MYSTERY OF BURIED BOTTLE

Chronicle (Levin), 11 April 1947, Page 3

MYSTERY OF BURIED BOTTLE

PBENCH EXPLOITS EECALLED Duriiig his recent visit to the Bay of islands the Frenck Minister, M. Armand G-azel, visited Marioii Island and other spots associated with the death of Marion du Fresne in 1772. The Minister was acpompanied by Mr. L. (i. (Te Putu) Kelly, a member of the Polvnesian Society, and an authority on the period. Li eonsequence, sonie additional inforination concerning the ill-fated stay of the French navigator was obtained. From sonie of the Maori residents of the district the . visitors procured a waiata, or song, i hitherto unrecorded, which makes specific reference to the death of Marion or, as the Maoris referred to hiin, Marino (which is 'closer to the French pronuneiation of the navigator 's name' than the English one). lielations between Marion and the aMaoris were at iirst friendly. In June, 1772, however, after a month's stay, the attitude of the Maoris changedj and on June 12, with .sonie of his men wlui were collecting iirewood, tlie French commander went iishing. The cfeek yiv which -he hshed was: ciose- to tlie pa Te Kuri, the mpst powerful chief of the neighbourlio'od. Marion was attacked, and the lnembers of lris party, with the exceptio.n of one man, were killed. Since then the sport in Oraukawa Bay has been known as Assassination Cove. Oue Maori explanation for the attaek was that the French had reiuoved wood from a sacred place. The Minister was able to visit the exact spot on which his countrymen inet their fate, and also the site of Te Kuri's pa (although eontemporary maps sliowed a discrepancy). Tangitu, Te Kuri's pa, was subsequently taken by the French, and 300 of its defend ers were killed. 1

There is, however, a minor mysterv attached to the visit. The day before he left the Bay of Islands, Crouzet, who assumed command' of the expedition, took possessioh of New Zealand, which he called Austral-France, in the nauie of the King of Francc, and a bottle conthining documentary evidence to that effect was buried on Marion Island (Moturqa). There have been various attempts to ascertain the burial place of tlie bottle. M. Gazel met one old Maori who recalled a search having been made in the oarly part of this eentury, but without success. Lieulenant Boux, oue of Marion 's companions, in his logbook, gave precise inforination as to the hiding place of the bottle. "However sinccre this possession may have been to the French," says the Minister, "they ignored the journeys of Oook and de Surville, and it could only have been of a symbolic character, for New Zealand belonged to the Maoris — so long, at least, as no foreign Power oceupied the country effectively. ' ' It ivas extraordinar3r, commented the Minister, that 110 journal of Marion \s had been discovered .(although extracts from those of his companions liad been published). He hoped, he said, to have further inquiries made in Paris with the object of throwing additional liglit on the sta_y of the expedition at thc Bay of Islands.