KIMBLE BENT

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVII, Issue 5, 31 January 1912, Page 16

KIMBLE BENT

True Story of “A Man That Was.” — A Noteworthy' Addition to the History? of the Maori War.

y ~y IMBLE BENT, whose name was IV execrated a generation ago with a whole heartednesa that we \ who live in these peaceful times cannot understand—has been living practically unknown for nearly half a century pmong his adopted people, the Maoris. This queer old forgotten man with the 'outward appearance of a “respectable shopkeeper” (so his chronicler describes him) has been harbouring in his memory a host of true stories that read like fairy tales. There could be no stronger evidence for the almost complete “Maorification” of his character than the faet that for all these years he has been silently hoarding this storeyof incident. iOne would have surmised that he would (liavo turned it into hard cash long ago. There were, of course, reasons why he (might not care to figure in the limelight of publicity.. Fortunately Mr. flames Cowan came across this relic of the old days, gradually drew from, him (the story of his chequered life, and now (gives it to us in the most interesting fvolume on Early New Zealand that lias Ibecn published for many years. “The {Adventures of Kimble Bent” Mr. Cowan •'calls his book, which is published by (Messrs. Whitcombe and Toombs, at five (shillings.

Born in America, Rent was first a bailor, then going to England took the IQuecn’s shilling and served in India, and eventually came to New Zealand with the first draft of troops sent to quell the Maori rising. After deserting the colours as the. result of a flogging, he lived among the Maoris more as a slave than anything else, and was apparently the cartridge-maker-in-chief for the particular band of Hau Hau rebels with whom he threw in his lot. He was (right through the engagement? of the jWust IC'oast campaign, and for some years followed the fortunes of that fierce warrior Titokowaru, so that he witInessed sonic of the bloodiest, and appalling acenes of that terrible struggle between the Pakeha and the fanatical Hau Hau. And so for the first time we get the true Maori side of some of the most exciting events that, were crowded into the troublous ten years when the. white 'settler really carried his life in his hand.

Mr. Cowan is peculiarly fitted for the task ho has undertaken in the present book, and in bis many other contributions to New Zealand literature. He is one of the few New Zealand writers of Iho day whose writings will have value for future generations. His unique work fivlll be valued more and more. There is pndlcss material in the Dominion for the (maker of books, but unfortunately much of it has already disappeared, and it is only when such men as the. author of “Kimbel Bent” give us - the result of their work that we realise the scope there is for distinctive Now Zealand Stuff. The average colonial writer is quite on the wrong track in the search for a distinctive, “school." We have unfortunately in this Dominion a small nest of misguided folk suffering from cocoethes scribendi and Bulletinitis who are striving to evolve something in literature that never was and never will be. Our subjects are distinct, but there is surely no need to strive after a brand new style to deal with them. The subject will in time colour the style just as use mellows a treasured meerschaum, but there are so many of our antipodean writers who want l*> work the other way round. It can't be done. If they would just go ahead and iles<’rri<e what they see in the language their mothers taught them, we would soon have a hmg eltelf full of interesting Imohs. One can never understand this fever Ish striving after something new. Literature ia m world-old that the idea of a handful of lullf-edueatod people in a far away corner of the globe remodelling ft. is delightfully droll. How they must ■mile on Olympus these times! Of

course in Australia, or certain parts of it, they were unfortunate in their compulsory pioneers, so one can understand the horrible craving they have to get away from the Old World even in their literary ideals, but we in New Zealand have no such excuse in following the blind rush for something new—something that must reek of eucalyptus and smack of the kangaroo and the emu. Don’t let us mistake cheap smartness for brilliance, or a pose of nil admirari for sound judgment. While this small band of half-cooked writers has been getting through its attack of Bulletinitis Mr. Cowan has been steadily going on •writing the sanest English on the sanest topics that we have come across in the Dominion. With the true insight of the artist lie has seized the really distinctive atmosphere of New Zealand, but he is quite content to talk alrout it in clean, sane English. He has that unerring instinct for the picturesquely primitive which you will find in the great stories that have come down the ages to us. To this temperament he adds a keen appreciation of the Maori character and a first hand knowledge of the Maori and his ways, and an intelligent sympathy with his point of view. Of the central figure in this exciting story the author says: “When at last Bent came out of hiding, and dared once more to face those of his own colour, he had almost forgotten the English language, and could only speak it with difficulty and hesitation. He has been out of his bush exile many years, but is still living with his Maori friends, and is still known by his (Maori name, ‘Tu-nui-a-moa,’ which his chief Titokowaru gave him in 1868. When he writes to me he usually writes in Maori, and he is practically a Maori himself, and has assimilated the peculiar modes of thought and some of the ancient beliefs of the natives, as well as their tongue and customs.” Again Mr. Cowan says: “One of the most remarkable portions of Beni’s narrative is his account of the revival of cannibalism by the Hau Haus in 1868. Vague stories have been heard concerning the eating of soldiers’ bodies I the bushmen of the Ngati-Kumni and NgaIlauru and of rites of human sacrifices performed in the woods of Taranaki, but this account of Bent’s is the first detailed description from an eye-witness of the man eating practices in Titokowaru’s camps. Many of Tito’s Hau Haus are still alive, but they are very reticent on the Subject of ‘long-pig.’”

Mr. Cowan does not attempt to justify Kimble Bent; he simply tells his -plain unvarnished tale, and the narrative is sill the more convincing from this impartiality. There is one point, however, on which the author does exonerate Bent, and that is on the charge of having shot one of his old officers who met his death .while storming a pa. According to Bent’s statement he never at any time carried arms against his former comrades. He was merely a spectitor, and was always found among the non-combatants when there was any fighting. It is. hard to believe that the ofj-time Maori did n't try the genuineness of the white man's desertion by putting him in the firing line occasionally, and the reader will probably accept the claim with some reservation. However, it is rather like splitting straws to say that one never fired a shot at one’s former comrades, but at the same time admit that one made cartridges wholesale for the reliels. We can le.idily understand Bent’s desertion, after reading the account of his hardships, and having once taken the step his surrender to the redcoats was, of coiuse, an impossibility; that ia if he valued his life more than his honour, and no doubt lie had just ns keen a desire for a whole skin as most, of us. The only thing one is thankful for is that he is not an Englishman —u fact of which few people were aware.

However the book was not written as a study in ethics, but as a vtory of adventure, and as such is the most interesting personal document that has

been published of those dark days of the war. The Maori side of the disastrous engagements that were fought beneath Mount Egmout, the hunting of the Hau Hau from pa to pa by the redcoats, nas never before been told in the complete manner- in which Mr. Cowan deals with it, and for this reason alone the book should be read by everyone who takes an interest in the early days of the Dominion. There are some gruesome chapters, such as the description of the cooking of the bodies of the soldiers after Te Ngutu-o-te-Manu, and the headhunting expedition of our own troops after the retreating Hau Haus, but stil'l there is no reason why these things should not be set down historically, and it is only in this way that they are dealt with. The astonishing disparity of the forces engaged—the margin being always to the advantage of the white soldiers—will come as a surprise to a good many colonists, who have only read the already published accounts of the war. But with the terrible example of the hopeless storming of the impregnable Ohaeawai stronghold during Heke’s war, we know that the bravest troops could not in those days dislodge a well-garrisoned pa of picked Maori fighters. Terrible mistakes were made, 'but they were mistakes, and only in one instance —the first assault on Te Ngutu-o-te-Manu—-could anything of a more serious nature 'be charged against our troops. Apart from historical interest attaching to the book, the story, of the adventures of the old sailor, soldier, cartridgemaker, and canoe-builder, make interesting reading to the present generation. It comes with something of a shock to think that within the memory, nay within the experience of men still living, such scenes were possible. It seems hardly credible that the Maori could undergo so great a change in such a brief period. An interesting part of the book deals -with the end of von Tempsky, that picturesque figure of the war. In addition to the narrative of Bent, the author has obtained first hand stories from others who were engaged in the campaign, notably Tutange Waionui of Patea, who was one of Titokowaru’s most active scouts and fighters; Colonel Gudgeon, Colonel Porter, and other colonial soldiers. The book is well got up, and contains a number of illustrations, including a map of the war country, several sketches by von Tempsky, photographs of some of the Maori warriors, and a photograph of Kimble Bent himself, taken in 1903.