HORATIUS OF THE BUSH

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 82, 1 November 1939, Page 2

HORATIUS OF THE BUSH

TE AMOTU'S LAST STAND EPIC OF HONGI'S TRACK As travellers whirl along Hongi's track, through the bush called Talmna between Lakes Rotoiti and Rotoehu, most e3*es arc alert for the sacred malai,, Hinehopu, the wishing tree, at foot of which travellers lay leafy offerings, which, as local bodies complained recently, are often too lavish, so that the undergrowth for yards round the tree has been battered and despoiled. In his watch for the wishing tree however, the traveller often misses another thing of interest. It is a chipped white stone, battered by the vandal, and enclosed in a rough railing. It stands on the left-hand side of the road, past the wishing tree in the direction of Rotorua. It is an obelisk marking the spot where a very gallant man died in the cannibal davs of 1828 when the fierce Hongi, with his Ngapuni braves armed with the dreaded flintlock muskets, struck from North Auckland and ravaged the Rotorua district in the campaign culminating in the fall of Mokoia, the island of refuge of the Arawa

J hough the track now bears Mortal's name it existed before his day. He found it a narrow footpath through extremely dense bush, and he widened it so that his warriors and the captured Arawa slaves from the coast could drag his huge kauri war canoes to the - shore to spread, destruction on the Rotorua lakes. Prelude to Main Raid. The incident described in this story occurred before the main body of raiders reached the lakes. Hongi himself with some hundreds of his men was engaged in the task of paddling the canoes up the Ponga kawa and dragging the craft overland, and Avhile this great work was in progress he sent a smaller force j under the chief Te Wera to Rotoiti i direct, to take the people of that ! lake by surprise, and then await the arrival of the canoes. * !

Though the Arawa folk had had warning of the approach of Hongi. they apparently thought that thev had some days of grace, and they were taken by surprise when Te Wera with his musketeers and warriois armed with the old weapons of the Maori burst from the forest at Otairoa on the north side of the lake, racing up to the palisades, shooting through them and storming the pa of Otairoa without a choc*, killing or capturing the few inhabitants.

Dash to Save Friends

At this time a chief named Te J Rakataha was living at TapuwaeI haruru, on the long beach at the B °-istcrn end of Rotoiti. When he J heard the banging of guns from > Otairoa his first thought was for his | kinsfolk at Putaatua, a small village gon the lake shore. The principal [ there was the chief Te Amotu Taka--1 nawa. Rakataha at once launched I a fast canoe and with ten paddlers, I n il who were on the beach at the 5 moment, he dashed off to the rescue I across the shining eastern bav of j Tawhitinui, reaching Te Amo's beach j iust in time to get him and nine or ten of his people into the canoe, for by this time 1 c Wera and many of his men had launched a canoe at Uie village they had captured and were hot in chase. Now the crews paddled madly foi <he beach, at Tapuwae-haruru. Xganulii were stronger in number, and thev were rapidlv overtaking the f nr„u{ivi>s when their canoe grounded 'Uk! jis occupants dashed for the -heller of the bush. The pursuers had been too busy with the paddles far to give them a shot, but iKiVV somo ol ' the musketeers fired) wiuuiut eD'eet. Te Rakataha and Te ■\rno!u pushed their twenty or sc. . .-I].i,. ahead and took the rearguard -is they entered the Tahuna trail, soon to be Hongi's track, then a nar"°w path, walle I with dense under- ■ growth. "Run. run!'' cried Te Amotu. -'On Go on, Ra! I shall keep them ' back! Save our people." Stood at Bay. On the further side of the Mtlc j iaupo brook Te Amotu turned and ' faced his foes. Kc was armed withe, taiha. the broadsword and spear in 1 one, a wast effective weapon. The ( men of the pursuers had f p;nns: tile musketeers, reloading, had been passed by the swifter nu- C ncrs. c A splashed through the S brook and rushed in swinging his long-handled tomahawk. Te Amotu

parrying and prolonging the duel .is much as possible to delay the pursuit, for only one man could attack him at a time, ami the gunmen behind could not lire for fear of hilling their own man. At last Te Amotu warded off a furious slash, felled his opponent with a jaw-break ing blow, and speared him in Hie throat. On sprang a second warrior. He had a flintlock pistol in his belt, but he used a stone patu. He was easily disposed of with a stab in the stomach and a crashing blow oil the head as he doubled up,, and ■with fierce fatalism the keeper of the track awaited his next foe But the third Ngapuhi had a loaded musket. As he levelled it Te Amotu sprang at him; the report thundered through the forest, and when the little cloud of smoke cleared the gunman lay sprawled on the ferny bank of the stream with Te Amotu dead on top oX him. With his last blow Te Amotu had felled his enemy with a stunning heads-

stroke. Fugitives Had Escaped. The Ngapuhi slashed with their tomahawks at Te Amotu as they bounded on, but Te Rakataha and his party were safe in the secret places of the bush. Later they joined Tautari, chief of the Ngati-Ma-> kino whose fortified village stood on a headland above Rotoehu. He and his people made night attacks on Hongi's men as they camped on the lake shore and killed and carried off several of the raiders. In the meantime the slayers, of Te Amotu returned to Tapuwae-harur v i beach to await Hongi. They stuck, the head of brave Te Amotu on a pole, addressing it with taunting.s, and prepared the body for the oven. But Te Wera, veteran of many campaigns, regarded those silent stern features with a Avarrior's respect for a fearless opponent, and it was he who, when peace was made after the fall of Mokoia Island, told the people the story of Te Amotu's last stand from the Ngapuhi side. Te Amotu's people set up a white stone on track-side, which one may see to-day, to mark for the generations to come the sacred spot where a brown-skinned Horatius fought c hopeless j'et glorious fight that liis kinsfolk might live. "Now" said Wineti, the native who told the story, "you may wonder why Te Amotu and not Te Rakataha took the rearguard position on this track that day. The reason was that he fought here not only to save his tribe by delaying the chase, but to repa} r the service done by Rakataha in hastening to rescue jiim when the first reports of Te Wera's guns were heard. He died forlhis friends because he loved them, but he also died out of gratitude to the man who had risked his life for him."