STORIES OF THE PENINSULA.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume VI, Issue 587, 28 February 1882, Page 2

STORIES OF THE PENINSULA.

No. 19. —" Ciiii'K ''- couthiucd. Now, tins Aliioii lo whom Clii(.)h' wife liail been betrothed was exceedingly wrutli, and so were mII tl>e ie>t»il the family, but Chips diil not cure lot tliis, protected by the powerful Te Ilapuka, and by and

by these new relatives of his came to the conclusion that it was not a bad thing at all to have a Pakeha Maori for a near connection, and became reconciled to the match. A new trouble, howover, soon arose. Te Ilapuka, directly hi* boat was mended, got tired of Chips, nnd formed the plan of taking the wife he had given him away, because. Inving learned something of Eiiropciiii cooking and behavinir from Chips, lie thought sin; would be a good wife to his (Te Hnpiikn's) son. Chips was kept in strict ignorance of this, hut the father of Ene Msui Ropini, for such was her name, was spoken to. Now, he was perfectly satisfied with Chips, who, in his opinion, had given '■ utu " enon»h for bis daughter; and besides, he knew the girl was attached to Chips, and would suffer from a separation, lie .did not, however, dare to express his thoughts openly while Te Hapnka was near, so he dissembled, and pretended that he would acquiesce in the arrangement in a short time. One day he went to Chip*, who was building a boat in the bush, and said to him, •' If I were you I should build that boat bigger ; you might have to go a voyage in it. Chips thought something was up. and took the hint, and built the bout fit for tlie pea instead of for the river, as at first intender , . Te Ilapuka didn't like the evident friendship between Chips and his father-in-law, and the latter was so frightened that he used to go away and sleep in a fresh place every night, with a tomahawk by his side, being afraid Ilapuka might take a fancy to destroy him. An uncomfortable month or two passed in this way, and at last one evening Ilapuka announced his intentions with regard to the girl to several of the M.'iories, and fixed the following evening i'or the abduction. A friend of Chips' worthy father-in-law told him what Ilapuka had resolved on, nnd he at once went to Chips ;md said. •' It is time for you and my daughter to be at Mohaka." Thoroughly versed by this time in Maori warnings, and knowing the case was desperate, Chips got the boat ready for sea, though the weather was very bad. This fact was probably his salvation, for Te Hapuka never dreamt that the boat, which he looked on as only fit for the river, could live in such a sea. Chips, his wife, and his faithful father-in-hnv and friend, passed a dreadful night, tomahawk in hand, fearing that every sound that they heard was the dreaded Te Ilapuka. or some of his myrmidons, coming to tear them away from each other for ever. Gtreat indeed was their relief when the grey dawn enabled them to steal down to the boat. The sea was by this time moderating, and with hopeful hearts they committed themselves to the Ngararora, whose rapid curirent speedily carried them out to sea. The "passage was art uneventful one, and they arrived at Mohaka in good spirits. Te Ilapuka was furious at first, and said he would take his warriors and burn down the Mohaka pah, and do all sorts of things, but remembering on .reflection that the defences there were very strong, and that they were defended by a great many friends of the Chips party, he thought it better to extend his patriarchal forgiveness. Chips lived at Mohaka for many happy years. He had plenty of work, for the stations along the coast wanted whaleboats to ship oii their wool to the small craft that used to come to fetch it. and the small vessels also wanted repairing. His family increased rapidly, and the pdi as a whole wits very prosperous. The Natives, however, had one fear—they were on bad terms with the Uriwera tribe, that lived further inland, in a wild and almost inaccessible country, and were, afraid of being taken by surprie. Somh; of them used to sleep in a pass some distance from the pah every night, in order to give warning of their enemies' approach, and the p;ihs wore strongly fortified. A few white people were now living on the Mohaka, and when the news came of the Maori war in the North, and the Waikatos announced their intention of killing the Queen's Maories and whites along that part of the East Coast, Government put up a substantial block-house ;it the mmth of the Mohaka, and sent some ammunition there and a few troopers to defend it. Ther • were two pahs, both well fortified. As is the Maori custom, they were perched on the highest ground in the neighborhood. One was on the edge of a cliff: more than 400 ft high, the other was on an eminence Kiirronnded by comparatively level ground, and as they had plenty of guns, the Natives deetned them impregnable. The Waikatos, however, never came, the troops were withdrawn, and the block-house was left in the charge of the Maoris, who buried most of the powder. The news of Te Kooti's return from the Chathams, and the massacre at Poverty Bay, reached them, hut they never dreamed of his visiting their locality, and the fear of the Uriweras had died out. so that no precautions were taken. In April, 1809, the Hero arrived with stores from Napier. Chips fetched her into the river, and she discharged her cargo (which consisted ot stores of all ) kinds, including grog) on to the bank. Now, the name of the chief uf Mohaka was Paul Rurepu, who was a very great liangitiora indeed. A wife of his was ill at this time, ro he determined to send her to Napier in the Hero for medical advice. She. agreed to go. but insisted on Chips' wife (who was a great friend of hers) accompanying her. The Hero did not intend to sail till the 12th of the month, but on the Bth Chips had a dream to the effect that if she did not leave the river the next day she never would. The presentiment left by this dream was so strong thai he persuaded the captain to go to sea the following day, against his will, which turned out to be a lucky job for him and all the others aboard. The Natives had a plantation about 2 A- miles up the river, and the great majority of the young men and women were working there at the time. Whilst working at this plantation they used to sleep in some whares there, only returning to tiie pah at intervals. More than GO of them went to rest in these whares on the night of the 9th April. They only woka to die, for at the iirst break of day some "230 Han Hans, led by the ferocious and pitiless Te. Kooti. surrounded the whares and mercilessly nhot down and tomahawked all. Out of 65 only two. a man tmd a young girl, escaped to tell the tale. The sound of the firing was heard at the pahs, and they knew that the Han JlauK were on them. Chips' brave old father-in-law came to him and said, " You must go and take your youngest boy with 3'on. or his mother will go mad. It is better for you to go at all hazards, for they are sure to kill all the white men, but may spnre the Maories. 1 will re- j main here with the other children." Chips had considerable difficulty in persuading any one to accompany him in the boat, i'or tiie sea was very rough and they wero I

' afraid of being drowned. At last one of his daughters, a white man who had been working for him. and two natives, got into the bo.-v with him tmd bis boy and tfi"V got. safe to sea. The white mini was half dead with fright and puled so badly that Chip's daughter gave him the baby boy to hold and toi-k the our herself. After warning people on the coast they reached Napier in safety find gave the alarm. After killing all the people on the plantation the Han Haus divided into two parties, one going down each side of the river. Their progress was one of blood. A Mr Leven, a white settler, and his wife Mild three children were first killed ; the next, victims were a Mr Cooper and a lame shepherd. Seven whites were thus added to the list of murders, but the more they killed the more blood thirsty they seemed to be. Arriving at the smaller pali, the one situated on the brink of the precipice, they assailed it with the greatest fury. A number of men by cutting holes for their toes in the clay and soft rock scaled the height, the projecting palisading saving them from the guns of their foes. Once at the fence they soon made on impression on it, and the defenders of the pah beirifj called on to open the gates and promised quarter admitted the enemy. They first demanded that all arms should be given up, and killed several men. Ilatea, a native who worked for Chips, on being called on to give up his gun refused, and Te Kooti immediately aimed at him, Ilatea returning the compliment, both fired together, but unluckily Te Kooti escaped with a ball through his leg, while poor Hatea fell dead. The Ilau Haus next tried to fire the church, which was a raupo building. Strange to say on this occasion this inflammable material would not burn, and after trying three times without avail, they called out that the Church was bewitched by an unfortunate woman who was sitting near, and murdered her most barbarously with their tomahawks, literally chopping her to atomsin their mad frenzy The great majority now went down to the block -house, and burned and destroyed as they went. Finding the stores that Capt. Campbell had landed from the Hero, they soon got at the grog, and before long many were in a state of beastly intoxication. Night now descended on the horrible scene, There were four of Chips children in the pah, the eldest, a girl of 15 having recently married a Maori. Their poor old grandfather, who had been such a good friend to Chips, had been murdered, and they determined to endeavor to escape. Slowly and cautiously they made a hole through the wall of the pah on to the side of the precipice, across which ran a narrow and difficult path. At length the work was accomplished, and ono by one three of Chips children and two others, who were their friends, crept through the hole, and stood in safety outside the pah, the watchfulness of the Ilau Haus being relaxed through their frequent potations. It was only then that they discovered that the youngest one (the poor girl Sarah, who died hero last week) was not amongst them. Her heroic elder sister did not hesitate a moment. Telling the others to proceed she returned to the scene of danger and miraculously passing unharmed amid the drunken Hail Haus returned with the little one and at last stood safe outside on the ledge of the precipice. But her second passage had aroused some of the Han Han guards, the alarm was given, and two of them discovering the hole through which the brave, children had escaped rushed through in pursuit, after giving the alarm by tiring their guns. They\net with a speedy and terrible death. Not knowing the ledge, they stepped into I the outer darkness and fulling down the precipice were shattered o:i the rocks below. Two other Ilau Ilaus either undeterred by, or unaware of their comrades' fate, gained the ledge in safely and sped after the poor children. The spirits they drunk, however, probably lendered their footing uncertain and at a treacherous turn in trie path they too slipped and fell, meeting the same well deserved fate as their comrades. Guarded, as it will appear, by a special providence the children reached the bottom of the cliff in safety and stood on the banks of the Mohaka. On the other side was comparative safety, so they made up their minds to swim it. One was nearly drowned, but eventually all landed in safety, some horses belonging to a neighbor were caught, and before dawn they were for on their way to Napier and safe from the pursuit of the Ilau ILiiis. The Ilau Uaiusneverdiscovered the place where the powder was buried, which was n great disappointment, us this was their principal object. They reiiK.'ned in the neighborhood for some time, the Government having no force to cope with them and they retired by the path they came. Chips went to live at Takowhai again and after a time was persuaded to go to Lake Taupo to build some boats by Mr Ormond. who was then Superintendent. His daughter, Anna, had run away from home and came to Akaroa, and on a visit to her father she spoke in such high terms of the place that be determined to come and live here, so some six years ago he came. Both he and his wife are much respected by the Maoris and much loved by their children.