A STRANGE INVASION

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2559, 6 September 1915, Page 3

A STRANGE INVASION

MAORIS ON BATTLEFIELD OF ANCIENT EUROPE - .THEIR-ARRIVAL'AT- ANZAC !. (From Malcolm Ross, .Official War Cor- . respondent with the'N.Z.; Forces.) Imbros. At an early hour on the morning ofSaturday, July 3, the Maoris arrived from Malta, andianded in the dark on the little pier at Anzac. , It was rough, and the - disembarkation .-.was difficult, .- but.tho Maoris took it all' very quietly, and there was no mishap. : That: afternoon the General paid them ■ a formal visit. After a milewalk we came upon them digging-, their bivouac 'iii an amphitheatre, snrrounded by steep fantastic cliffs of marl-andwater-worm stone—the debris of somi( anoient river or lake bed. - Hundreds were busy, with pick* and shovel, working /amidst the -; , .' scrub-covered knollstoget. 'their./'dug-; - outs" ready before nighttall. Close be- .;' side us two; swarthy young warriors, who ; tliought they had hit upon a-good spot for their , habitation; dug into a corpse— ■;;a,ghastly reminder of the severe fighting that went on in this place when our men, after the first landing, were getr. • - ting their grip; on this' bit of the Penin- ;. «ila. It was the-Maoris', first experience of the grim realities: of war,: and,, needless to say. there was a sudden ces- . sation of digging in that .' particular "" quarter. During . the forenoon ( tho Maoris had;.their first experience, of , shells. being fired over thein ; but these ■ were aimed at-Anzac beach,, and-burst , half a mile away. The General's Address. -.; • The.General called a halt in tho digging, and the bronzed warriors crowded - round-him,- while -he stood .-on. a. .little knoll amidst i tho olive ,trees : and the ■ . '.stunted prickly oak,'and mado. them a . : ' brief- . i ; ' ' . _ . 'i, "Ofßcers.-and men of the Maon Con"tingent," .he'said,":"l:am. glad thattho ' hope expressed .'to you w-hon I last saw. you in Cairo,. that you should come ; 'and serve with.us in the,'field,' has been- : realised. • I-promised you ;then_,-that Iwould, do all • I. could to ':get. _with this, - '■ , division, so that yoiuiiiighti' joiii ill bat- • ' tie- with : your comrades, of tho New. . Zealand Infantry Brigade and .the New. Zealand . Mounted,; Infantry.' Your 'com- .; rades, who. have - for some;, weeks now been fighting , on,, the Peninsula, have covered themselves and the -name of : New Zealand , with glory. : They havo , . fought' most.'valiahtly in the face of' very heavy casualties, and in every way have proved themselves- efficient- and bravo soldiers. And.', now upon'you ;: Maoris a,very ■ great responsibility, tests. Not only have you to prove, yourselves ; worthy to; fight' with -, your British comrades, who have already done such noblo deeds) but you/have also, to prove your-j :■■■ selves worthy''descendants-of i your, ancestors; "and '.worthy,:also, of the glori'.l 'i^bus^mUitafyS^ditßonsvofv^V': l You have to follow; in the footsteps, of • your great . chiefs .whoso: names we in Now Zealand know so well-v .Your raeo always".-been distinguished ' for ,; its i < bravery and for its martial ardour, and ' ; .. the people of New Zealand will look to • : you to'prove that those i qualities havo in no way diminished, v In a very, short time -you -wiU . be; called ;,ilpon- to- meet the enemy, and when-yomdo so,I believe - you will prove: yourselves ,'absolutely as " bravo and vaiiant,.as your' forefathers before you and :■ as your .- comrades whom you have now joined.-. I am very i . proud l to havejyoii binder - injvc'ommand, and I wish yo'u all the best of .foi-tu'ne -in the.fight that lies before you." -A Haka on Historic, Soil. '-'At .the conclusion of this - stirring ad- '.' j;iress; ;i !the whole. assemblage; o£:. Maoris ■ responded with thoir' war dance. It . was indeed a. strange, scene. As. tho weird, cries of. the imythmic - beating'; of ' tlje feet -upon: the, Turkish, soil .ceased, the mind ranged back a few thousand -years, and conjured, up visions of the ' Armadas that have sailed these seas and ! ■ V 7 the; .armies that have traversed these ; lands. The ghosts of tho great dead seem-: ■: cd to rise again and ,march before lis— • Xerxes -and; Alexander, : Hector and- -. Helen,. Achilles, and. Lysander,. with ■ .many/-more; famous in' song and- story.'And 'now. the coming of the Maori! ' ■ Behind lis, just beyond the -P.eninsijla, . is the nar:ow strait: .across which ..the Persian General built his bridge, of-.boats ': so that his army might cross; from one I;continent to another.. There, .too,- the 'Greek fleet, with infinite;patience, lay 'for nine years,- a bulwark to tho host 'ashore. • Where Xerxos built his bridge ! of- boats to cross an army, our. enemies - .' are oontemplating the;spreading; of :, a ■' - net: of' steel;>to stop our -submarines. v. 'And 'now this new Armada,'. with,- its, ; .-. great.battleships,'.-its- thundering guns,-, its submarinos and waterplanes, and its ■,balloon ship,'; comes upon the scene.

'And- with; it, an army from the; greatest Empire the world has known". • : ■ Across'.the narrow, strait-the other day we saw'Chanak. atop of the buried Abydos,' in flames —lit by'a ship's shell which traversed the whole Peninsula and the straits as .'well! ' . Quite "close, are the now desolatet plains aiid the ruined cities of Troy, with five thousand years of -history behind them. Westward the sun was placing a band of . jewelled ■ silver across the Saros' Sea.' The long promontory and pointed; peaks of Imbros - broke the straight horizon on the left, while nearer the bolder; and steeper heights of Samothrace, recalling other scenes and the wonderful "winged victory" in the Louvre, stood boldly out against ; a background of splendid rolling cloud. In the foreground the sandy beach of the Peninsula swept' round to"' where ' ''the ■ boat of;death" lay stranded-at a little, promontory. V : Beyond that again/ the -masts and funnel of a sunken steamer, ftiid, quite close/ a-buoy, where, in, face of the impotent, rage of those on shore, the Triumph found her grave. Here in the shallows one; saw for the first time; the .wine-coloured sea. of . Homer, as if tinted with the .blood of the victims of war ; and in the midst of all the New Zealand General, like some Trojan leader,; inciting "his; Antipodean soldiers 'jo heroic deeds..V. As the final cadence of the,haka were echoed back from the fantastic cliffs, . pondered over the strange coming of : the Maori, and wondered vhetlier his deeds would be worthy of the new Iliad., •