AN EXCITING CAREER.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2340, 5 November 1908, Page 5

AN EXCITING CAREER.

WILD DAYS IN NEW ZEALAND

A contributor who signs himself “F.A.” gives to-the Kaikoura “Star” an interesting account of the exciting career of John Morrell,- an old whaler, who died on September 31, of over 90 years of age, and after living over 70 years in New Zealand. The following are extracts: SAVED FROAI MASSACRE. A •''Frenchman by birth, Morrell shipped on hoard a whaler which left Bordeaux in 1838, bound for this country. The Macquarie Islands were first sighted, bu>t an attempt to Hand was frustrated by a storm which blew them off shore, and the ship made for Dunedin. On landing, they learned of the massacre of a ship’s crew at the Macquarie Islands a few days previously. -so that Alorrell and his companions escaped a similar fate. There were very few pakehas when they landed, but- the Natives' were .numerous, and it was interesting to hear him tell of the abundance of food then procurable. Dried fish, heaped up and thatched with raupo like haystacks, were seen everywhere, and pigeons (the native kereru) had not to be shot to be obtained ; one -onid kill dozens with a stick on the tree limbs.

Alorrefl left the whaler an Dunedin, and went north in a -corvette which was taking Bishop Pompallier to Gisborne. Subsequently he joined the whalers in Hawke’s Bay, and there spent the greater part of his life. He knew, intimately, many of the Alaori chiefs who were engaged in the war, and was an eye-witness to manv thrilling incidents during it. Te Ivooti was intimately known, to the deceased, -and many acts of prowess and cunning were committed in the latter’s presence. Carroll, the father of the present Native Minister, pulled an oar in Alorrell’s whaleboat,.and Jaka, the great chief of the Wairou, was on friendl’y terms with him. , NATIVE ATROCITIES.

An incident in tho life of tho latter, witnessed by Morrell,* may be interesting as showing the absolute power of chiefs in those days. A captain trading to Hawke’s. Bay was insulted by ii Maori, and this was reported to Jaka, who ordered the Native to he brought to him. Jaka killed the in suiter,, took out (h is heart, and offered it to the captain, telling him to eat it- Their way to atone for the insult. As another illustration of revenge for injury the following may be instructive: —A notorious chief, who spared no one against whom he had a grudge, whether a member of Ins own or any other tribe, but murdered wholesale, was caught by relatives of some of his victims, tied to. a tree head downwards,. and worried to death by tlie infuriated- men -and women , as wolves devour <a tired -reindeer. . Pages could- be filled with similar experiences, -related by the deceased to- the writer; also scenes of. volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, terrible accidents that occurred! while whaling and dangers he escaped. One more, however, must suffice.- A young officer, belonging to a gunboat, who landed to obtain water, was surrounded and caught. The Maoris lashed him to tho gate post of 'a pah, and pierced him through -and through with rifle ram-rods.made rod hob. His screams could be heard for miles -around.

A FEARLESS WHALER. ' It is doubtful 1 : if New Zealand ever boasted of a more expert, fearless, and successful whaler than Morrell. He has Iliad boats smashed to* spilixiters by enraged cow whales, witnessed the horrible deaths of .men crushed hv them 'in their death throes, while others were drowned by the capsizing of whale-boats. Hfe account of the doings of the-men who were engaged at the Wairoa half a century ago beggars description ; thieves, murderers, forgers, bushrangers, and desperadoes of every kind formed the then population. ~ A man so kindly, gentle, honorable, and upright in all his actions—for amid the scenes of .bloodshed, robbery. and crime, enacted! by the lawless fiends who formed the populace of Hawke’s Bay at that tirne—-Mor-rell’s life and oh abac ter shone as a good deed in an evil world. ' He. married a. chief’s daughter 64 years ago, and leaves issue to the fourth generation.~ .