixed upon that object. When I came to Taupo it was not safe to move about, and but few natives were with me, in whom I could trust, excopt my friends Poihipi and Hare Tauteka. Now all Ngatituwharetoa, all round the lake, have come in, for those at Tuhua will be here next month. Eouds are now being made, of which the people see the benefit, for, by using druys and ploughs, the women will be saved from carrying heavy loads and working like beasts, killing themeelves and their children. They will be able to grow more food, and to take the spare, produce to the coast towns or to the settlers in the district, and by that means purchase clothing and other goods cheaper, and the whole of the land will be enhanced in value. AH this and more they see, and appreciate it. Now, if you had fully made up youi minds to assist mo in these objects, and abandon your present manner of living, act straightforwardly with me." After some more remarks in the same Btrain, he said — " I should like you, , Maihi, Hori, and a few others, to come with mo to Napier, and to communicate with the Government there." Maihi said he would bo quite willing to do so. He is now on his road with about ten others. Hori Ngaware was too old and infirm to undertake the journoy. All then had a drink, and afterwards adjourned to lunch. That being concluded, the sedtrunt was reBurned. Hohepa, holding the flagstaff with the union jack flying, began : " Tho preliminaries being over, let us go into the winding up, and see that we understand one another. There are two questions we have to ask. Ist. If the King persists in protecting the murderers of Todd, will you back him up? Tukorehu answered, " No, we have left the King and all his doings. If you need to attack him we will not interfere." Hip, hip, hip, hurrah, was then given in truo English Btyle by both sides. Hohepa—" Do you acknowledge this flag," (the union jack) ? Chorus of Ngatiraukawas— " Yes." (Hurrah again vociferously). Eakatoa— " All east of the Waikato has submitted to the Queen. You see this stick. I break it. Thia half is Te Kooti j this half

■is Tawhiao. I fling them both away from ma" (Hip, hip, hip, hurrah). Maihi confirmed the sentiments to which hia friend hud given expression. Hohepa—" The second question is about the roads. Do you mean to keep them shut up in future ?" Maihi'6 son, Eangihona, Tukorehu, and others said — No, there should be no more hindrance to road-making. Upon this there was more hurraing. Poihipi remarked that everything "was moat satisfactory, and Hohepa begged to refer again to the 'remarks he had made about the desirableness of their all wearing one pair of breeches, &c. ; and so the affair concluded. THE MILITABY POSTS. There are two or three things worth Mticing along the line, which I have not tWftrt •alluded to. At Te Haroto, the first JpR, there is the well, the only means of aocess to which is within the blockhouse, though the well itself is some distance off, and has to be reached by a subterraneous passage. The object of this arrangement was, of course, to supply the place with water in case of a siege. Near Tarawera the natives say there is a hot spring, though few, if any, white peoole have seen it This, if its medicinal qualities are equal to those of the springs at Taupo, will some day be very valuable, on account of its proximity to Napier, being, indeed, as near as Waipukurau. At Eunanga there is the Literary Institute. It happens that among the detachment of the force stationed at this post, there are several men of education and ability. Some of them devoted their spare time to the construction of a building which might serve the purpose both of a reading room and a concert hall. Only a email building was required, and they were, on this account, all the more enabled to devote time and labor to its embellishment, so that they have made it a perfect gem in its way. The very shingles arranged in ornamental patterns, and every post and every pan/iel is finished with care. The building is an ' octagon, with two little wings branching off at opposite sides. Above the door is printed in gilt letters, on a bluish marble ground, " Literary Institute, MDCCOLXX ;" inside, above the entrance to each of the wings, are the inscriptions mine est legendum, and Literis et artibuß. On the table there is a very fair collection of reviews and newspapers of their own, with illustrations. The illustrations are the work of a gentleman whose artistic talents are well known in this province, and a good deal of the writing is evidently by a practised hand. On [the walls there are one or two oil paintings, very prettily executed. At Opepe thero is also an Athenaeum. Seen from the outside it is rather a rough looking place, but is extremely comfortable inside. The Opepe men are ambitious, however, not to be outdone by Eunanga, and a more elegant edifice is in course of construction. Afc Tapuaeharuru, the difficulty of getting timber lias hitherto prevented £he erection, not only of an Athenreum, but even of houses for the men. A commodious building, however, is now nearly finished, for this latter purpose, and the other may follow. Now that the roads are completed, the difficulty about the timber is removed. It can be got at Opepe, about nine mileß off, or at Oruanui, also about nine miles off, in the opposite direction. TAPUAEHABUKTT, HOT SPRINGS, ETC. Having reached Tapuaeharuru, we have at ' last got fairly into wonderland. Leaving the redoubt, going a mile or two along the eastern bank of the lake, we come to the place where the waters near the shore are at a temperature of about 70 deg. Here also a hot stream debouches, forming near the bank of the lake a steaming cascade. Going a mile or two in the opposite direction, that is, down the eastern bank of the Waikato, we come to a groupe of Puias, one of which at least, viz., that known as the " crow's nosf," is unique in some of its characteristics. It is situated in the middle of a brook, which flows into the Waikato. Innumerable twigs and branches, that have been carried down by the brook, have been stopped beside it, and, being petrified by the silicions deposit, have arranged themselves evenly all round it, interlacing with each other, like the twigs of which a bird's nest is constructed. That the resemblance may hold good, however, it would be necessary that the nest should be turned upside down. Perhaps an apter simile would be an enormous beehive, with a large aperture in the centre, in which the boiling water is continually bubbling up and down. Not far from this spot also is the hot waterfall, which, with the pool below it, is becoming the favorite bathing-place of Taupo tourists. A little higher up the same stream is another waterfull, where one can have his bath still hotter. OEAEEIKOEAKO. When we arrived at Puketarata on Saturday, the 21st ult., I had no idea that I was within a few miles of Orakeikorako, a place which Hochstetter's artist represents as one of the most astonishing scenes in the universe. Eaoh bank of the Waikato, in his picture, is studded as thickly with steam-holes, as if the ground there were the dilapidated lid of a pot under which a large fire was roaring. I confess to have been rather disappointed with it at first sight; one might almost pass the place without noticing that there was anything remarkable about it. On inspection, however, he would observe, that there were really a very large number of places from which a little steam was issuing, and the impression made by the view of it would no doubt have been more striking if it had been eisited for the first time on a sharp frosty morning ; then the steam hangs about the banks of the river so as almost to hide them under a cloudy cover- | ing j so, possibly, after oil, the artist was not exaggerating. The pa at Orakeikorako stands on an eminenco two or three hundred feet above the river. Looking over at the opposito bank you see about half-a-dozen bare, barren spaces, from twenty to fifty feet wide, of a, white or white and red color, alternating with the patches of dark green copse. Over these spaces, the waters from the hot springs that have gushed out of the bank a little higher up . find their way down to the river. The whiteness is caused by the silicious deport. _ The ground where it lies has the same feeling of crispnoss and brittleness as if it had been newly frozen. Wben the deposit is first laid down it is of a reddish color, and of the consistency of a jelly j this accounts for the red lines with which the white spaces are interspersed. As it cools it becomes hard and white. On the left bank, just below the pa, thero is also a large space of the description mentioned. In this place, close under the bank, there is an oval basin, of some twentj feet in length and twelve in breadth. In the middle of the basin is a mass of water, about a couple of feet in diameter, continually boiling up to a height of two or three feet above the ground. A number of Maori women were engaged washing clothes there when I passed. A few yards nearer the bank of the river is the spring which gave the name to the whole district, its name having originally been Orakeikorako. My guide informed me that at one time it used to send out a spout of water a hundred feet high, though latterly it has been quite inactive. Still closer to the river bank is a third fountain, called Te-miaHoma-iterangi, whioh is a still active geyser. I was unfortunate enough not to see it in operation, bnt I was told that if I could have waited » little longer, it would have sent up for my benefit a column of boiling water about ton feet into the air. THE AI>T7M CAVE. jdfe There are geysers ann solfatarae, and so or^T to be seen at Tokano and other places, whion^f are quite an wonderful or more so than those at Orakeikorako ;' but Orakeikorako contains one sight, which is not to be paralleled els«« where— that is, the " Alum Cave," bo called because the stonea that are there are covered , with this substance. So far as I am aware, no account of this cave haß as yet appeared in print. It is on the right bank of tbe Waikato, almost directly opposite the pa. Even if one were across the river, however, it would be both a difficult and dangerous matter to reach it alone. In the first place, it

would be almost impossible to find it ; and, in the second, the path to it lies through a perfeot network of boiling springs and mud-holes. The Maoriß, however, at the pa will be only too happy to t»ke the tourist across the river in a canoe and guide him to it, for a few shillings. After a good deal of clambering over precipitous ridges and tearing one's way through a good deal of undergrowth (there is not so much of this as there was, as a track is beginning to be formed), one comes at last to a place half way up the right bank of the river, where he Bnds an almost perpendicular descent of some ten or twenty feet in front of him. Getting down it, however, is not a matter of much difficulty, as there are bushes all round that one can hold on by. Once down, he is in the middle of a cluster of troe ferns ; making his way through them to the- left, ho finds himself, at last, at his destination. The scene is then one of a degree of beauty not to be paralleled out of Fairyland. The cave is about forty feet in length, and it slopes downwards from the entrance at an angle of thirty degrees. It has a high vaulted roof, colored with innumerable shades of green, varying from the deepest to the brightest. The ground is formed of sharply cut, brilliantly white Btones. At the bottom there is a little water, hot, of a pale ultra-marine color. At the end of the cave, beyond the water, there is a large flat slab of rock, extending from the basement j to the roof, on which the great painter, Nature, hns laid a hundred rainbow tints of green, pink, and purple, with a skill that a j Raphael or a Reynolds would in vain have j attempted to emulate Going down to the j water and looking upwards ton ards the entrance, seeing the. sunlight make the leaves of the tree ferns into living gold, then fall in j fantastic checker work, along the deep green : roof, was a sight of yet more ravishing beauty. I was so struck with it th.it I could not refrain from pointing it out to my guide, forgetting for the moment that ho had no soul ; ho took it up that I considered tho tree ferns were an annoyance, as they Btopped \m the mouth of the cave. He said accordingly that he would cut them down before I* paid another visit. I implored him not to do 60 ; then he said ho would not, and was probably rather puzzled altogefcherjjwhafc to make of it. I asked him ■what he supposed was the origin of the cave. He told n,O some yarn about one of his ancestors having poured some water out of a calabash, which immediately made a largo hole in the ground, &c. I said, "of course you consider that all humbug." He said, " yes ; you and we know that it is nil humbug. All tho same as in the Bible, the Israelites crossing the Eed Sea. A long time ago it wa9 all right, and now it is all humbug." Seeing that I did not approve of his sentiments, ho proceeded to explain them in the following manner :— -Sticking up his thumb he said. " suppose tliis is G-od ;" then putting up his forefinger, " suppose this is the pnkeha," his next finger, " this is the Maori." Closing the three together, " this is the way they were a long time ago (both close to God) ;" " spreading them cur, " this is how they aro now (both far off)." One could not have expected to find 80 profound a philosopher amid the wilds of the Maori desert. Strange that sophistical absurdities should penetrate so much farther, oven into the outlandish corners of the world, than truth and common sense. I ascertained afterwards that he was educated for the church. His education does not seem to have done him much good.