D—No. 16

Leave him and go up to Whananaki, where you will find friends. I made answer, Take the boat; and then Henry said, Give me some money with the boat and it will be all right. I said that I had no money, but he could go in the house and see if there was anything there that would satisfy him; there are a few clothes and seed potatoes. He then said, I have plenty of food, I do not want your boat or things, if I did I would take it; I want the woman. I again said, Take the boat. He said, No, you refused at first, now keep the boat; a woman for you. He then said to my wife, Woman, get in the boat. He repeated these words two or three times. The woman, my wife, made no answer. He then took a shawl he had flung over his shoulder and made it fast round his waist, then came and caught hold of my wife's right hand and with the child in the left. She said, What are you taking me for; I suppose you want me for some Maori. He said, Come along, you need not cry; you will not be hurt. She would not get up. He, Henry, then commenced to drag the woman. I then seized the child on one of my arms and caught hold of my wife's left arm, but the Native pushed me on one side. He dragged my wife to the water, then ducked her and flung her in the boat. The woman, my wife, then said, You are treating me like as if I was your slave; Ido not know you. He said, Hold your crying and be quiet. The other three men and the woman then got in the boat. He, Henry, then made towards me; I tried to make away with the child, but he came up with me, which I saw and called on George Duncan to come and take the child so as I would be able to defend myself. But he only made the reply, " Let the child go Jim, or it will be hurt.'' I was then struggling with the Native Henry. He, George Duncan, said, " Jim, let the child go it will be all right they will not go far before they fetch the woman and child back. They are drunk, they have been drinking at our place since morning." Just then, the native, Henry, struck me and 1 fell to the ground, he falling on top of the child then lying on my breast; I heard the child cry; we were still struggling when he struck me a blow which stunned me for an instant. He got the child, when I sat up they were iv the boat. He brought out a bottle and gave them in the boat something out of it, then he drank himself and called George Duncan, he did not go. Henry then said, George, tell your father the white man isconquered by me; I have taken the woman. He then called George Duncan and whispered something to him and shoved the boat. I heard my wife crying and bidding me and the children good bye; she said, 1 will not stay there long. I shouted to the Native and said, You had better take the boat. They turned back, I then thought they had changed their mind, but they only turned back for a small dog they had got from Mr. Duncan's. They went off again without saying a word. My wife again shouted good bye, I will shortly return; I watched them out of sightfbr I could not see the boat far, for it was not very moonlight. I then spoke to Mr. Duncan's son and asked him why his father did not send him down for me when the Native came to his house in plac of leaving it till night, then to send him to shew where I lived. He said, they have been having a spree up there; Richard Kemp was there; Henry Ngakapa took away a bottle of Richard Kemp's grog. George Duncan then left me and commenced larking with a half-caste girl that was there with two or three more children and a Native woman belonging to Naturanga. The men had left them there until they returned from Kororareka. They were down on a fishing party. I was acquainted sliglitly with them and they were stopping at my place. George Duncan said that his father would soon bring the woman, my wife back. He said, Jim, you and your mate, who was asleep in the house, must take me up in the morning. My father promised to send Jacob for me but I expect he is too drunk to think about it. We went in the house when I said to mv mate, You are a pretty fellow; the woman has gone. He said, How is that. I told him, the Natives have took her, have you not heard of it; there was row enough He sail, I heard a great noise, but I could not understand what it was about; I heard them a saying something about a boat, but I soon went to sleep. In the morning I went with my mate and my two children to take George Duncan up home, it was Sunday when we reached the landing place; George went up directly to his father; when I went up his father was in bed. He said, Jim, th's is a sad affair; if I had been you I would have settled the whole mob of them before they should have taken my wo.i an and child away, but I think if you and my woman goes down to the Bay, she can fetch her back; Henry Ngakapa is a relation of hers. The woman of Mr. Duncan then said, You talk of setting them all, Henry was going to give you a good thrashing and you went in the house out of the way- Mr. Duncan then said, I should like to see the Maori that would thrash me; if I had been Jim, I would have got an axe and put an hole in the boat, so as they would not have had a boat to go away in, then what would they have done. But he said, Jim, what are you going to do in the matter, shall you and the woman go to the Bay. I said, this is Sunday, to-morrow morning 1 shall come up again and see Mr. Clendon and hear what he says about it. They, Mr. Duncan and his woman and daughter then began telling me that Henry Ngakapa had brought two gallons of rum from the Bay when he came there, and they had drank three or four bottles there during the day; and he hud said that he was going to take your wife, I thought it was chaffing or jest, I took no notice; just as they was going away he took a bottle of grog of Richard Kemp's. I said, You heard him say he was going to lake my wife, why did you not send down for me to come up and see things settled here in place of sending George down to shew where I lived? He said, I did not think he would take the woman, and they asked me to let George go doun with them, they should only go and talk to you and come to some arrangement, and stop at your place that night and return in the morning. I then started to go back home to return in the morning to see Mr. Clendon; I left and went down the river. Early on Monday morning I started to see Mr. Clendon, when 1 had got about 2i miles up the river I met a boat coining down, in it was Mr. Clendon, Mr. Henry Kemp, and another gentleman a stranger to me, and two Maoris pulling. I hailed the boat and told Mr. Clendon I wished to have a few words with him; I stated the case to him as I have wrote. He then asked me where the Natives belonged o. I told him 1 believed they came from Whananaki, He said he was going to Kororareka and he

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ABDUCTION OF THE WIFE AND CHILD