STEWART ISLAND

Evening Star, Issue 19782, 4 February 1928, Page 17

STEWART ISLAND

PLACE MIES [By Basil H. Howard.]' A T o. VI. Moggy Island.—An island lying about seven miles west of Easy Cove. On the survey maps it also bears the futile christening “Eigg.” Its earlier name was Ivackakow, Kakahow, Kakahou, the first of these being the variety, in common use among the sealers. The word looks very like a corruption of the Maori “ Ivakahu ”

(mat or garment). The present name is probably itself a corruption of Maori “ Mokihi ” (a raft of Korari stems). In a Government publication of 1872, I find the name spelt “Mogay.” _ This, I suppose, is a misprint. The island was a favorite sealing ground. Captain Edwardson’s log says that an Englishman was marooned by a scaler. He was pursued by natives, but managed to elude them by hiding in a cave by day. Ho lived on shell fish for miserable weeks until picked up by another vessel and taken to Port ■,l:.ckson. Murderer Cove.—A small harbor at the northern end of Long Island (commonly called “.Big South Cape Island”) which lies a little to the north-west of South-west Cape. It is a place of evil reputation. About 1810 the sealer Sydney Cove, being in these waters, sent a party of men “on to one of the islands.” They fell in with natives, who killed and ate them all with the exception of James CaddelL He was a lad of sixteen, and in his fear ran to the chief and clasped his mat or “ Kakahu,” so becoming “tapu.” He grew up with the Maori, eventually becoming a chief, marrying _ his preserver's daughter.. Civilisation soon lost its hold on him, and he became a Maori in life and deed, joining even in Avar parties in pursuit of sailors. As was noted earlier (under East Cape) Captain Edward son captured him and took him to Sydney, He could speak very little English when found. The episode of the chief’s Kakahu tempts one to suppose that this event took place rather on Moggy Island which, as we have seen, was called by a name suspiciously like an Anglicised form of Kakahu. Between 1820 and 1824 the General Gates, a sealer with, a reputation for marooning gangs, left a party on the island. It was attacked by the Maoris, only an Australian gin escaped with a child. She managed to live there eight months until rescued by the Samuel, Captain Dawson. There appears, to be some doubt about the localitv of Murderer Cove. In some people’s opinion the name belongs to a bay a little further to the south.

Murray River.—A stream and bay on the northeast coast. It was probably here that Robert Murray was left in Foveaux Strait by the Fox in 1809. He was not picked up till August, 1810, by the Governor Bligh, owned by Lord, Williams, and Thomson. Murray was back again in 1813 in command of the Perseverance bringing the flax experts. Being unacquainted with the Bluff entrance he left his vessel at Port William and went over to Bluff in the ship’s boat; In 1844 Bishop Selwyn paid a ’ visit, to the settlement there, and performed four • marriages and baptisms. There is no permanent establishment at River, now; g in 1850* the Acheron re-

ported fhat it was tlie principal halfcaste settlement on the island. Murray’s Mistake.—On the east coast. The Mistake is a local popular name for the bay called Te Ara te Kaha. Murray was a Yankee fisherman working up and down the coast single handed in his boat. Being becalmed one evening, he pulled into the bay, dropped anchor, and turned in. Overnight, the wind rose and drove his boat ashore. He escaped from the wreck either “in pluribus ” or as the papers say “in night attire.” So clad or unclad he had to walk around the coast to the Neck. Native Island.—Lies in the entrance to Paterson Inlet. The Maori name is Te Wharawhara, but at present nothing more dignified than “Rabbit Island” is used. However, there are no rabbits in occupation at this date, possibly because the _ dogs of the Borchegrevink Expedition were left on the island in iSOO. I have seen it stated that there were many fierce inter-tribal fights hero in the preEuropean days. There is nothing to bear out this story, except the quantity of curios found on the island. It had been a native settlement, but the great measles epidemic about the close of the eighteenth century practically exterminated the inhabitants. The effects of the disease were aggravated by the method of treatment . . . sea bathing! The neighborhood echoed to the sound_ of musket shots discharged to exorcise the demons of disease. Curio hunters were once attracted by the story of a-mag-nificent mere buried on the island ; some still believe in its presence "there, others crediting the tale, believe the weapon to have been removed. It will not be found, whatever the truth may be : when the Maori hid for hiding’s sake, ho did it thoroughly. It is probable that the island would still repay systematic search. _ This year I. saw’ some _ minor trifles . . . pieces of obsidian and carefully flaked sections of “foreign” mineral. Nichol Harbor.—A small hay immediately north of South-west Cape. The origin is unknown, but in January, 1810, W. Nicholls, mate of the Sydney Cove, Captain M‘Laren, was sent with a boat’s crew' to get seal skins “ near South Cape.” A gale arose and he was forced to enter a small ironbound hay. He proceeded to the extreme north-west of the opening and found a_ small beach. _ On landing the party discovered a piece of mast sixty-four feet long. Some of the fittings were removed, for identification, .and later it w r as concluded that the material was of French origin. “Near South Cape” in the sealing days usually meant “ near the southern end of the land.” But the description w’onld fit any one of three small bays in the vicinity rather than the one under discussion. I give the story for what it is worth. Anyway, I believe that the bay is

now called “Nicholson’s Boat Harbor ” by those who frequent the coast. Noble Island.—The most southern of the three islands guarding the entrance to Port Pegasus. William Noble was one of the crew of the Pegasus when Ste Wart charted the port in 1809. The Hon. H. W. Petre’s map of 1841 has this name; but Herd, of the First New Zealand Company, apparently knew it as “ Sugarloaf Island.” The survey map . also gives the name “ Staff a,”-

The Neck.—The general name for the peninsula at the southern side of the entrance to Paterson Inlet. It is connected to the mainland by a spit of sand to which the name really belongs. The chief native settlement on the island was at the peninsula at Port Adventure; but about 1864 the Maori removed to wdiat is now commonly called the “ Old Neck,” just above the spit referred to. Later the settlement moved along the peninsular northward to the high ground above the bays, these being common mooring grounds for sealers and whalers. Indeed, in early reports, Paterson Inlet is often referred to as the “ Neck ” or “ Neck Harbor.” The bays at the Neck all carry the names of tl*3 settlors. Some I have discussed, e.g., Joss’s Beach, Lowry’s Beach, Buller’s, Manning’s Bay. There are others: Lawson’s Beach, Hunter’s, Carter’s, Cooper’s, and Lce’s._ At the first of these (which is sometimes considered identical with the second) the Maori hid two seamen who had deserted from an American wdialer. Tim men settled for a while on the island after the departure of the ship, but eventually returned to their native land. Many years afterwards one of them wrote to an official on the island giving reminiscences of the wild days the two had spent there. One of the conditions of sale of Stewart Island to the- Crown was the reservation of the Nock for natives and half-castes ; hence the _ establishment of the area as a native settlement. At the date of writing, the locality is deserted, the younger generation 1 preferring the attraction of Halfmoou Bay; but one family, at least, will he in residence again this summer. There is a beach at Otago Heads called “Te Wcra’s Beach.” On the seaward side of the Neck there is a bay called “ Te Wchi a Te Wora”— Te Wera’s Fright. This chief was a bravo man in all respects, hut he was compelled to flee to Stewart Island to elude his enemies. He lived here for some time, not daring to light a fire lest the smoke bo seen from the mainland. One day he thought he saw a. body on the beach. As he approached it he experienced perhaps his first thrill of fear. It reared up on its flippers and roared! It wms a soa lion. As might bo expected, there are several slightly variant forms of the story.