Parliamentary Paper.

New Zealander, Volume XVIII, Issue 1715, 16 August 1862, Page 6

Parliamentary Paper.

Report from C. Hunter Bi-oivn, Esq., of an Official Visit to the Urewera Tribes.

Auckland, June, 1862.

The country to which the following Report refers, may be divided, typographically, into sections:—

1. The Upper Valley of the Rangitaiki. 2. The Valley of the Whakatane. 8. The Coast from Ohiwa to Te Kaha. I. The Rangitaiki.—This river rises in the high wooded hills which divide the Taupo basin from the country draining into Hawke's Bay. Its principal branches unite into one river about 21 miles N. E. of Lake Tarawera. It is here a clear rapid stream, about 50 yards broad, and from knee to girth deep, flowing over large shingle. The river flows round the S.E. side of Mount Edgecumbe, and joins the Awa-o-te-Atua (which issues from Lake Tarawera), a few miles from the sea. A little above the confluence, the* Rangitaiki is connected with the mouth of the Whakatane by a very tortuous little river called the Orini, which twists along between the sand-hills and the coast-swamps, nearly parallel to the coast. J. he Rangitaiki valley thus communicates with two small ports, Matata and Whakatane, either capable of admitting small craft of from 20 to 30 tons. They are both dangerous ports.« riCanoes ascend the Rangitaiki as far as Otipa, abreast of Mount Edgecumbe. There is, however, a dangerous rapid between Kupenga and Otipa; when a laden canoe is descending, some of the hands usually get out; three hands and a skilful pilot being generally the best complement for shooting that dangerous rapid. I am informed by the natives that a drayroad might be made from Otipa into the Upper Valley of the Rangitaiki, at Taoroa, at the expense of a little cutting. The general character of the Upper Rangitaiki Valley is a succession of large flats, with steep downs varying much in height on one side, and high partially-wooded hills on the other. The flats are thinlv covered with fern and grass, the proportion of grass greatly increasing towards the head of the river. The flats uud hollows amongst the downs are thinly grassed, much tussock and a good deal of stunted Verii being mixed with the useful grasses. The downs are of worse quality; less grass, more fern, and dwarf manuka. Near the source of the Rangitaiki proper, between Taupo and Tarawera-whenua, the quality of the feed somewhat improves.

A few miles back from the left bank of the Rangitaiki, these downs pass into a long, dry, gently-sloping upland, stretching nearly to Taupo Lake. It is called Kaingaroa, and is claimed partly by the Taupo natives and partly by the Urewera. As it is uninhabited, I did not visit this table-land ; its yellow colour, as seen from the distance, shows that it is covered chiefly with grass. A chief of Tarawera, called Moko-nui-a-rangi, who was travelling with me in this neighbourhood, repeatedly remarked, as we crossed the flats amongst the downs, " That is just like Kaingaroa." If so, Kaingaroa must be very poor country; its characteristics, a very light soil with a surface like frosted mortar, and a subsoil of pumicegravel ; the soil is mostly coated with moss, &nd carries a thin growth of tussock, stunted fern, and in amongst these a small proportion of fine sweet grasses, on which doubtless sheep would thrive if they had run enough. That country, however, from its elevation, must be Very cold. The Whirinaki branch of the Rangitaiki flows chiefly through forest; but there is a large patch of open country above Ahikereru, where a ; succession of thinly-grassed terraces skirting the bank of the river for eight or ten miles, : might afford feed for a few thousand sheep.. -The country between the two branches consists of high, steep hills, covered with fern or forest. I observed a good deal of fine timber, but not of the largest size; chiefly rimu, matai, and totara, with a little kahikatea. The character of soil in this district is chiefly a thin coat of very light loam, generally coated with moss, and sprinkled with pumice-sand and small pumice-gravel, and underlaid by pumicegravel. On the left bank of the Rangitaiki the top soil is almost dust, and off the track a horse sinks fetlock deep; so porous is this soil and subsoil, that even at the bottoms of large gullies no sign of the action of running water ■will be perceived, and the bottom is perfectly dry. In the bush on the hills the soil becomes a brown loam of much more promising character, but in the bush the ground is generally too steep and broken for agricultural purposes. Jndoed, except tor the sake of t\vo or three ruu9

of decidedly inferior character, the Upper Rangitaiki is not adapted for the occupation of English Settlers. The present track into the Whirinaki valley crosses some severe hills; a pack horse ought not to carry more than half-a-load (lOOlbs.)on such a track. The natives report "cliffs and bad places," and I might add, heavy forest, as reasons for not having made the track follow the courso ot the stream. I observed no facilities for a good road to Ahikereru. 2. The Valley of the Whakatane.--I entered this valley at Oputao by crossing the block of very high forest-covered hills, some fifteen miles in breadth, which divide the Whirinaki at Ahikereru, from the Whakatane at Oputao. These hills are of the most severe description and the track very badly cleared, so that it is impossible to ride, although Maoris do sometimes drag horses through. The descent into the Whakatane valley is down an almost precipitous hill-side, falling, I should think, 1500 feet to the little river, here about 20 yards broad and barely knee-deep. The timber on these hills is of moderate size, chiefly taua and rimu.

From Oputao down to Tunanui, a distance of 35 miles according to the Bishop of New Zealand's pedometer, the valley of the Whakatane preserves the general character of a mere mountain gorge; a deep, narrow, forest valley, in which the river for the most part flows out of sight in a deep trench or cleft. It receives two "or -fhree of similar character, of which the principal is the Waikare. - From the head of the river down to the confluence of the Waikare, the country is called by the natives Ruatahuna. Sometimes strips of 'terrace intervene between the edge of the river cleft and the great hills; these are mostly covered with a growth of very fine koromiko, marking old clearings, but for the most part the valley is entirely choked up with immense steep, wooded hills. In the forest taua and rimu prevail, and at considerable heights black birch. The prevailing character of soil is a brown loam of fair quality; no pumice. From Tunanui to Ruatoki, about 12 miles by the Bishop of New Zealand's pedometer, the valley changes in character from a mountaingorge to a hill-gorge, and the river bed expands from a mere cleft into a tvide shingle-bed, nearly filling the bottom of the valley. The hills are covered with wood. At Tunanui, canoe navigation is supposed to begin; but from the frequent shallowness and extreme rapidity of the current, it must be very ticklish work. The canoes can only be poled up. At Ruatoki, the river emerges into a pleasant vale several miles in breadth, and of fair average quality of soil; growth, fern mixed with grass. The river then enters a short gorge between hills of moderate height, still preserving its broad shingle-bed; and then for several miles, before entering the sea, skirts on the left bank the vast swamps extending from Whakatane to Matata, on the right bank a narrow alluvial flat extending to the foot of the hills.

Five or six miles below Ruatoki, the Whakatane receives its principal tributary the Waimana, a small stream which a little above the confluence traverses a pretty little open vale, two or three miles broad and five or six miles long, and of fair average quality of soil. The country of the Urewera extends no lower down the Whakatane than the mouth of the Waimana.

This little valley and the valley of the Whakatane up to Ruatoki, would be valuable acquisitions for English settlers ; farther up the valley world be almost useless, except to lumberers.

Another district belonging to the Urewera, is that of Waikare-moana. This lake lies at the S. E, side of the high, rugged, forestcovered range,|which closes in the valley of the Whakatane above Oputao. I did not visit it, as the S. E. wind prevailing at the time of my journey rendered it impossible to cross the lake to the inhabited shore ; and the Maoris say that the cliffs and bush, the deptli of the bays, and the absence of all track, make it impossible to walk round the lake. According to the account of the Maoris, the central sheet of •this lake is not large; but large, long bays diverge from it, and penetrate deep into the mountains. The track over the mountain from Oputao is of the most severe description, even for men on foot, and brings the traveller down to a deserted kainga on the shore of the lake. He must have with him a " tangata-whenua" (native of the district), who scrambles along: over a bluff or two till he reaches a point whence a signal-fire is visible to the natives at a kainga on the opposite shore. If there are natives at this kainga, and they see the fire, and think that the lake is not too rough, they bring over a canoe to the travellers. But as the lake is very subject to squalls, which quickly knock up a sea dangerous to canoes, the natives are very cautious about crossing. In a southeaster they all say that a canoe cannot cross. The Whakatane men say that if they want to visit Waikare-moana, they generally wait till a party comes thence, and return with them ! The lake population is very small (native estimate 80 men); their natural outlet for trade is down the valley of the Wairoa to Hawke's Bay. The natives report a dreadful winter climate, and so much snow and ice that the lake people send away their horses down the Wairoa valley to winter. To return to the Whakatane. The canoe navigation from Ruatoki downwards is reckoned fair. It involves, however, a good deal of poling; and good paddling navigation can only exist for a very few miles up from the mouth of the river at Whakatane.

There would be no difficulty and small expense in making a practicable dray-track from Whakatane up to Ruatoki, or even up to Tunanui. But, above that point, the great height, steepness, and jumbled-up character of the hills, and the continuous forest, would make it very difficult to get even a good bridle-track. The Maoris do drag horses along the present track, but it is impossible to ride ; indeed, the track is villainously bad, even for the North Island of New Zealand—even in the estimation of the Maoris themselves, who often amused themselves with giving animated descriptions of its badness. They have a local proverb, " Ruatahuua piki-piki maunga," signifying, " Ruatahuua, for ever climbing mountains," as we might say. The traveller does, indeed, encounter every variety of badness, as he toils over these tremendous hills; where a net work of s'ippery roots seldom allows his feet fairly to touch ground, and where from time to time he must provokingly check his ascent to cross a yawning gully. Often, with back bent low, he must thread the dirty overgrown bed of a steep little watercourse ; or, still with back bent, sidle along the muddy slope of a steep hill, through a little tunnel in the koromiko copse; or, straightening his back with a sigh of relief as lie emerge? on the open shingle-bed, find that he has to ford and ford again and again the cold rapid stream, slipping and splashing' over wutfd-c'ovcieil stops, Thu

indolent endurance of such atrocious tracks by the natives of the district is a continual source of astonishment to the traveller, especially as they own a good many Jiorses now, and many of the most annoying and dangerous places might be made good by a few hours' work with axe or tomahawk or spade, as the case may he. 3rd. The coast country from Ohiwa to Te Kaha.

The traveller sees comparatively little of this country, the track lying along the beach or within half a mile of it. At Opotiki, a fine alluvial flat spreads out for four or five miles in breadth and dep \ between the sea and high, steep, wooded hills. Most of this is cultivated by the natives; and, as I am informed, exhausted by constant cropping. Seven to eight miles beyond Opotiki, the sands end and the country changes considerably in character ; that is, the high wooded hills either come down to the sea, or leave but a narrow belt of terrace intervening between their sleep sides and the low sea cliffs. There is, indeed, a greater breadth of level land at Te Kaha, where a broad low point runs out nearly two miles into the sea. These terraces, generally of light dry soil, are for the most part under cultivation. Fine maize and kumara are grown, but the wheat has much degenerated from over-crop-ping. Potatoes are very little grown alonsi the coast. The Maoris use light American ploughs, with one horse (jibbers very common), both for scratching the soil a couple of inches deep to put in the crop, and also for ploughing up the kumara when ripe. A woman may often be seen ploughing and a man driving; and, perhaps in the next cultivation, a party squatting down, scratching up tho kumara with a stick and their hands, in the old fashion. A good deal of taro is also grown along the coast; and, both here and in the W erawera country, every kainga has its little crop of tobacco, and "torori," (native grown and half-dried tobaccoj has almost entirely superseded foreign tobacco, and nearly put a stop to that eternal begging for tobacco which used to annoy the traveller ten or twelve years ago; however, begging for matches has taken its place. The country in the interior appears to be a mass of wooded hills and mountains, and I did not hear of any kaingas or cultivations in the interior.

From Whakatane to To Kaha, the present track varies very much in character. From Whakatane to Opape, about eight miles east of Opotiki, it lies chiefly along hard sands; the interruptions being three miles of hill at Whakatane, ascent from Whakatane very steep. The entrance to Ohiwa a very long »vira, practicable only at or near slack water in nearly calm weather; and the turn into Opotiki involving three deep fords or swimming places, according to the state of the tide. There is often a great delay in getting a canoe at Opotiki, and still more at Ohiwa, and the natives are very disobliging and extortionate. From Opape to Te Kaha the track becomes exceedingly bad; it passes either over heavy beach, or large shingle, with now and then a respite of cultivated terrace; or else over steep bills through bush where it is extremely dangerous, and all but impassable to horses, not from the natural features of the hills, but from the ruinous state of the track. When nearly level it is worn into a line of small mud pits by the constant footfalls of horses, each stepping in the tracks of the one before him; when hilly, the chaotic ruin of the track surpasses anything I have ever seen even in New Zealand. Across the two first hills after leaving the Opotiki sands, tlie track is now worn into a deep narrow zigzag clay trench, whose bottom is a series of irregular steps from two to three i'eet deep, and the top of the step a mud hole one or two feet deep: large roots project into and cross this trench in the most embarrassing manner; supplejacks lie about in profusion, or dangle in front of the horses' eyes; and, accustomed as our Maori nags are to every sort of bad travelling, they showed the greatest fear of this horrible track, and we had great trouble to force them to it. The only formidable natural obstacle to a fair bridle track is the Motu, a broad shinjjle-bed liver issuing: from the wooded mountains, a couple of miles west of Wbitianga. When low it is not a difficult ford, but a slight fresh renders it impassable from its great rapidity and large shingle, and it is ofcen impassable for days in perfectly fine S. E. weather frotn rain having fallen in the interior.

Travelling along this coast depends much on the tide; some of the fords and some of the beaches being practically impassable near high water. The natives are desirous of having the road improved, and a mail established in continuance of that to Opotiki. The heavy beaches must prevent for many years tho attainment of a good horse track ; but it might be very much improved, and the traveller made more independent of tide. A better line might be laid out for crossing Whakatane hill; ferries might be established at Ohiwa and Opotiki, especially at Ohiwa Heads. In illustration of the delay this plan occasions, I quote a page of my journal:—

Near the Heads a Maori met us on the beach who offered to put us across, and had a canoe all ready, as he said. Arrived at the Heads at low water, and calm. Maori went for his canoe, was away nearly on hour, and returned with a very small leaky affair (a kopapa). Meantime, a south-west breeze had sprung up, and kicked up a bubble of a sea; the swim is fully a quarter of a mile long, and the canoe had to make three trips, one for each horse, and one for the saddles. When I crossed (so also for Mr. Fulloon) I had to hold my horse's rope with one hand, and bail out for dear life with a pannikin which luckily we had with us. Even then the canoe was half full between leak and spray before we got across, and but for that pannikin we could not have crossed. In this way that quarter of a mile of water cost us two hours' delay, although we arrived under the most favourable circumstances.

Te Kepa, an influential chief of Ngatiawa, is willing to give a site for a ferryman's hut on the north-west head of Ohiwa. Other necessary improvements would be two or three posts to mark the way to the ford, aud the position of the ford over the Wnihou, a stream impassable on the beach at high tide, but fordable a couple of miles higher up. A different line may be laid out and cleared at least twelve feet wide, for crossing the three hills between Opape and Tunapahore and that between Whitianga and Omaio; also, one or two short spaces of fresh track cleared on this side of Whitianga to avoid a very bad bit of rock on leaving the beach, and also the present lino of mud pits. At present, a small horse icsts his belly on the ground, while his hind legs sound one mud-pit and his forelegs the next one! In descending the hill between Whitianga and Omaio the saddle has to he taken off a small horse, because the track has been worn into such a deep narrow trench in the soft sandstone, that if not taken off the sides of the track will rub it off.

These improvements involving only labour and no materials, ought not to be very expensive. The bush requiring to be cleared is light bush. I see no remedy attainable at moderate expense for the Motu; owing to the width of the shifting shingle-bed it is not fit for a ferry, and would be exceedingly expensive to bridge. In speaking of the people, their social condition and political temper, it will be more convenient to keep to the divisions of the tribes. The Urewera claim the Upper Rangitaiki valley, nearly the whole of the Whakatane valley, the Waikaremoana basin, and part of Kaingaroa. Starting from the confluence of the Waimana and Whakatane, their boundary runs along r the wooded range bounding the Waimana valley to its junction witn a high range at the back of Poverty Bay over the Tauhou mountain, includes Papune and Waikare lakes, and joins the boundary of the Taupo natives on the Kaingaroa plain. Starting again from the Whakatane river westerly, it strikes off to Waiohau on the Rangitaiki, up that river to Taoroa, and out on to Kaingaroa. Speaking of the boundary on this side, Mokonui-a-rangi, of Tapahoro, Tarawera lake, chief of the Ngatirangitihi, observed that there would be some difficulty in fixing the boundary between Ngatirangif.ihi and the Ngatimanawa hapu of the Urewera, because the two tribes were so closely connected; illustrating his remark by dovetailing together the fingers of his two hands.

The above description may appear vague; but failing a map, or a visit to every part of the boundary, and in the present suspicious frame of mind of the natives, it is as much as I thought it well to ask for. The Maori estimates of the population of this Urewera country are as follows. The estimate in each division is that of the local Chief: — Te Whaiti (head of Ran«itaiki) . 100 men. Walkaremoana SO Ruatahuna 400 Ruatoki (90 men and women) say 50 Waimana 90

720 men. By "men," I understand men who can be mustered to fight. My own impression is that this must be very considerably in excess. lam told by a Missionary that Maoris habitually over estimate the numerical strength of their tribe. Also, Bishop Selwyn's detailed census in 1851, gives only 1260 for the total population. They are not likely to have increased many, if any, since that time, I did, indeed, observe a larger proportion of children here than on the coast; but on the other hand, Pairau, the chief at Oputao, at the head of the valley, (having once consented to the introduction of the new policy) was urgent that a Doctor should be sent, speaking of the v recent great mortality amongst the children, aud saying. " make haste, that a morehu (remnant) may be preserved." I made no detailed inquiries as to population; conceiving that the explanation and recommendation of the Governor's new pofttSgigHid the ascertainment of the political temper of the people, were the main objects of this expedition, and that* these would be seriously impeded by more minute questions amongst a people always jealous of inquiries into their numerical strength, and whose minds are now full of suspicion and distrust of the Pakeha, and sore from fancied injuries. Nor could personal observation do much in the absence of inquiry. At almost every kainga I came to, I found the people, or a considerable part of them, away; away to Hawke's Bay to work, for tbe Pakeka. and get money; to the coast to trade, or visit friends; to the woods to »et birds; or to distant cultivations. I had then to wait a day till such of them as were within reach could be summoned to hear the Governor's message'; and in most instances I secured the principal Chief. Their kaingas , and whares afford but a vague criterion, as one man may have more than one kainga; but the extreme smallne'ss of their kaingas is very remarkable, except at Ahikereru, seldom exceeding seven or eight whares; and Ahikereru, returned in the census of 1851 at 132 souls, we found absolutely empty, although after a day's delay we contrived to get about 40 men and women mustered. In social condition the Urewera are somewhat backward, as might be expected from their local position with no port, no roads, and no resident pakeha except a respectable trader at lluatoki. There is a perceptible difference between those who live in the open country of Waimana, Ruatoki and Rangitaiki, and those who live in the wooded mountains of Ruatahuna. The former plough their land, have sledges and. drays and grows a little wheat, and have generally a steel mill at the kainga, and are dressed nearly up to the average Maori style. The latter have a few horses and a very few head of cattle, but no ploughs or wheat. At the wildest kainga you see the unfailing iron pot, and almost always an iron kettle ; but camp ovens, pails, pannikins, knives,forks, spoons, and plates, of which a few specimens are generally to be found in a coast kainga, are well nigh unknown in Ruatahuna. Soap appears to be quite unknown, judging by their appearance. The children generally run about naked ; and blankets and roundabouts, shirts and trousers, are much scarcer than amongst the coast tribes ; here you may still see both men and women clad solely in one or two kokas (shaggy flax mats). Saddles are almost unkuown, and I have seen a young hero come galloping up to the kainga in very showy style with a slip of flax knotted round his horse's lower jaw tor sole caparison of his steed, and a dirty sheet knotted on the left shoulder for himself. A little pig-trading with Whakatane aud Opotiki is almost the only way they have found to get European goods. Pigeon and kaka-killing has become quite a branch of industry in Ruatahuna. The former are killed in two ways, either by spearing or bv setting a waka, i.e., trough of water in a tree in the forest ; after the pigeons have become accustomed to drink from this xoaka snares are set in a row so as to hang over it, and the pigeons going to drink as usual, stick their heads in, get caught and strangled. So intensely stupid is this bird that even when a row of the dead bodies of his kind leaves but a single gap where a bird can come to drink, to that gap he goes ! The kaka is killed with the help of a decoy bird. The man concealed under some branches makes his decoy scream ; down comes a kaka and pitches on the slanting stick at the bottom of which is the decoy, and sidles down closer and closer till the concealed Maori can knock him over. We were a little too early in the season to witness this sport (?) or partake of its fruits. But in the month of June the Maoris kill immense numbers of birds in this way, pot them down in their own fat, and sometimes sell these huakuas for perfectly astounding quantities of blankets, axes., pots, &c, to Natives whose open country debars them from such luxury. In every kainga wo came to, we saw two or three or more decoykakas fast to stands, each in front of his owner's but.

As an instance of-the hold which their old superstitions still have on this people, it was curious to see what a lion they made of one of my men who came from Muriwhenua, near the Reinga, near North Cape. This always got wind, and every evening- little Paorini mig.it i be seen squatted in the midst of a group of admiring hearers, scratching plans on the: ground, and setting up bits of stick, the better j to describe the " Rerengawairua" (departing point of spirits), and describing the different appearances of spirits, young and old, Maori and Pakeha. The following story shows the hold which their old feuds still have upon them. Above thirty years ago, a Maori Chief of the Rangihouwhiri (part of the Ngatiawa living at Matata) named Te Tai, was murdered by an Urewera Chief now living. Some time ago some correspondence took place about the murder, and the Urewera said that if the Rangihouwhiri wanted satisfaction for thi9 murder, " they had better come and take it." This murder had been in revenge for two or three Urewera Chiefs who had been killed by the Rangihouwhiri. Very recently, Wepiha (Chief of Whakatane) and his relations wished to find a wife for a cousin of theirs called Karanema, and proposed for the niece of Te Hura, the Chief of the Itangihouwhiri. Te Hura refused, casting in Wepiha's teeth the murder of his papa, Te Tai, by the Urewera, and demanded instead that Wepiha and Karamea, who are closely connected by blood with the Urewera, should be killed as " utu" for Te Tai. This word found favour with the Rangihouwhiri, and thereupon Wepiha wrote a letter to all the men of Urewera to ask if they were willing that this should be so. I was present when this letter was read aloud to a public meeting at Ruatoki. Naturally enough some rather excited speeches followed ; they agreed to go down to fight the Rangihouwhiri. Afterwards, in consequence of speeches from Mr. Fulloon, who is related to Wepiha, they agreed only to send word to Wepiha that they would go and fight the Rangihouwhiri, as " words did not kill." And Wepiha's letter was to be forwarded to all the men of the Urewera. I afterwards learnt that Wepiha, having first satisfied himself that the Rangihouwhiri had been well frightened by this threat, wrote to his friends not to come, and probably Karanema will get the girl. During the time I was travelling on the coast, a young Chief of Rangitaiki, Paora Kingi, married a girl, Maori fashion, and lived with her for a week ; her relatives came to visit her, and under pretence of speaking to -her apart, carried her away with them. However, I afterwards learnt that tiie girl managed some time afterwards to escape and rejoin her husband. It is to be hoped that the new Runangas, if established amongst the Natives, will induce -fchem to abstain from meddling with marriage in this manner ; indeed, I learn that the Runanga Tapu of Tauranga, which is a purely Native Runanga acknowledging no connection with Government, at its last session in the month of May, passed a resolution that marriage should be free. Such Church Service as is still kept up amongst the Urewera by their Native teachers, has degenerated, I fear, into a mere farce; so at least it appears to an Englishman, who finds it hard to believe that any one can express feelings of penitence, praise, supplication, and thanksgiving at the rate of a hundred miles an houi—that is to say, in such a furious gabble as can scarcely be recognised as human articulation. This applies both to Church of England and Roman Catholics, which latter are numerous in proportion in the lower part of the valley and in Waimana. I fear that the Roman Catholic Priests, intentionally or unintentionally, have done the Natives much harm in a political sense. It is especially from the Roman Catholic Natives that we Heard such taunts and objections as these :—" In the beginning you brought me " the faith (Whakapono). I received it blindly. 1 have since seen the vv 'ong- (he) of it; now you brin<r me another law, 1 am going to be more cautious ! Yours is a land-taking man-destroying church. The French are a nice people ; they don't take land. Yoj have deserted the faith, and set up the Queen as your God !" &c. I think that the present political disposition of the Urewera may be summed up as iutense suspicion and distrust of the Pakeha; soreness for the past wrongs of their race as they conceive them (o be; and hesitation and doubt as to the Maori " King"; in the minds of some a decided hankering to support him. Even when they could no longer refuse the praise of "pai" and " tika" ("good and fair") to the Governor's new system, they still dreaded something behind, still feared a trap, and could, generally speaking, only be brought to such modified consent as "Bring your new ' ture' and let us see it closely," illustrated by handling a stick; "if we approve, well and "good; if not, we drop it," and other expressions to that effect. At the same time, some of the most influential and thoughtful Chiefs got beyond that point, as shewn by accompanying us for a stage or two to speak on our side at the public meeting, or by writing letters and promising to use their influence on men whom we had not been able to see. Such are Pairau of Oputao, Te Manihera of Tatahoata, Himiona of Waikare, Mold of Maungapohatu, and Anania of Waimana.

I now proceed to report more in detail, for your information, the opinions of each place at which I propounded the new policy (to use a shorter word for the Governor's "new institutions.)" At the end of this report will b found a very brief summary of what I conceive to be the temper of each place as regards this subject. In the Te Whaiti district, I spoke at two places, Taoroa and Ahikereru; hearing from the Natives that there were only four men at Raorao and two at I did not visit those places.

At Taoroa, a small kainga of perhaps twenty scattered whares, the Chief Takurua and mauv of his men were away at Hawke's Bay working for the Pakelia. After waiting a day, some five and twenty men and women of the place mustered; the talk here was long and stormy. Mokonuiarangi, Chief of the neighbouring Ngatirangitihi, was with us, and spoke gallantly on our side, evincing a degree of candour, and of enlightened apprehension of the real designs of the Pakeha, very rare indeed amongst Maoris. Hot "King" speeches met us at first, but about the middle of the evening Erueti, the principal speaker, suddenly veered round aud declared himself neutral. Euuka, the son of the Chief, also declared himself aud his people neutral, and determined to watch both ;'ritangas" (systems), King and Queen, and join that which worked best.

In their speeches great soreness and distrust were shewn; going back, as thoy invariable do, to the coming of the first " law" (the law of God or the Gospel). Erueti asserted that the Missionaries' work was all a plot planned beforehand to pave the way for the acquisition of laud; that told the Maoris

to look to Heaven, and the^vm^tU^ 5 looking to Heaven, stole away the land J** them? One man asked point blank, "T&* 1 is there tinder all this? lam lookio t ' < whewhe' (boil or inflammation) undeftV? Erueti compared their King to Je SU3 pf!" He made it out by saying that the Jew, £* our Lord because He made Himself than David and Solomon and and Cajsar, and that we Pakehas h2? were jealous of) their King for a similar* (pt but that they had found their Kin? in 2 i ; the law of the Old Testament, and th at h j! Wf appointed according to "na" (the law) mt this Biblical scholar was reminded that H Jews took their first King contrary to th i of God, he was reduced to simple itei-atioa. They showed great soreness at the tion of powder, and at the contemptuous «* pitality of Pakehas towards Maoris. After my leaving the whare, Mr. Puju, my interpreter, remarked, " Although you obstinate in remaining neutral, the day S come when you will lay hold on these thS They said, " True, oh son! and that will betW end of it; this is mere by-play, we shall H to that bye and bye (apopo)." At Ahikereru, where about forty men an* women assembled, the old objections and sow!, new ones were brought forward. "IjU stick to the King," said one man, "becausetf Bible says <No man having put his hand*! the plough and looking back is fit f or Z Kingdom of God.'" One man declared tint hj meant to stick to the King because he " »), katapu" (makes sacred; their land; anotU " because he is the Maori Kin"." Hpr«;„ seen the strength of the opposition to us, mjj their adherence to the King; fear for their Uaj ■ fear for their nationality, fear «lest they should be made slaves to the Queen." One speaker, a teacher, declared Hat he would have no law at all but love. u U n Bible" said he, taught him that that fa, enough. "Whom do you come from?" said he " from the Governor? Ah! that is enough! Had you come from the Bishop, it would have been all right! Why did the missionaries tell us nothing of all this? Why did not they tell us of another law to follow? Why tag not Mr. Spencer (missionary at Tarawera) sent to preach this law to us? He is not far off!" This man also brought up the reproach of pakeha inhospitality, and of buying their land from them far an old song in the days of their ignorance, &c. " You urge these things on us that we may come under the Queen! Then away goes our land, and we become slaves to the Queen! The Queen comes coaxing (whakapatipati) us with money that she may get the ' mana' of the land." One man sang a sarcastic song signifying that he did not admire the woman who came after him, a song immediately chanted in head-splitting chorus by the whole meeting. " We're all staunch Kingites here," said one peremptory gentleman, "and so are all the Urewera ahead of you! What do you come bothering here for? Go bach! go back from here on Monday!" The Taranaki war was also brought up as a reason for thorough distrust of our having anything to do with their affairs.

Moko-nui-a-rangi spoke out manfully on oar side, and with an enlightened humilitv as to the relative position of Pakeha and Maori quite surprising ; " Work !" said he, "go and wort. Work is the remedy for us." The upshot of this korero was a division of the assembly called for by themselves, when only six men avowed themselves Queemtes, of whom Hamiora, Chief and teacher, was not one, he indeed had spoken on the King's side ; yet next day, Sunday, Hamiora said to me that he knew that all the hard talking: last uig;ht was simply for the sake of opposition. " K.ia mate a ururoa te tangata, (a man should die game; lit. "like a shark") said Mr. Fulloon, quoting a Maori proverb. "Just that," said Haaiiora. Hamiora also requested to have the "Karere Maori" sent him, and in his conversation seemed to lake it for granted that this new " ture" (law) would be established. Having spoken thus fully on the character of talk with which we were met in Tewhaiti, I will more briefly mention that of other places as there was a great similarity in general style. Taunts on the land-stealing and fighting propensities of the pakeha, and on the deceitfulness of the old missionaries, formed the staple of the discourse of the opposition.

Grave debate might well arise on the constant Maori practice of proving or illustrating their positions from Scripture. That a passage from the Bible really apt to the matter under discussion ought to setde every dispute, few Christians will deny. But these Maoris shew an irreverant familiarity in appropriating, generally in misappropriating, the words of Sciipture which is perfectly shocking. Many of them seem to use the Bible in the same cool business-like way in which a pakeha might refer to an encyclopedia or gradus ad parnassum, and, as a natural consequence frequently betray their entire misapprehension of it.

In the Ruatahana I held small meetings at the following little kaingas (all the Ruatuhuna kaingas are little): —at Oputae, Tatahoata, Tahora, Tuapuku (Maruteane being quite empty) and Waikare. Oputao is a very small place at the head of the Whakatane, but Pairau, the Chief there, is a man of note. He is a very vivacious energetic old gentleman, quite of the old school, and greeted us with some violent language for the King and against the Governor. In the evening, after a long talk, he declared his intention of remaining neutral and watchiug die course of events. Afterwards," however, he came on with us and spoke gallautly on our side at the next two places. As an instance of their undefined fears of the Government, I may mention that a day or two afterwards, and after having energetically seconded me in two public meetings, old Pairau asked me anxiously, whether if any harm came to him and his people through the new tikangas (regulations) he would be able to send me a letter.

Tatahoata.—Pairau had preceded us a day to this place (while I was waiting for the chance of a calm day for Waikaumoana) and probably prepared the minds of the people, for the conversation was more satisfactory than hitherto ; less parade of opposition; no king-talk, fhey said that they would receive a Commissioner, watch his work, and withdraw from him if they disapproved. These poor people are sadly puzzled by the amount of vice aud crime and fighting which, somehow, they have seen to exist in a Christian community. An Englishman grows up to this as a matter of course, and accepts almost without thinking the existence of much sin as an inevitably concomitant of human life even in a Christian community. X> ut a Maori will gravely argue, “ The Missionary came and I believed his law. iiis, law tells ns not to he angry, not to strike, not to puremu ; how 18 it that you come to me with another law ? ’

[To bo concluded in our nest.]