WANGANUI.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume II, Issue 96, 1 July 1846, Page 3

WANGANUI.

By the Katharine Johnstone several communications have reached us from Wanganui. The settlers appear to be waiting for news from Wellington to decide them as to their future movements. We have received several interesting particulars of the late catastrophe at Taupo. One letter states — " In consequence of Te Heu Heu's death Taupo is about to be broken up. Nearly all the natives had left three weeks since, frJm a fear that the Waikatos would go against them. Mr. states that Rangitiki and Otaki were spoken at Tauprf"as the places likely to be inhabitpd in future by them, but many no doubt will make this river their abode." The following extract from a private letter by a gentleman well acquainted with the locality,- giving a particular account of the accident will be perused with considerable interest. " On the 7th of May last, a rery sudden and extraordinary event occurred at Tanpo : an avalanche descended from the mountain at (he back of Te Heu Heu's house, and overwhelmed him, his six wives, his eldest son Tamati Waka, and all those in the pa, to the number of 54, save two who succeeded in making their escape in time. The pa is buried ten feet deep. The cause of this sudden calamity is in the first place the late excessive rains, and in the next, the hot springs on the side of mountain: at least this is my idea; and it js corroborated by , who was in the vicinity at the time. Te Rapa, Heu Heu's pa, lay in a valley having a mountain "n either side, the lake being in iront, and the mountain at the back, at a distance of neaily two miles. The side of this mountain is covered with boiling springs, perhaps some hundreds in number: these, in most instances when I saw them, were mere vents for heated air: the mountain itself appeared to be chiefly composed of white pipeclay interspersed with veins of red ochre, which was an article of trade, and sent thence to all parts of the island. My idea is that the many subterraneous caverns formed by the continual throwing out of the clay, were filled by the recent rains; and then the water being heated, of course expanded, and so forced itself into all the pores of the mountain, and then gave the surrounding soil a degree of fluidity which occasioned the catastrophe: in addition; a small lake on the summit of the mountain must have added its surplus waters-to increase the ruin, being parlially drained when the side of the'hill gave way. The deluge was one of thick mud, and large masses of stone sufficiently strong to bear 100 men on it, who are now engaged in digging out the bodies of' the unfortunate trible. It is asserted that so sudden and powerful was the visitation, that some fowls at roost in larpe trees near the pa were carried with the trees and planted in the lake without being disturbed, where the trees still stand upright imbedded in the mass which has filled up that part of the lake. I learn that about ten years ago a large mass of water flowed from the same quarter, from which Heu Heu and his tribe had a very narrow escape, being fortunate enough to gain their canoes in time. Iwikau, the brother of the late chief, and his successor, has written to me, telling me that all his angry thoughts aie buried with Te Heu Heu " The death of this chief has occasioned a very great sensation, ard as far as the Europeans are concerned, it may be regarded as likely to produce a beneficial effect on the minds of the disaffected natives, they all rested on the aid to be drawn from Taupo : their hope is futile. "I have learned a few more p<trticulars. Mr. has arrived overland from Auckland by way of Taupo. He confirms the account I have given, and thinks it was entirely owing to the hot springs. The mountain seems as though it was rent perpendicularly down, and is visiJ/# from Motutere on the other side of the lake. Heu Heu was warned of the approaching danger, but instead of attempting to escape, he stood at the door of his house and karakied to the Taniwa (the God), by whom he thought the evil was occasioned, and whilst thus engaged in prayer, he was overwhelmed. He is said daily to have offered food to this God, but his having omitted doing so for the two previous days accounted for his wrath. The natives 3ay that afterwards the Taniwa fled across the lake to Motutere and thence to Waikato, whence he will go to the sea and perish there; they shall be no more troubled with him ; they saw the splash of his tail as lie crossed the lake. The body of Heu Heu has been recovered, also his much prized and admired meri the emblem of his chieftainship, which is now placed in a coffin, and laid by the side of Heu Heu on the same wata. Nothing can exceed the desolation of the place, the once smiling valley is now a plain of mud and stones,having nothing to mark the abode of that fine eld chief but a morere or swinging pole, which, strange to say, whilst the lofty trees were prostrated and swept away, still stands a monument of the past. The site of the pa is now made tapu, and so much so, that Mr. was not permitted to approach it, and the lake itself is now so sacred that none can fish or drink of its waters."