JOURNAL

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 3, Issue 55, 30 January 1851, Page 3

JOURNAL

Of an Expedition Overland from Auckland to Taranaki, by way of Rotorua, Taupo, and the West Coast, undertaken, in the Summer of 1849—50, by His Excellency the Gover-nor-in-Chief of New Zealand. (Continued from our last ] To return, however, to the incidents of the journey after this long digression. Having seen all that was to he seen at Te Aira Hon we made the best of our way hack to Puhirua, where, on our arrival, we found the tents struck and everything in readiness for a start, so we set out at once in canoes for Ngahuam'ri, the largest settlement on the north side of the lake, where the Governor had promised to j

meet the chiefs of Ngalikcrerti (o liave a conference with them about a boundary in dispute between them and Ngalipikiao, a powerful tribe inhabiting the adjoining lake of Roto 111. On arriving at Ngahuapiri we were met by a chief named Moses, a consequential little man who seemed to have a great deal to say, to make up for his deficiency in size. He told us that the people were all away and cl-iiM not be collected before evening, so wc must needs encamp outside the village and rcmair there till Monday. Mr. Moses' arangement would, however, by no means suit our party, for beside the inconvenience and waste of time that it would entail. His Excellency had sent word to Mrs. Chapman (in reply to a very kind invitation that morning received from her) that we should be at Te Ngae (Mission Station) this evening. Moses was terribly disappointed at this, and said it was treating him very unfairly, as we had remained a night at Puhirua. The Governor, however, was inflexible, so he kept lis in talk for half an hour longer while he sent messengers for the people. Presently a long procession appeared in sight, marching in single file and preceded by a solemn looking old gentleman gravely bearing a red ensign stuck on the end of a long pole. The assemblage on the whole had an extremely ludicrous appearance ; a few were dressed in their proper and very becoming costume as native chiefs, with their kaitaka, dogskin and other mats usually worn by those of high degree j but by far the greater number were decorated by at least one or two articles of European clothing, amongst which were soldiers' condemned schakos, hats of all kinds, ancient black coats evidently cast off by the missionaries, antique waistcoats exhibiting every colour of the rainbow, boots and shoes of every description, whilst trowsers, shirts, blouses, &c, of every conceivable hue and pattern were plentifully dispersed among them. One old gentleman with a grey head and grizzly beard and moustaches excited so much amusement amongst us that I cannot resist giving a description of his dress which consisted simply of a long grey worsted stocking on one leg, counterbalanced by a woin out Wellington boot on the other, and a striped shirt, tied round the waist by a string of harakeke, the whole being surmounted by the remains of a soldier's worn out bearskin schako. This man seemed to be of some consequence, and could no doubt have dressed himself very handsomely in the appropriate maori costume, but the opportunity of exhibiting his pakeha finery was too tempting to be resisted. The maorieß seated themselves in a semicircle in front of our position, and the speechifying began. At first it was between the people of the place and Te Heu Heu, after which they had a korero with the Governor about their dispute withNgatipikiao. When this was ended Moses got up and began making a speech, though what it was all about no one could tell, as before he had spoken ten minutes the whole party was fast asleep. He hammered away for about three quarters of an hour and at last came to a conclusion on news arriving from the pa that the food was cooked, whereupon all was at once a scene of bustle, and we immediately started for the village, which was about a quarter of a mile off. We n'ow found out that Moses" speech was only intended to keep us occupied whilst the food was being cooked, lest we should start off without the natives being fed; and that the story of the people being in the bush was all a good-natured ruse to delay us in order that they might show theirrespect and affection for his Excellency the Governor, by feasting himself, his friends, and his natives, for a couple t>f days upon the best j of everything the country could produce. Whilst the natives were feeding we inspected the settlement in which we found nothing wonhy of particular notice, excepting a very large and handsome war canoe, carefully covered up in a close shed. Having seen all thatwas worth inspection, and the natives having emptied the kits and calabashes, we set out for Te Ngae where we arrived after a dreary pull of about a couple of hours, obtaining, en passant, a fine view of the Island of Mokoia which stands nearly in the centre of the lake, and which was used in former days as a /place of refuge? in tim/ of war. Hfap thev/cojuld, always b/secure_froin.their ineiaiy hov/evfr poWfexlui, (.by taking f\- thrfrcafrofs with (then/, until the days of thej faihoMs Hontl, uhder whose generalship Wgapuhi dragged thljjr canoes overland from Maketu by way of Roto Ehu and Roto Iti, and stormed the stronghold of the Rotorua people, committing a slaughter which to this day is alluded to with horror by all the natives of the district. On our arrival at Te Ngae we were received at the landing place by a party of about two hundred natives who welcomed us with the old maori chaunt which may be thus rendered: — " Welcome Oh stranger from beyond tlie sky ! My darlim? child bath brought thee ibcnco, From the uttermost part of Heaven hatli he dragged »««• Welcome, Oh welcome !" This welcome is sung by the whole party as with one voice,accompanied by dancing and waving of white, red and blue blankets, sheets, handkerchiefs, &-c, and has a most exhiliratuig and pleasing effect as they seem to throw their whole he art and soul into the song and danc.

and have all the appearance of giving a welcome to the new comer as free and hearty | as it is unanimous and vociferous. Mr. Chapman was absent at Makelu where ] he had expected to meet as, but Mrs. Chapman gave as a most cordial reception and we soon forgot all the hardships we had undergone whilst enjoying the excellent fare and kind treatment which we received under her hospitable roof. We had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Smitli and her son from Auckland. Mr._SiuUh. being on a visi} to the hot sp/mgs for the benefit of his .'-,. ,<C', / V/ Sunday, December 23rd. —We attended Divine service in the chapel this morning. The service (in the native language) was very well conducted by a young man named Potene or Hollon, the principal chief of Te Ngae, and Mr. Chapman's head native teacher. .The chapel, the appearance of which is anything but imposing from the outside, is neatly lilted up within, with tastefully made pulpit and communion railings, and is kept scrupulously clean. The congregation were for the most part well dressed and clean, and went through the service, as the natives always do, with reverence and accuracy. The girls of Mrs. Chapman's school, in number about twelve or fourteen, looked extremely well, being all more or less good looking and uniformly dressed in clothes made of the same material and of exactly similar pattern. They were marched into Church by their matron, a respectable looking elderly dame, and took their seats on the steps of the altar in regular order according to their ages, which vary from eight to fourteen or fifteen. After service, the weather being remarkably fine, we strolled about tlie place, which is prettily situated on the southern side of the lake, nearly opposite to the Island of Mokoia of which, and of the high limbered laud on the north shore with the intervening lake, there is a line view from the front of the house. The house itself is built of raupo, very neatly lined with battens of wood—instead of the usual material of reeds—fastened on in the native mode, and painted blue, red, and black in a manner perfectly novel and unique and which has a very pleasing effect. The grounds are tastefully laid out, though now somewhat out of order, the trees having grown so fast as to have almost choked one another. There is a splendid orchard of nearly an acre in extent, and stocked with apples, peaches, nectarines, plums, cherries and raspberries all in full bearing and the latter two just ripening, tho quality of which we took care to test and found them excellent mul most refreshing in the hoi weather. The land hereabouts does not seem to be very good, being covered to the average, depth of abotrt a_foot_yvUl_t a.filie pumice sand Trr-wTncTi'ljrasscs, &c, do not flourish, an<T which it is necessary to remove altogether for the purpose of making a garden or planting trees.^