MAORI CIVILIZATION.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume III, Issue 135, 14 August 1863, Page 3

MAORI CIVILIZATION.

AVe extract the following from Ihe letter of the correspondent of the Southern Cross : A little further on and the spur opens to view the spot on which poor Cooper was murdered by tlie natives after retiring from Captain Calvert’s. They lighted a fire a little further up the ridge, close to the bush, and here the greater bulk of the natives sat until the second tragedy was enacted. Cooper was fired at repeatedly but without effect. At length a bullet entered the back of his head, passing clean through it and killing him instantaneously. I have conversed with several settlers who saw his body immediately afterwards, and the testimony of all is that the natives lighted the clothes after his death, and set fire to the body. Some appear to think that the poor fellow’s clothing was lighted in two places—at the knee of the left leg and at the breast. Certain it is that the body was discovered lying close to the edge of the bush, to the left of Cooper’s house, smouldering away, andthat water was dashed upon it to extinguish the horrible burning. Tha men looking for the body were attracted to the spot by the smoke which arose from the body. The clothes were burnt off the lower part of it and down the left thigh, exposing the charred flesh. This diabolical deed was perpetrated in the light of day, by natives of New Zealand who have been for many years in friendly intercourse with the settlers, and who have uniformly been treated by them with kindness. The unfortunate deceased was an inoffensive man, and lie carried his opposition to the war to such an extent that he positively refused to accept arms, and join the settlers around him in protecting themselves from the Maoris by whom they are menaced. He had in his bosom a pocket copy of the New Testament, which his murderers tore up, scattering the leaves about. Portions of this sacred volume have been preserved by some of the deceased’s neighbours as a relic.