ROPATA’S EXPEDITION.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2557, 28 April 1871, Page 3

ROPATA’S EXPEDITION.

Our readers will remember tint our advices in reference to the expedition last published bro,„Lt us down to the point at which Captain l'o ter left tor love ty Bay. At this juncture, also, three se.ireo paitus had started in different directions, with the aim of coming upon '1 e Kooti s trac-.s. - rain had already begun when Captain Po.tr left The direction, however, which he too* brought him out of it, whereasi the i onto taken by the search party brought them into a part of the country where it was coming down in to rents. After they had been out a few hours the whole country was under water, and they found themselves completely jammed by the floods in the nver, and unable to move either in one dm cl ion or anolh r One only of the search parties, that, namely, bound for Te Hauppa, reache I its destination. , v On reaching To Haupa. a tracks were discovered and followed up. Two individuals were caught in the bush ; no information, hj were - , beyond wbat bad already been obtained from the others could be got Iroiu them They bad been searching for le Kocti for several days previous, m tne various bush gullies in the ncignb-nil boot, where they thought he might be in hiding (the kaln as were all, of course, destroyed), but had seen nothing of him, and could give no information at all as to his whereabouts. J-lopata waited for seven days longer, in the hope that the rain would cease. As, however, it continued, and as bis men almost starving—having nothing but fernroot to eat-he at last determined to come out, and arrived accordingly in Poveity Bay ou Saturday last. Their ha d fare and continual soaking had toid upon the men terribly. Ilopata himself was one mass of bous, and few, if any, of his men were much better. His legs, from the knees downwards, were so thickly covered with sores, that one could scarcely have put bis Auger on a spot which was free from them, i hat they m l .- naged to march through the and .m ood in the bush at all, is of itself a marvel. If they had stayed much longer in the interior, and the virulence of the eruptions had increased, it is hard to say wh.it the result would have been. If marching th ough the bush had been altogether impossible, as it was very nearly so we imag ue that the onlj other alternat ve would hj .ve been to he and rot at Te Haupipa. . . Ropda believes that Te I ooti is still hiding somewhere in the neighborhood, but of course, under the circumstances, he could not have con'inued the search any longer. Yrom the prisoners, who were taken at Andrew Matete’s pah and the other settlements. Eepata learned that the greater portion of those who escap d when ihcy themselves were taken weie Urcwera, and that the.-e Urcwera went off in a body to join their own tribe, who hj ive now for some time past submitted. By doing so they have al- o deserted Te Kooti, and have viitually surrendeied. Te Kooti’s party is now believed to consist of n ne men, besides himself and five women, (driwia, (Olivia) the sole remaining and b st beloved of his wives, is beginning to b l . tired of playing the rover s bride, and would, apparently, bo gladly content with a less heroic mate, if the change were accompanied with a greater immunity from hardships and privations. Tu^ Kooti is aware of her fickle and ignoble desire, and, whenever his party have to go through a piece of bush, be takes care to keep bold of her dress all th; time. Among those who are now with Te Kooti, there is one of the old Chatham Id and pri oneis. They have all either been kil’e 1 or captured, or else they are with one or other fiioudly tribes. The people who arc with him now belong, for the most part, to his own original set at Poverty Bay. One or two of them are natives f.oin the Upper Wairoa. liopata and his men arc at present at Gis borne, and arc being paid for tucir services. They will be brought back in a few days to their own settlements, by the s s. Aapier. The expense of the expedition Ins been very small indeed. The men have received pay at the rate of 3s per day. They received a small quantity of rations during the few days in which they were near the coast. Iheae rations would not amount altogether to more than about two in a month, indeed, one of the greatest benefits of the expedition has been that the invaders have eaten every morsel of food to bo found in the enemy’s country. For the few days before they le:t, a piece of bread the tize of a marble would lizve caused quite a scramble. Ilopata himself is i.aul to have observed that To Kooti would hardly get fat on what was left there. — Jlaickt'n JJuy Jlenihl.