Te-Ngutu-O-T e-Manu.

Manawatu Standard, Volume 4, Issue 148, 31 May 1883, Page 3

Te-Ngutu-O-T e-Manu.

m i (Thr. Beak Of The Bird )

The following interesting sketch of a recent visit to the scene of a disastrous battler-field to the . Cplpnial forces is from the Wanganui Herald :-r-The scene of the fatal fight of ,Te-IS gutu-d---te-Manu (still frtfsh m the minds of *oor. readers), at which Von Tempsky and several of his followers were slain m a Native clearing during the Maori war on che west coast, is marked by a smalt oiound of earth, erected by the surveyors engaged m laying off the Kaupokunui district. The' . spot is about three miles distant from Okiawa, on the Ahaipaipa road, and the' land around has been reserved for an extent 'iO'acres. The ie Tempsky "clearing" by which the place is known is larger than the usual; run of such, clearings, and is surrounded by light ; bush? At the north end of the clearing is a huge ; ;rata,H6lld# m the centre, and inside which several Natives were; said to be posted m command of - the open, firing though the crevices m the tree, wbich served the purposes of a block-house , The tree is hatcbet-markedj for a considerable height, a number !of bullets have been extracted,, and it has recently . been fired. At the opposite } end of the clearing is another dead r a ta with the bra&cbes lopped off, this having been done by Yon Tempsky's followers to prevent the. Maoris .using, them as hiding places. Roar the little mound of earth is the btump of the tree, m an advanced stage of decay j from which the fatal shot, which laid the leade; low, is said to have been fired. The bones of the victims have of late been found) : and a skull, supposed to be that of Von Tempsky, is ihow m possession of Mr Beresford of .Norman by. The sole token of remembrance of this man who took suck a prominent and worthy part iv the early; dangers of the colony is a nibund of earth with a wooden slab at eacbl'dnd^joined on the top by'aVcrdss^ : bar. Beneath the mound is heaped a pile of stones, used by the natives for cooking .^purposes, and on which probably the bodies of the victims of" « hat sad catastrophe were prepared to gratify the ' cannibalistic tastes oi ...Jthe.; , Natives m. the hour of victor y .' The weird appearance of the sGene points the finger of scorn at a thankless country: Who Qas K fttile"d' toackiio'w;l6dge, by the substantial monument it cleserves, the service of a ! life whos"e' energies and abiltty wereldevotv'd to the cause of the country of its adoption to pass away, its 4 e ?i?i Hs?M°S ® >?- r >- ma? *?•» i : W i^ c nistorv of the colony, iMt its' services unrecognised by even that monumental symbol of honor, which custom dictates, Bh r ould be erect^di'itp ;-the memory of those whose career has occupied a noble, part m; the .archives of thi» resign nation/ ■'■■■ '■- ;■ : :