JOURNAL.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 4, Issue 63, 22 May 1851, Page 2

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.] Wednesday, January 2nd, 1850.—Rose at five, after an uncomfortable night, caused by the cold wind blowing off the lake, which kept us, with our light travelling stock of bedding, rather cool than comfortable. It was a beautiful calm morning, but somewhat cold still. By six o'clock we had embarked every thing in the canoes, which had been tent over foe us

the preceding anil after an hour's pull we reached th\ landing place at Jerusalem. Here we were Ml el by the Rev. Mr. Spencer, and thanks to tht civilizing effects of his labours, the heathen ceremony of welcome was omitted; but instead thereof we were met on the toad which leatls to the pa by a long train of solemn looking sivages of both sexes and all ages, headed by their pastor, attended by his coadjutor, Puhipi, native teacher, and who also chief of the settlement—or the David of this Maori Jerusalem. When the ceremony of presentation and the shaking of hands had been completed we proceeded in solemn procession up the hill to the pa, where it was the Governor's intention to remain for some hums. We therefore had our tents brought up, and pitched within the enclosure, whilst we regaled ourselves with some breakfast. After breakfast we strolled about the pa for a short time to see the lions. It is a newly settled village, and is, in fact, in course of construction. The population is small, and very poor: they amount apparently to thirty or forty people. Immediately after breakfast tlie hospitable missionary set about the preparations for tfie next meal, which was to consist of a huge piece of pork cut in rather a novel manner ; it was, in fact, the back of an immense pig, containing the whole of both loins, and might hive weighed about thirty pounds. This was spitted secundem aclem on a Maori timata or spear, which was supported at each end upon a foiked stick diiven into the ground, anil in front of the edifice was an enormous fue to roast, the meat withal. These preparations being completed, Mr. Spencer having dive3ted himself of coat, squatted himself down at one end of the spear or spit, and commenced doing duty as a turnspit, whilst Puhipi, the aforesaid coadjutor, attended to the basting, which was managed onXthis wise. Half an old calabash was placed ufider the meat to catch the dripping, whichVaa poured over ITie joint by means of a simmer piece of said calabash, from tune to time, as the dripping accumulated in the primitive pan underneath So soon as one native was sufficiently initiated into the mysteries of turning the spit by watching the motion of his reverend superior, and another had become a proficient in the art of basting, Mr Spencer left the kitchen and once more donned his coat, lie informed the Governor that the natives in this district were all at loggerheads as lo where* the mission station was to be placed (for as yet no missionary had been located at Taupo). A missionary is always looked upon as a great acquisition to the settlement at which he may fix his residence, and it was therefore somewhat difficult to decide amongst so many different candidates for tile honour of affording him a residence, more particularly as it was a subject very likely to lead to hostilities between rival tribes, in course of which the pastor was not at all unlikely to have his station robbed. Te lieu Heu's tribe, at the other side of the water, was the most numerous, and in every respect the strongest parly on the lake, but they were all heathens. Soine people might imagine that a heathen pa was just the one of all others lo which the labouts of a missionary might most naturally be directed. So thought not the Rev. Mr. Spencer, who said he would much prefer living amongst his friends at Jerusalem, who were all quiet, orderly Christians, for whom he had already partly erected a chapel and commenced a school. There is another heathen settlement near t« that of Te Heu Heu, the residence of' Te Herekiekie, whose tribe lias from time immemorial been ai powerful rival to that of the former. These three tribes, (for though the people of Jerusalem are themselves of little consequence, yet they belong to the powerful Waikato, who in case of war would be opponents not lo be despised), as well as numerous others of lesser note, living on the margin of the lake or in the immediate neighbourhood, were all most anxious to have possession of the missionary, and were determined to use every means in their power to accomplish their object, a Korero therefore ensued upon this important subject, between the Governor, Mr. Spencer, Te Heu Heu and Puhipi, in which it was after much discussion determined, that, Puhipi should have the missionary upon the condition that his tribe should offer no opposition to the intended burial, after Te Heu Heu's own fashion, of the bones of his brother, to which proceeding the Jerusalem party were strongly opposed, because it was against their consciences to permit the solemnization of a heathen rite of so much importance, and also for other reasons connected with a sort of claim which it would give to their rivals to the mountain of Tongariro, in the crater of which it was intended io deposit the bones. As for Te Herekiekie and others, who were clamouring, it was determined not to mind them, as the two tribes who had now came to able understanding would he quite sufficient to make them keep quiet. The wish of Mr. Spencer's heart was therefore gratified, and it was decided that his residence should be fixed at Jerusalem. All this time the pork Had been roasting, (attended to now and then by Mr. Spencer and Puhipi, the place of conference having been purposely choien sear the fire,)

and the wind had been rising, so when it was all over we found tliat our dinner was nearly ready and that it would be impossible to ven? ture on the hike that day, so we moved our tents to a sheltered place and made up our minds to remain for the night. After dinner it began to lain so that we were confined for a short time in our tents, when we were beseiged by a host of the wretched ill clad, and half staived inhabitants of the village, (they had been living 011 fern-root for some time). The scene had something the resemblance of a fair, the natives bringing us for sale curiosities of all descriptions, tarahas, green-stone ornaments, ornamented ki(3, &c., &c,, of which we purchased several They tormented us as greatly with their begging, food, money, gunpowder, clothes, or in fact anything they happend to see was immediately asked for with an im-1 portunity that would have done ciedit to an Irish beggar, but most of all, tobacco and pipes, which were very rare articles amongst them, indeed the only kind of tobacco the poor people hail, consisted of the dried leaves of some they had themselves grown. I must say, however, that they sustain the Maori character for honesty very well, the only thing we missed being the remainder of our scanty stock of biscuit already reduced to a very low ebb; this however, was a serious loss, as the only flour we had left was some of that which had been damaged by the bad weather we experienced on the Thames, —we had however plenty of rice which we afterwards found very useful.