An Ancient Aboriginal.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XII, Issue 1729, 9 June 1886, Page 4

An Ancient Aboriginal.

A gentleman well n-quainted with the natives writes: — Apera'iiuna Taini- ; porra, tlie old chief who died at To Ihnptiku, Waitotara, on ihe 31st, -.Snltimo — was anoat 100 years of age. In Jthe year 1842, I knew him, as the chief of Waitotara, and he appearad to hare more than 1000 men under him, over whom he exercised supreme command. He was tho hft«d of the Waito- "'.] tara clana at the time «£ the raid m ado ; upon them by the Tanpo tribe, when the I; latter got almost cut to pieces at the -■'"■' Patoka pah, (.-lose to Mr James Durie's : place at Waitotara. This was about the time of the first arnVal of the late Rer Richard Taylor m Wan.ganui, and it was that R«v f?ei)tleman who caused iho ;■ opposine tribes to make peace with each other. Th« old chief was always a rpligions man m his wav 1 . and always a friend to the Europeans, and held m great respect by all who kn-'w him. His folio wera of old«n days have dwindled twny, having dicappeared to the happy hiintin§ grounds, and th-rw are very f.iw of them left now, perhaps not more than . a score or two. — Herald.