HONGI THE RED MAORI NAPOLEON'S CAREER

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 31, 6 February 1913, Page 3

HONGI THE RED MAORI NAPOLEON'S CAREER

HOW HE CARRIED HIS CANOES TO THE LAKES . SOME STOEIEB BY CAPTAIN MATH. (For Tho Post.) Ono of tho few living encyclopaedias of Maori lore is Captain Gilbert Maiv. N.Z.C., leader of tho Avawa coutingent in tho war. He is a man of whom all New Zcalanders may bo proud, for ho is a New Zealander boru, havmg first seen tho light in the Bay of Islands in tho old missionary da>s? , Captain Mair is tho younger of two eminent brothers, tho other of whom, Major Mair, equally famous in the war, died last year. When Captain Mail' speaks, ac ho did on one memorable evening recently m Rotorua, the curtain of our history-making early days is rolled back. One not only marches with the Arawa contingent, but lives back in tho earlier timo of Heke and Hongi, for Captain Mair treasures in his remarkable memory many stories acquired first hand front the principal Maori actors themselves. Once ho put all or mitrh of this iuto writing, and the highly-prized volumes, aomcr of which were . ready for printing, were stored in this city, where a fire devoured them in the early 'eighties. An irre« E arable national loss, for the narrator as never since had leisure to face the task of renewing his monumental labour. Herein are published just a few passages from hie rare etoro of historical and legendary loro : "DROWNING OF THE YOUNG DUCKS." In 1818— three years after the Battle of Waterloo — a war party of about 150 men, from Ngapuhi, came to Rotorua. It was a taur. toto, or bioocl-fshedding force. These Ngapuhis woro hospitably entertained by the people of Rotorua, and went on to Roto-kakahi (the Green Lake), to pay a visit to the Tahourangi and Ngati-wahiao tribes, who were then living in great number on Motu tawa Island. Word was taken to the Tahou-rangi and Ngati-wahiao that the Ngapuhi intended to take tho island by treachery immediately their full number was ferried across from tho main land, and the local Natives decided to meet their visitors with their own weapons. The largo canoes on tho lake were carefully hidden out of sight, and a smaller one, capable of carrying twenty men at a. time, was selected, and was sent over from the island to the mainland in the care of one man, so that the Ngapuhi might come over in detail. Instead of being disembarked in sight of their friends, the visitors taken by the canoe on her first trip were paddled round to the farther side of the island, and were immediately killed, mostly by being seized and hold under water till they were drowned. In the meantime the/ canoe returned to tho mainland and brought over another party,- and when over 100 had been thus disposed of, and the canoe went for its last load, one of the Ngapuhi noticed that there was ,a 6mall patch of blood in tho bow, and that the canoe was wet. Suspicion was aroused, and the, others declined to embark on the canoe of death, and so escaped. In Maori lore, this slaughter is recorded as "the drowning of tho young ducks." It supplies the reason why, five years later, the Maori Napoleon, Hongi llika, with his conquering Ngapuhi tribes, attacked and took Mokoia, the historic island in Rotorua, which figures in the legend of Hinemoa and Tutanekai. Tho taking of Mokoia was a sad day for the RotoYua Arawas, a« one thousand perished at tho hands of Hongi. MARSDEN AND HONGI—THE TRIP TO LONDON. Hero one may digress a moment from Captain Mair's narrative to recall some of the recorded facts about Hongi Hika. Though a life-long protector of Marsden's early missionaries at the Bay of Islands, Hongi was a profound disbeliever in their peace policy, largely because he saw other tribes beginning to acquire muskets and gunpowder, and dreAv the conclusion that if he did not in the lirst place buy firearms from the whites and use them to kill and eat his enemies, before long his enemies would perform that same kindly service for I him and hi 3. So Hongi set out to buy firearms. Marsden, true to his high j principles, refused to intpoH any. Hongi retaliated by ordering the Maoris to do no work for the_ missionaries and supj ly no food except in exchange for niuskets and gunpowder. Helpless though he and his fellows were in the chief's hands, Marsden stood firm. With an argument that, to a materialist, would be convincing, the great warrior thus exhorted tho great missionary : "If you can keep your firearms out of the country altogether, I am satisfied ; but, having allowed them to reach your enemies and mine, why do you so foolishly insist upon keeping your friends without them." But Marsden's faith rose high above both peril and persuasion. He refused to "trade with the Natives on these terms." Though a savage and a cannibal, Hongi was too great a man to vent his rage by destroying the handful of white men in his care. Had he not promised to protect them? Or, to take a lower level, were they not otherwise useful to him? But there was another reason why Marsden ould aafoly refuse to sell Hongi niuskets. Like all great men. this warrior-statesman could always find another way to his objective; and the plan he hit upon, and carried out, 13 a monument to his subtlety, courage, and breadth of conception. I*o quote Saunders, "without further argument, and without enlightening either Marsden or anyone else as to his intentions," Hongi sailed for England while Mr. Marsden was still preaching peace in New Zealand. In these days— the early part of last century— a five or six months voyage to England in a sailer, and back again, was no light matter, but here was an unversed Maori not only embarking upon it, but carrying all the time at the back of his head a sinister motive, the development of which was to drench the northern j.art of this island in blood. KING GEORGE'S SUIT o*' ARMOUR. Of Hongi in London various stories are told. When introduced to King George IV. he is reported to have said : "How do you do, Mr. King George?" To which that polite monarch replied : "How do yon do, Mr. King Hongi," His Majesty treated him with the greatest courtesy, conducted him to his armoury, and gave him many presents and a suit of armour to protect him. Which armour figures picturesquely in Captain Mair's story narrated below. _ Hongi was busy also in other directions, lie helped Professor Lee in the preparation of it Maori vocabulary and grammar. Ho impressed philanthropists, including those peace-lovprs, the Quakers, who gave him ploughs and harrow s. Other good people gave him many other useful, nnwarlikc goods and chattels. With thn whole cargo Hongi roturnerl to .Sydney, whero lie sold the goods for enough cd<h to purchase 300 inusketa ;uul ammunition. Instead of beating ins sword into a Dknuthsbare, he

liquidated tho Quakers' ploughs and bought lireanns. Then he hunTed back to New Zealand and got to 'work. That was the beginning of tho Maori Napoleon. HONGI'S CONQUERING MUSKETS. It seems that Hongi's first attack was on the Ngati-marus of the Hauraki Peninsula, 11 tar the Thames. Xot far fiom the entrance to Thames Riwr is Totara Point, now a native cemetery, but still showing the old Maori embattlements. Hongi's war canoes came to the mouth of the river, and, according to Saunders, a night attack carried the pa on Totr.ra Point. A thousand Ngati-marus were slain, and an augmented fleet of canoes returned to Kerikeri crowded with captives. We now return to Captain Ma-ir's stories of llolorua. In the summer of 1822 Hongi -arrived at the lake-side with, a thousand warriors anped with over 700 Tower muskets and doublebarrelled fowling pieces. He marched up from the Bay of Plenty port, Maketu, leaving his canoes there guarded by a strong force. Ou arrival at Rotorua he found that the lake Natives had retired to the Island of Mokoia, where they had collected all their canoea, so that the Ngapuhis were unable to cross tho lake to attack them. Rejoicing in the invaders' discomfiture, the Arawa braves used to man their canoes and paddle backwards and forwards just out of gunshot, taunting the Ngapuhis and inviting them to cros3 'over. In retaliation, chiefs among the invaders would lay claim to the finest canoes. One chief would cry • out : "That canoe hmy backbone." Another would say : "My skull shall be the bailer to bail.the water out of that canoe." And so on. Such pronouncements gave those chiefs pre-emp-tive rights over the canoes they singled out. They were confident enough to cook the hare before they had caught it. TABLES TURNED ON LAKE MEN. Once again. Hongi was faced with the task of finding another was to his objective. His War-party could not very well swim to Mokoia, and canoe-building was a laborious task. Yet Hongi found a way, and the way that he found is a monument to the military engineering talent of a savage leader. Captain Mair tells it i»i this way :— • Hongi returned to the Bay of Plenty, embarked in his canoes, entered tne Waihi lagoon, and paddled up the Pongakawa stream almost to its source, so as to bring his fleet within transport distance of the chain of lakes, beginning with Roto-ehu and ending with Rotorua. At places where the bends in the Poligakawa. were too sharp for his canoes to turn, he cut canals or widened the channel. When at length the portage to Roto-ehu had to be undertaken, ho drew his canoes over a distance of seven miles, including a hill 600 or 700 feet high. Then he lowered them into the Blue waters of Roto-ehu. The flotilla having crossed that lake, the canoes were again hauled up and were drawn through the beautiful forest, over what is now known as HongiV track, to Roto-iti. As Roto-iti is connected with Rotorua by tho Ohau chan^ nel, the way was. now clear for tlia 'Ngapuhi naval ' invasion, and the advance on the Arawa island stronghold of Mokoia was begun. To increase his hitting power, Hongi tied his canoes> in pairs and built a breastwork across the bows of each pair, which afforded shelter from spears or bullets, and behind which selected marksmen fired upon tho lake men, who only possessed ono gun and three cartridges ! A SHOT STRIKES HONGI'S , HELMET. A noted warrior of the Wie, Te Awa Awa, determined, at any sacrifice, to nhobt Hongi himself before the Ngapuhis fell upon Mokdia with their firo,.irms. He,, crept down to the water's edge and hid behind a bmall bunch of flax, from which cover ho saw Hongi sitting down, clad in the' complete suit of armour given him by George IV Taking a steady aim worthy of William Tell, To Awa Awa fifed, but at that moment Hongi slightly turned his head and the bullet struck on tho cheek, smashing the visor of the morion cap. The concussion of the bullet on the headpiece knocked Hongi off his calioo into the water, but his men dived for him and brought him up. Man/ years later, in 1865, Te Awa Awa, then an old chief, told the story to Captain Mair, and, regretting his failure to kill Hongi said that his success might have saved the lives of a thousand of his tribe. " How&ver," added/ Te Awa Awa, " I gave Hongi a bad headache for three days." FUGITIVES' THRILLING ESCAPE. When Hongi, with his irresistible muskets, carried Mokoia, frightful 'slaughter ensued, and it is slated that a thousand people were killed in a few minutes. One hapu, the Ngati*rangi* wewehi, escaped by moans ol a feminine stratagem. Another party of about seventy Arawas attempted to escape by swimming to the mainland, and had gone about two miles before pursuit was undertaken. About an equal number of Ngapuhis in a large canoe overtook tha fugitives, who were being shot down in* the water, and would soon have been killed had they not appealod for mercy. Prior to this they had, as they swam, made a plan, which was to range themselves along one_ side of the canoe pursuing, and by their united weight to upset it. They therefore asked to be taken 'into th& canoe, and under this pretext, succeeded in capsizing it, putting all parties on equal terms in tho water. To tho lakedwellers, however, that element was their habitat, and they succeeded iv drowning or slaying. all thoir pursuers, and escaped. , WHERE IS HONGI'S ARMOUR? Afterwards Hongi made peace with the lake triebsmen who survived. He received as a present a valuable war canoe, and in return gave the Chief Hikairo, as a peace' offering, his whole snit of armour, including the helmet. When Hikairo died the armour became the property of his younger brother Te Awa Awa, lib who had during the war fired tho shot which struck the helmet and gave Hongi such a bad headache. In 1866 Te Awa Awa showed the helmet to Captain Mair, at Waerenga, a lakeside village near Ohau Channel. Captain Mair adds that the helmet was being taken care of by Te Awa Awa, but that chief died suddenly and his body was not found by his people for several days. In the meantime much of it had been eaten by pigs, and the Maoris set fire to his house' and cremated him. "That was the last ever seen of the suit of armour," says Captain Mair. "No doubt it is hidden in the foundation of the house at this moment." Hongi died in 1828, from the effects of a wound inflicted the year before by SOnic rebels of his own tvibe. 'It is said that in battle he employed four men to load muskets fov him, "which he discharged with deadly certainty wherever they were likely to have tho best effect."