SVEN BERGGREN IN NEW ZEALAND

Turnbull Library Record, Volume 3, Issue 1, 1 March 1970, Page 29

SVEN BERGGREN IN NEW ZEALAND

Section I The visit to New Zealand in 1874-5 of Sven Berggren the noted Swedish botanist and world authority on mosses and algae has been hitherto known to New Zealand students only through his two formal taxonomic papers. Any published comments of a general nature so far located were buried, untranslated, in a Danish geographical periodical 1 and in it he was dealing chiefly with the hot lakes region. His note in the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute on ticks in the wool of a dead sheep 2 could hardly be said to add to the corpus of discerning impressions of the New Zealand landscape. The first of his two papers, published in 1877 3 , described twenty-four species, seventeen of which were new with one new order but it was not until twenty-one years later that his study of New Zealand liverworts appeared. 4 Some years ago while newspaper searching for references to the central North Island area the writer found a fleeting mention of Berggren in the Taupo region in January 1875. 5 An approach to Lund University, the institution of which he was a staff member at the time of his antipodean visit, seemed worthwhile. The University at first were unable to help and had no record of any manuscript material on the visit. However three years after the initial request, on the eve of abandoning the seemingly forlorn hope, an excited letter from Miss Margareta Donner of the Manuscript Department of the University Library of Lund advised that the manuscripts in question had just been returned to the Botany Department. Photocopies of the journals were most generously enclosed.

But if survival of the archive was confirmed, its perusal was still a major challenge. The text was apparently in old Swedish script in faded pencil and the xerox copies did not compensate for the deficiencies of the original. Two translators tried unsuccessfully to make some headway, and it seemed that after all, despite the tantalising identification of well-known place-names in an otherwise meaningless page, Berggren was not for us. However we were most fortunate in interesting Mrs Barbro Macnamara, then a student at Library School, in the formidable task. In the time she could make available Mrs Macnamara succeeded in providing what may be regarded as a good working translation of much of the copy, despite certain indecipherable wastes. The main record consists of four diaries with a separate overlapping descriptive summary of the thermal regions section, and correspondence with New Zealanders and others about his visit.

The diary entries vary greatly in length depending upon Berggren’s interest, mood and available time. Even when full they are set down in

a characteristically abbreviated and highly allusive form. He may have intended later to write some kind of travelogue in addition to his formal botanical descriptions but such a record, if ever completed, was not published. The shortened, adjectival style of the entries, however, while adding to the difficulty of translation, does give the reader of the more rounded sections an individual, unusual view of New Zealand life with a subtlety entirely lacking in Hochstetter or Haast, but perhaps best exemplified in the later and more ‘tourist’ oriented book of de Segur, Au bout du monde (1901). Whether commenting on the inflection of a Maori girl’s voice, cruelty to animals or the drunkenness of their European owners there is an un-English freshness in his impressions. He was sensitive to what he would have regarded, had he framed it in such words, as colonial boorishness, although before his departure he seems to have come to terms with antipodean mankind.

While he accepted the current New Zealand stereotype of the Maori, he quickly seems to have reached an awareness of Maori personal identity and point of view. His roughly recorded verbal sketches cry out to be translated into real drawings and one diary has in fact two or three sketches which make us lament their rarity. His letters to Haast are more rounded and, perhaps in recognition of hospitality, smooth over his difficulties, disappointments and frustrations. In outline, Berggren left London on the Helen Burns on 13 September 1873, arriving in Lyttelton via Melbourne and Foveaux Strait on New Year’s Day 1874. After discussion with Haast he decided to visit the West Coast, for which he departed on 31 January. In Hokitika weather and the inhabitants discouraged and rebuffed him from proceeding further south and he was back in Christchurch by 12 March. He then went to Otago, spent some time with Hocken in Dunedin - unfortunately we have no details of this stay - and visited Invercargill but

does not appear to have gone far inland. From Wellington in June he proceeded north to Napier, Ohinemutu and Tauranga on what might be regarded as a first quick reconnaissance. Auckland’s welcome may have been a little warmer, but in Northland from October things seemed to come right. Percy Smith surveying near Taheke would have been an excellent host in the bush and the Maoris as well as pakeha Maoris were friendly. On 12 December he was back in Auckland, to leave once more for the centre of the Island. From Tauranga and Maketu he went by Ohinemutu, Taupo and Tokaanu to the Upper Waikato and the slopes of Ruapehu, returning to Auckland by the same route on 19 February 1875. In April he was again in Christchurch making his farewells to Haast before leaving for Fiji, Hawaii and San Francisco. He was back in Lund by February 1876. Berggren’s decision to visit New Zealand appears to have been taken in 1872 with the encouragement and possibly at the suggestion of the

Scottish botanist W. Lauder Lindsay. In a letter to him from Gilgal, Perth, in January 1873 6 Lindsay offered assistance in the preparations for his New Zealand excursion. In addition to giving Berggren a dossier on New Zealanders of scientific inclination in the four centres, he sent letters of introduction and support to both London and New Zealand on the Swede’s behalf. With pleasant memories of his own visit to Otago in 1861 - he was an honorary member of the Otago and Canterbury Institutes - he strongly recommended making headquarters in Dunedin with Otago the principal field of endeavour, although the latter suggestion in view of Berggren’s particular interest in mosses would seem a rather restrictive proposal.

From the office of the Agent-General, Walter Buller wrote at length in May 1873. 7 He suggested that as mosses were Berggren’s main concern ‘. . . you could not do better in the North Island than explore the broken wooded country in the southern portion of the Wellington Province .. .’ In response to a query from Berggren about the centre of the Island, Buller assured him there would be no difficulty in reaching Taupo ‘the only two requisites being a native guide to show the way and a pack horse to carry blankets and provisions...’ He recommended going north by the Upper Rangitikei and offered a letter of introduction to his brother-in-law Gilbert Mair in Rotorua, although in view of Berggren’s unfavourable impression of Mair 8 it is unlikely to have been used. In the South Island Buller recommended Christchurch as the appropriate centre from which to visit the Southern Alps and the West Coast.

A letter of welcome from James Hector 9 awaited his arrival in Lyttelton, which was marked by some encouraging press comments. The Wellington Independent, echoing the Press, took note: ‘The arrival in the colony of a Professor of Botany, even though he be a countryman of Linnaeus, is in these times a circumstance so different from the ordinary incidents of current consideration, and is apparently of such small import compared with the landing of a ship-load of laborers, locomotives, or railway plant, that it is not unlikely to pass unnoticed ... Dr Berggren arrived on Tuesday last and intends to make a stay of twelve months ... He has decided to make Canterbury his headquarters . . .’ 10 quarters . . .

After some weeks of work in the vicinity of Christchurch and no doubt close induction by Haast he set out for the Coast on 31 January armed with letters of introduction from his friend and with a packhorse and packman Ben recommended by Haast. Across the plains under Mount Torlesse he stayed two nights at Castle Hill Station 11 with J. D. G. Enys, a keen amateur naturalist who acted as host to a number of distinguished scientific visitors. On 15 February they reached Arthur’s Pass. Apart from the vegetation, the steepness of the

country impressed him. The night was spent in their tent at Otira, then graced by an ‘inn’ at which Berggren purchased mutton, coffee and cognac and had an encounter with a French-speaking drunkard. On the 19th down past Kelly’s to Jackson’s - ‘Scotsman. Decent’ with wife and father ‘almost a hundred years old’. The night of the 20th they camped below the Taipo-Taramakau junction among Olearia avicenniafolia (Akeake) in two tents together with bullock drivers from Christchurch. ‘These men spend three weeks on the road’. Typical of his entries is that for the 21st ‘. . . Here comes the stage coach . . . with the doctor. Stopped and talked. Then Blakes - wade in a valley . . . Camp in the forest and lots of people. A slaughtering hut. One man on a horse came galloping but turned again without speaking. People, workers at the camp in tents. Many mosquitoes and sandflies.’ In a letter to Haast he said: ‘At Enys there was an exceptional profusion of moss vegetation. I collected a lot but couldn’t make them ready for pressing. Would you please put the packet in a dry place until I return - because I must press the mosses myself. . . I am very pleased with Ben; he is very willing, cooks well, has learned how to preserve the plants, can keep the tent free of sandflies by smoking tobacco, has a great affection for the horses and becomes quite excited when I say “This plant is found only in this one place in the whole world.” and then tries very hard to collect lots of samples of Notothlaspi, Cotula, Raoulia, Ligusticum . . . etc.’ 12 Rather hopefully Berggren said that they had already had two rainy days and seemed to anticipate that this might be all until the end of the following month.

On 24 February they reached Hokitika. ‘Searched in vain for His Honor Bonar. 13 Was told .. . that I would probably not be able to see him until 11 o’clock the following day. Met Langer who brought me to O’Hara’s Exchange Hotel. A lot of Germans swarming around, in hotel as well.’ Bonar invited him to dinner which may or may not have eventuated. Gerhard Mueller in any case was hospitable and arranged for him to go on to Okarito with one of his men. He met Preshaw and a plant collector Johnson who had prizes from some exhibition for his mosses - ‘strange, puffing and trembling hands’ - also Klein a newspaper editor, Appel a cigar-dealer and animal doctor with a minerals collection. Hokitika impressed him no more than its Mayor. The litter of shipwrecks on the beach, its ‘one broad street and one pillar in memory of deserving deceased citizens ... on the streets, rags, bottles, tins and paper just as everywhere in New Zealand.’ On 2 March he had a soaking trip south to Ross, crossing the Hokitika on a barge after a false diversion. A disappointing day; ‘did not collect anything’, ended up at the London Hotel ‘Tavern’ at Ross which cost him a pound for bed and breakfast. He regretted the whole expedition and decided to return, passing through Hokitika the next day as far as Blake’s. From

here he went on to Jackson’s where perhaps for a meal he was asked for ‘half a pound’. He continued on to Kelly’s from where on a promising evening he went up to a high camp and made his way through alpine vegetation; during the next two days he explored towards the tarns on the open tops of the Kelly Range between the Taipo and the Otira rivers. But the West Coast drizzle caught up with him: ‘Rain already at 4 o’clock. Then very heavily, splashing into the tent and extinguishing the fire. Cold night and little sleep. Breakfast on the very last of the provisions. It continued to rain the whole day very heavily and little rivers started to be formed. I contemplated my fate, if here without provision, stay here or leave. Finally the barometer started to go both up and down and at 4 o’clock the rain was a little less heavy, but I wanted to wait until 5; it continued to subside and the descent began. Rainwater from the trees and my wet spectacles got misty, difficult to see. Ben had a lot to carry. We step on trunks across the now very much larger stream, cross it again with water up to our knees. Dripping wet, I was met with questions about changing clothes, etc, and “happy to see you back”. Hot coffee in the evening and early to bed. The workers very friendly [along the road].’ 14 Next morning ‘The workers had to get up since the road had caved in. Left at 11 o’clock and came to near Roberts’ where we set up our camp and where Walker had given a temperance talk . . .’

He was thankful to be again in Christchurch by 12 March and arrived in Dunedin on 1 April. Here there were excursions with Captain Hutton and the hospitality of Dr Hocken and Professor Black. 15 On 7 April was the first meeting for the year of the Otago Institute which Berggren attended. J. T. Thomson, as President, welcomed him 16 and the next two months appear to have passed pleasantly enough. In a letter to Haast 17 he wrote that Dunedin was a very ‘proper field for excursions’ and he had found some ‘beautiful things’. He asked Haast to send down the specimens in his custody which Berggren had collected as a friend was going direct to London and would take the collections so far assembled. ‘The vegetable sheep please put on the bottom of one of the boxes very carefully. Please also send the boxes which came from the interior, with iron bands round them because they might be too weak for a sea-journey ...’ It is clear that Berggren’s harvest of specimens was on a considerable scale.

He wrote again from Winton 18 in June. Unfortunately the specimens which Haast had sent down were not in good condition ‘because of the cursed long stay in the Malvern Hills . . Several packets had gone mouldy and took a month to dry. ‘Dunedin, the bays north and south of that city, the well-known hills inland, and the more distant Bluff and Invercargill areas and Winton are the chief scenes of my attacks on herbs, bushes, ferns, mosses, lichens, seaweeds, and tomentum . . .’. In

early July he was in Wellington. On her way north the Otago on which he was a passenger had called at Lyttelton. Haast pleaded his wife’s illness as the reason for not going to the port to see him - ‘I can’t say how much I regret that you are not going to spend a couple of hours in Christchurch’. 19 But there were more influential friends in the capital to help in a financial dilemma. By now it was clear that his available grant of would be insufficient and Hector made representations to Government on his behalf.

In a formal letter to the Colonial Secretary he outlined Berggren’s credentials and the importance of the botanical work on which he was engaged. ‘The fund placed at Dr Berggren’s disposal by the Royal Academy of Sweden, has however proved insufficient to enable him to examine the whole of the Islands, as the great expense of travelling in New Zealand was not anticipated owing to the social advancement oj the country not being understood .’ [editor’s italics] Berggren had not perhaps expected to camp out in the environs of Christchurch and Dunedin but he was clearly hurt by the tavern charges on the golden coast; nevertheless Hector’s delightful euphemism on the New Zealand capacity for fleecing visitors has seldom been better put. In his memorandum he outlined Berggren’s field work since his arrival, stressing that the botanist had already collected some 15,000 specimens of the cryptogamic flora ‘which has hitherto never been sufficiently studied’. To date he had spent about jC 2OO and expected that a further would enable him to complete his survey. If assistance were given Berggren undertook to furnish:

‘i. A complete named set of all his new plants. 2. An account of his discoveries for publication in the Colony by the New Zealand Institute.

3. A complete set for the General Assembly Library, of the large illustrated works relating to his researches which will be published in Europe.’ In its field his work would be supplementary to the appropriate sections of Hooker’s Flora. Hector stressed the place of such studies in order to identify and treat diseases in forest trees and the country’s pastures. ‘I have no . . . hesitation in strongly urging that he should be granted the assistance he requires to complete these researches.’ 20 Cabinet apparently approved a grant of although Haast in a later letter referred to the amount as 21 Dr Pollen’s minute as Colonial Secretary was ‘I have arranged with Dr Hector to make a contribution on acct. of Col. Govt, of £IOO towards the travelling expenses of Dr Berggren on the conditions referred herein.’ 22 While in Wellington he attended the July meeting of the Wellington. Philosophical Society and left for Napier by sea on i August. As men-

tioned earlier he then made a hurried trip through the centre of the Island to Taupo by way of the newly completed coach road and on to Rotorua, Tauranga and Auckland. He arrived at the Bay of Islands on 20 October and towards the end of the month joined Percy Smith’s survey party at Otaua, at the head of the Waima River south of Hokianga Harbour). There was an interesting ascent of Pihanga trig, on which Berggren recorded a number of species, a new camp on the waterfall at Punakitere and a note of a typical camp meal V. . wild

pigs, caught with the help of dogs by the Maoris . . . coffee and tea. Kumara and tarro . . . For dessert Freycenetia banksii, similar to Pineapple just now in bloom, the fleshy inside ... Tin mugs and plates, a net for the flies is suspended over our dining table which is the dry ground. Bed of ferns . . . 10-12 ft high, elastic, dry and warm. Pudding with raisins. Excellent bread. Maori appetite. Sugar and warm water.’ 24 And the hazards of botanical work: ‘. . . Spread out my plants in the sun. At 1 o’clock we were to continue. Calm but a sudden whirlwind came and scattered my plants among the ferns and two pieces of paper blew away up into the air and rose to about 1,000 ft towards Hokianga ’25

Berggren was anxious to acquire a knowledge of Maori. In camp one evening he noted: ‘The Maoris teach me their language and read sentences out of Williams.’ 26 On 13 November they returned to Waima and Taheke. ‘. . . One Maori in Waima had a lot of cattle. He has been at Thames. The Mission Station 27 on a very beautiful spot, surrounded by willows; a fine green Pouriri tree in the middle of a patch of green trees, shading the house. The Maori school children play, ride on their horses, swings, etc. Two ladies, Maori teachers, can be seen at a distance. Church. A school above on a height. Some bush, otherwise fern and Manuka. Came to Taheke Hotel at 1 o’clock.’

During the following week he went down to Herd’s Point and Whangape, on the Hokianga, visiting Webster 28 , Von Sturmer, 29 and Maning. On the 21st ‘Mr Grace (Manning’s assistant) called for me at Websters’ and we went to Whangape via the sandhills along the shores. Stayed overnight in Yarborough’s 30 store house. Came back to Taheke Tuesday 1 December after having been away at Whangape for almost one week and some days at Herds Point.’ Next day ‘Rain. Stayed in Yarborough’s store house (Moetangi) with the flaxmill.’ and on the 23rd to MacArthur at Whangape. More length the flaxmill’ and on the 23rd to MacArthur at Whangape. More lengthy entries commence on 29 November: ‘Went with Nelson (Tari) and Brissendon 31 to Utakura on the Monday. Spencer v. Sturmer is postmaster, judge, vaccinator, doctor, adviser even clergyman (is allowed to marry and baptize). I was well received by him, got two stone axes and a live Kiwi which I to his great distress did not want and

even a . . . Danais alive on a Asclepius [?] in his garden. Half caste wife and dark children. A session to decide some litigation was called on the Wednesday and many natives were to come to this. Much drinking going on already as it was, since many Maoris had arrived to get money from the land commissioners, but it was said they got none. Among others there were the Andersons, big men, sons of a Swede, Jan Anderson, now dead; magnificent drinkers. Old Bryers 32 friendly. Young Bryers too, rather a gentleman, beautiful eyes, Italian type, big beard. Children of the young one were black and did not seem very strong,

just like most half caste children. Leisurely life. No cultivation going on at all. The ground in the paddock - no milk despite the fact that there are cows - too much trouble to milk them. In the same way there is no butter and pork is what one eats all the time. Lots of wild cattle that is chased home from the forest by a riding hunter, over mountains and hillsides, ferns and manuka shrubs and bush - one moment the hunter is out by the Waima, when only a little while earlier I was talking to him. Most of the cattle was owned by Hudson, the landlord in Taheke. The laziness of the Maoris is so great that Smith was unable to send a letter 4 miles despite offering to pay 5/-. For two horses from Herds Point to Kaipara along the west coast I paid Fraser £6 (the school master wanted £ 1 for the trouble of getting the horses) In Taumatawhiwhi [Taumatawiwi] I looked at the school (Ward was the school

teacher), writing going on. Posters on the walls. . . Ward’s wife was a halfcaste, the most beautiful one I had seen in Hokianga. Fraser’s (Sturmer’s assistant) wife was dry and seemed unhealthy. From Herds Point to Taumatawhiwhi together with Fraser, Jones. John Webster and Captain King from England and together with these men went to Manning where we had dinner. King said that if M. were in England he would be declared insane. Saw three old Pakeha-Maoris; the oldest, Nimmo (75 years old) 33 came to New Zealand in 1825 .. . and Chapman ... A Pakeha-Maori is regarded as a valuable asset by the native population who would do anything for these Pakeha-Maoris and sometimes carried heavy burdens for them all the way from the Bay of Islands. Nimmo had his house built on top of the bodies of 20 dead Maoris, that had been roasted at one particular time. These PakehaMaoris are more and more protected by the natives. It was in those days when one could get almost anything for a nail or an axe. (Sturmer, Gillies, Webster, Manning etc. intend to go around the Pacific Islands and trade with the natives - in their own schooner - scientific enterprise.)’

‘Manning gave me a copy of his book - since I came from so far away. The book about the war is another publication that he does not have copies of himself. Said that he was preparing another ethnographical publication. Gets £BOO-1,000 a year in salary and on top of that has

a good country estate and is consequently a rich man. Judge in land disputes - holds sessions in his office - naturally indispensable because of his influence with the natives. Same reasons for Tari’s appointment. The government fears them and pays them. ‘A German had a house near the Hoka River estuary on the slopes of the Sandon Hills, sheep raising, earns money, since good grass. . . 34 ‘I pass drift-sand hills for a couple of miles on the journey up; we were sinking down to our knees. Grass. Desmoaschoenus [?] and one Coprosma, one Arundo-like plant and Cassinia, the only vegetation. A Maori boy riding on a horse came after us in order to go fishing mussels on the beach. Whale ... on land in one place, colossal. A Maori girl on some of the far out cliffs, fishing in the whirling waves, in her fluttering clothes she sits like a statue on the cliffs that are washed over and over by the breakers; a picture worthy of the chisel. I saw her in Moetangi when she returned with a little basket on her back - the windblown hair concealing the wellformed face but not the brown eyes.

‘Evening meal in the Maori house near the German’s place when we came back in Yarborough’s lost boat. Tea, kumara and a bit offish .. . Fire in a little iron kettle, I warm my feet. One eats with one’s fingers after an unsuccessful effort with a knife .. . the sugar ... tea was served by the servant girl who was sitting outside. The man a great chief and a “nice fellow”. He is not very talkative, more like a young bearded Maori chief... in his being, feminine, meek, mild, smoking his pipe and now and then participating in the conversation with a few words. When we in Taumatawhiwhi saw the boat drifting out in the storm and a fire burning on the beach our suspicions were aroused: they had not moored it. Grace asked if they could swim, “Badly”. Asked a man in Russel’s 35 house, a Maori, but he did not want to ... Got a skiff, one oar each, came up to the boat which was half full with water. Difficult to row, extremely tired. Blisters on the hands, were drifting in the wind. Landed further down. Grace arranged a sleeping place for me with the Maoris - Yarborough was there ... the morning after we had sailed to Yarborough in beautiful moonlight . . . At io o’clock Yarborough’s boat sank with the flour sacks. One oar and one sack was rescued by a healthy Maori boy (15 years old) and another Maori. He was dressed in a long uniform coat with red braids. Cheerful and quick and fearless when he saw the boat out at sea, and although a poor swimmer he went out with his clothes on, then came back to take them off and then went out again. Was almost drowning before our shouts could prevail on him to return. He wrapped himself like in a bag at the prow during the way home. I found another oar the following morning when I was walking on the beach together with Manning in order to look at the globular sandstone formations. Had to scoop the water

out of the boat many times, it was full, the oar handle was broken . . . ‘ln Pakenu [Pakanae] 16 year old school girls in hats and flowers writing on the blackboard - on the beach school children, Maoris galloping on horses with cloaks and slouch-hats. “Kapai te pakeha, kapai Akarana” A schooner aground for three months. ‘A bit apprehensive [?] about sending my plants this way. Energetic readiness to persuade me to do this, even though it is obvious that. . . they need to be watched. . . . needs to be encouraged but such eager advisers often have self-interest in mind and it is only an appearance of helpfulness. Excursion with Sturmer to Webster and wandered along the edge of the forest, looking . . . Talked about religion.

‘Together with Nelson and Brissendon to Outukura [Utakura] 36 A lake here, difficult to row - some said impossible. We met horses - gallop - a long row - 10-20 riders - Maori boys two and two on the horses - 4-5 miles. Kai. The younger Anderson was in charge of the cooking assisted by some women. Invited us to sit down on mats. Tenakoe and handshakes. A very well-behaved group, silent and decent, and a calm and leisurely way of spending the time stretched out on the mats - some smoking, some sleeping - finally stood up, hoarse after the revelling of the previous day - had 6 gallons equals 36 bottles of cognac ... 30 persons - ... so were sent to buy more. At first “kai” - Beautiful roast beef in pieces with a delicious gravy, no tea but hot water with milk and sugar. Wonderful wheat bread - the ground was our table, logs of wood were our chairs and the fingers served as forks. Pigs, hens and dogs were standing around in a circle and a little poodle puppy took the opportunity of stealing a piece unnoticed, putting his paws on the edge of the tin plate. Maoris squatting down in a circle. Tahuea . . . two with papers (buying contracts) in their hands walking to and fro. “Ehoa” “Na” Tari and Brissendon placed themselves comfortably opposite them. Tari was holding . . . Korero . . . assumed a jocular attitude . . . laughed heartily. Some with almost European features, for instance two of the women (one of them with a child) and another who was very retiring and sat apart had a very intelligent face. ... [3 illegible lines follow] . . . They had been wailing their wailing songs for several days and after that they had been drinking. A white man belonged to them; a tall young man. Sad to see his fat body in the blanket. Walked back to the boat; it was dark before we arrived.’

‘Lake Omapere, to the north between Ohaeawai and Kaikoe, is situated at the foot of a mountain, a volcano, 37 with a hundred foot deep crater which was still used as a burial place. The lake is said to get its water from this crater and the eels in the lake are said to live out of the bodies. The lake is approx, three miles long and wide, in the middle there are kauri stumps with roots [?]. ‘Yesterday I visited two native houses, i) girl brought me over in a

canoe, family with five children, the father consumptive, asked me about his disease, the mother young and mild, was working, moulding up potatoes. “Ehoa tenakoe”, mild, melodious but somewhat melancholic voices in the whole family. Food for me: rice pudding and milk. Paid two and a half s. -2) Visit to two lonely people, growing much Kumara and to a family living under a palm-leaf roof. “Ka kino pakeha” a woman said, “kapai te pakeha” said all the men. Came to Ohaeawai and visited a Maori chief in Kaikoe - dinner there - warm sugar water and bread. Beautiful daughter, recently married - came back to wail at the mother’s bosom [?] the girl was rubbing noses with all visitors; a younger daughter made some tea and was cheerful and talkative - the other one had bewitching eyes and a straight nose. Begging to get my pocket-knife. The mother said: “you could have given it to me instead”. The old man a regular trump - peeled potatoes with shells . . .

‘Excursion to Kaikoe. Visited the road workers. A talkative Maori (spoke English, formerly a whaler) was the foreman on the site. Dinner with him, roast lamb, potato and tea. His wife from Rotorua. The father was an old chief 38 who had been in the war at Kaipara and Rotorua ... I met this very talkative old man on my way back, who, laughing and contentedly told me about his feats. The other son was sawing telegraph poles, talkative and conceited, merry. Spoke good English (ex-whaler) “Kapai” “plenty money” for work on the roads, 7/- a day said the old man. “kapai”. He was said to be one hundred years old, but I believe he was 65 or 70. Said that “Hutu” was growing nearby. Gave half a crown to get one, a man on a horse (son of the chief Wihongi) came back with Tanekaka and ... species of this, which was said to be Hutu. Two boys accompanied me to the forest, one (Wihongi’s son) had very keen eyes and collected many insects and plants, many of them very good. Caught butterflies with the hats. A pleasant visit to the Maoris, chatting and laughing and telling stories of all kinds. What is useful is right and beautiful. Manning’s paddock is beautiful. If, in this colony, one has retained the habit of kneeling before God, one has in so much higher degree abolished the habit of cringing to other people.

‘The transit day was for W. not a transit but a coitur [coitus?] with Venus. ‘Venus transit. Walked from Ohaeawai over Paikaraka in order to see Maika - passed . . . mountain on the other side of Waimate with terrace-like ledges, old pahs in many places. William’s place with a church. He observed transit. . . An old sailor, a real character, was left alone to die, he said; clothes from his friends. Peculiar way of begging. “I want to serve you thoroughly, through coming with you and showing you the way like the Samaritan”, (quoting the Bible) Came to

Maika, the place was called Hawataperi. The man with the child and the brother-in-law had been to Kaikoe, I saw them in Ohaeawai - mistook someone else for Maika [?] and was told off by a Maori who then was told off by his young woman for his behaviour. Slept in the Maori house, hot potatoes for supper. “This is for you, eat everything, go on!” A fire showed the way outside - Maika wanted to continue in the evening and had the horse saddled. The young people writing on a blackboard . . . the Maoris during the night. In the morning potatoes again, io/- for the horse - six miles to Waitangi, one bottle of gin (6/-) for the old hag [?] “Come again”, “Kapai te kotiro, ka kino te tangata”, “pakeha toku Kotiro, never mind”. On arrival at Hawataperi I first met two kotiros, one young and cheerful one and another carrying a bark cone with caterpillars for bait and a tangata [?] as well as matua wahine. “Ka haere koe hai hoa moku”, laughing “kahore”. Maika’s son was among those who perished on the whaling boat from the Bay of Islands. A photo was shown, the mother opening the chest, the only piece of furniture in the house. There was a black dress (mourning), a paheka woman had made it - some Roman Catholic prayer books, a mirror which had belonged to the bishop and “that is my boy, he is gone home, a good boy, he is gone home”. A haka would speak. In the evening some rustling noises behind the fire, . . . sat there croaking “haere mai”, “kiko”. Thought there were some living beings there.’

(To be continued)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many persons have assisted in the preparation of this article. As is clear from the introduction, without the co-operation of Miss M. Donner of Lund University and the knowledge and persistence of Mrs Barbro Macnamara it could not have been contemplated. My thanks should also be recorded to Miss M. Walton for her translations of the Von Haast-Berggren correspondence, to Mr Bruce Hamlin and to Mr P. W. Hector of the Dominion Museum for assistance on individual points. Mrs R. M. Ross has once again placed her wide knowledge of the Hokianga region and its history at our disposal.

NOTES AND REFERENCES 1 Berggren, S. Et Besog i de vulkanske Egne Paa Ny Zeeland in P. Danske Geogr. Selsk. Tidskr. 10:141-4 1877. 2 On the occurrence of Haematococcus sanguineus on the wool of a dead sheep. Transactions of the New Zealand Institute 7:369-70 1874. 3 Nagra bya eller ofullstandigt handa arter af Ny-zeelandska fanerogamer Meddeladt i Fysiogr. Sallsk. 14 November 1877 (33, [i]p. 7 plates).

4 On New Zealand hepaticae. Lund, E. Mastrom, 1898. 48p. s Hawkes Bay Herald 1 January 1875. 6 Lindsay, W. L. to Berggren 3 January 1873, Lund MS. 7 Buller to Berggren 20 May 1873, also 21 June 1873, Lund MS. 8 See Part II of article. 9 Hector to Berggren 7 January 1874, Lund MS. 10 Wellington Independent, 14 January 1874. 11 Richards, Mrs E. C. Castle Hill. Christchurch, 1951. pi 7, and Berggren to Haast, 9 February 1874. A.T.L. MS. 12 Berggren to Haast, 9 February 1874. Von Haast papers A.T.L. 13 James Alexander Bonar, 1841-1901, a leading figure from the first years of Westland, at this time was Mayor of Hokitika.

14 Berggren, S. Journal, 7 March 1874. 15 James Gow Black had been appointed Professor of Natural Science at the University of Otago in 1871. 16 Proceedings of the Otago Institute in Transactions 6 : 444 17 Berggren to Haast, 14 April 1874. 18 Ibid, 15 June 1874. 19 Haast to Berggren, 25 June 1874. 20 Hector to Colonial Secretary, 16 July 1874. Dom. Museum MS. 21 Haast to Berggren, 23 October 1874. 22 Minute on Hector’s proposal, Col. Sec. Papers. National Archives. 23 Punakitere, now called Otaua. Percy Smith in his Journal (A.T.L. MS) and in his MS autobiography (Auckland Museum MS) records that he met Berggren at Ohaeawai on 26 October and invited him to join his camp at Otaua on the Taheke branch of the Hokianga. Smith continued: ‘He stayed with us some time engaged in collecting mosses which was his particular line ...’ 24 Berggren, Journal, 7 November 1874. 25 Ibid, 9 November.

2 6 Ibid, io November. 27 The Waima Mission station. Mrs Ross comments that he did not mention the oak tree, now reputedly one of the largest in New Zealand. 2 8 Mrs Ross states that this would presumably be John Webster the friend of Maning who was then still living at Kohukohu and not the older brother William who lived in the vicinity of Mangungu. 29 Spencer von Sturmer the friend and correspondent of Maning in addition to filling the local roles mentioned by Berggren, was an authority on the Maori and later, a judge in the Native Land Court. 30 Alfred Yarborough senior, later of Rawene, who apparently had an establishment near Whangape. 31 C. E. (‘Tare’) Nelson, a Swedish sailing captain, came to New Zealand in the early 1850 s and settled at Kaipara. For a time he ran a schooner in the Auckland coastal trade and acquired an excellent knowledge of Maori language and custom. At the time of Berggren’s visit he was working for the Land Purchase Department. He later settled in Rotorua where he died in 1909. E. T. Brissenden was a Native Land Purchase Officer in the Auckland area. 32 Bryers had two ‘hotels’, one at Herd’s Point and the other at Taumatawiwi (Opononi). For a description of Hokianga only a few years after Berggren’s visit see Grey, James, Away in the far north (the second part of the author’s His Island home, 1879), PP42-44. 33 Nimmo, ex Rosanna, the ship of the first New Zealand Company (Mrs Ross tells me) could not have taken up residence until 1827 when he returned from Sydney with Nesbit, McLean and Gillies. The story about the twenty dead Maoris would be a

reference to the Fortitude affair of 1833, when a number of chiefs were killed at Motukauri or Direction Head on the north side of the harbour opposite Whirinaki. Nimmo and McLean were established there but had to leave when the locality became tapu on account of the incident, although Nimmo may have returned. Mrs Ross suggests that the inflated impression of the regard in which pakeha-Maoris were held could be interpreted as a typical Maning ‘line* to visitors. 34 Possibly in the area of Whanui, now covered by sand, Mrs Ross suggests. 35 Presumably Fred Russell, the first MHR for Northern Maori and a son of George Frederick Russell who married a niece of the chief, Tamati Waka Nene. 36 Utakura, Mrs Ross points out, is the outfall of Lake Omapere and the obscure reference could be either to a flood in the stream or to the harbour itself. 37 The mountain in question is Te Ahuahu (called by the Waimate missionaries Pukenui) which is volcanic. The chief Te Wera Hauraki is said to be buried on top : of Te Ahuahu. 38 Possibly Rawiri Taiwhanga.