STORY OF A CAPTIVITY AMONGST THE HAUHAUS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume XII, Issue 494, 22 July 1867, Page 1

STORY OF A CAPTIVITY AMONGST THE HAUHAUS.

(To {lie KiMor of liit- Vi-eWy News.) Sin. —iMv name will probably be hardly within von” re coll elion, or that cf youij reader?,* at Oils time: al, bough if youj should Vok hack u» vour lilcs of Jamury j Inst you will iiml that one James Curie;; J was about that period taken by the relvi; natives near Tauranga, ami, except that one short note was brongut in a few tlay r afterwards by a Queen native, nothing aiterward? was iicaid of Inn;. Doubtless, if any persons have since iruuLLd ihcii head? on the subject, they naturally came to the conclusion that he had long since been killed and eaten, Presuming, however, {lint a brief sketch of his cant me arm Iconiinsment among these people mil not j be uninteresting to the Lmk of jour

readers, 1 will, in a? few words a? possible, state the feet? of tho case. For some month? I had been in the Government employ at Tauramra, under Sir i Citing and air tdkcct, the District Sur|rcyors. Tlie written warning from the ‘unlive? on account of which ilr l?cer«V j party left their survey, and came in to Xe ; Lhp,i, will be found in your Tauranga--1 correspondents biter of that date. 1 came in wrh that party which had been working five im’.es at the Tauranga side oi i’acngaroa, anti f r » day or two remained in camp with a lame fact. On the 9th January, I determined to ride out to 3fr Wilkinson’* party, who nad been there when we came in, about four miles on the Tauranga side of cur station. On reaching the spot, I found their wliare burned, and no traces of the

j parly. T then pushed on to Paensanba. 1 with a view to learn whether the rebel* had been attacking the place. On my arrival iu the evening, all seemed quiet, and lienehamini—an old Maori, well known amongst the surveyors—told me that no liauhaus were about the neighbourhood, and that ne knew nothing of V/ilkinscu. As the looked dirty, and the Jordan lord would have been impracticable that night, I had to stay until early morning. During the night, rny horse broke adrift; and, after several iucilectual attempts to catch him oi. the morning of the IGth, I walked into Te Papa and procured a rope, with which I again started on that evening. Soon after daybreak I reached the settlement, but no sooner had I entered the gateway that! four dusky fellow* jumped out of (.he fern with doublebarrelled guns, and do-civ followed me up to the vtliare of the old Maori, whom I had told to endeavour to catch the horse. About the whare there were twenty-two armed natives squatting together, and two Europeans, partly iu regimentals A chief was making a great oral ion to the party. When he had ended he turned to me, and asked who I was ; if I had come there as a spy, Ac. Mot being then sufficiently up in Maori to converse with him, he turned to Ucneaaniim and inquired of him. The old man told them the object of my visit, which, the chief said ho did not believe, but that I had come to spy on them, and that I must remain with them, that any attempt at escape would bring their bullet* upon me, and that they were about to * scour the road I had come. After having! ' • eaten some potatoes, the party then took * the road towards the Wnkamarama, taking with them my horse and the two Europeans, whom the old man fold me they were going to kill, because they were soldier, whom they had captured in (lie bush. Here I remained some days, during which time numerous parties came from tha Patitiri Plains on their way to Te Taumaiu,

Shortly afterwards an action was fought there, during which messages came to Paengaroa, warning all the people to fall back, as the Arawas were advancing. We therefore, inarched to Kaimai— men, women, and children—a da\'s walk from our former piece. During all this time a strict "atch was kept on me. Wo remained tlu-re until the Arawas had burned all fha other settlement#, and were approaching ours. We bad then quietlj to scatter through the hush; six or eight accomIpanied me. We then made across tho ranges for Patitiri plains, where we ranged from one settlement to another, as far south as Aoteoroa, crossing the whole disjunct in all directions wherever a ecttleiment lay, many times over, during which time 1 visited Kuranui, Tap,-.pa, liamaria, Te Waotu, and Arauhena, At these place* jfrequent meetings of the rebels came off, jat which Kereopa or Aai-kauohi (eyeieater), as he i= called amongst his friends, [made speeches, .About April (my reckioumg tiavr.g been lost), the King called a 1 meeting of all the fighting men to say that [there Mas to be no more fighting since they were cowards ; but that his Kau-ma-rna (Id), headed by tho Prophet, should proceed to Xe Papa, and take it in the same manner as Joshua and his men took Jericho. They were to carry no arms, but remain praying and wait for the miracle.

After this meeting, two or fhroa hundred made in (he liauraki direction, and dispersed there, our party stopping at Kurauui, where they remained cultivating the land. About the beginning of Juua we started for Pah Parono (a settlement about SO miles east of Cambridge), havincr run short of food, and having heard that we should find plenty there. Having seen the position of (lie place, I here made up .my mind to attempt an escape, haring ! noticed that they had brought but few arms with them. To oue of them, with i whom I was more friendly than with the 'others, 1 stated mv intention of attempting |an escape, which he said was useless, as itho rest were afraid I should set the sol[diers upon than. One morning, however, land having defied an old tatara (a tnan’j ipetticoat), and pulled on my shattered old trousers —if a lnim.de of rags could bo so named—l bade a hearty good-bye to one or two who wore close squatted by me. Five or six of them immediately leaped up, and earnestly conversed together, but made no at Icm pi at following, merely crving after me that I would get drowned in tho Waikato, Ac-, as the natives in that direction were certain to stop me. On that evening, late, 1 armed at a whare, where an old .Maori gave me some food. Tnera I saw one of the firmer iiauhaus, who reeognised me ; but 1 told him that, as I was very lame, i should remain there for

some days. as throughout the whole journey 1 had to tramp it barclool; but as on a? i got him clear cl the settlement, and the old man was gone to coop souio tirewood, 1 made tracks for Cambridge, and arrived in the evening at ilr Walker’s house, who treated me very hospitably. As the rebels had taken ah the money which I bad on me, 1 was under the necessity of doing a few day s work to earn a few shillings to carry mo down to Auckland, where I arrived about two day* ago. Trusting you will excuse the length *u4 tediousucri of my letter, I am, Ac., JAtIKI Cc3i.sxr, v AucVlaad, *ulj 12, 1567, >.