JOURNAL

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume II, Issue 109, 15 August 1846, Page 4

JOURNAL

Kept by two British Officer*, on thbia Overland Route from Wellington to Auckland. — 1846. (Continued from last Number*) 3rd. — Got a small ware belonging to Here-kei-kei's brother, a man who professed great ■affection for us, which he shewed by generally ■devouring the remains of oar dinner* for which he used to watch like a vulture, and drive any of the small fry away who by chance got a half picked pigeon bone. A few of the people here are missionary natives, some oxej>ikopo, or catholics, but the majority are heathen. 4th. — Weiit over to Te Rapa to see Heu■heu, but he was not at home ; the day was •beautiful and the lake as smooth as glass. We found Te Rapa to be a pretty spot, with some beautiful karaka trees surrounding the houses. Gave a man the gun to shoot some ducks, he brought in five splendid ones which he killed in two shots. A fowl that they were about to kill for us this day happened in the •course oi the chase after him to light on the >top of the «ld priest's xvar&j, they tapued it, and the pot it was cooked in, and none of them would touch either the fowl or the pot for some time after. They used to burn the priest's ware, wherever he left it after a night's halt, as they consider it was too sacred for profane mortals to sleep in after him. One of us got a scalded foot this morning, in the. mud, j at the bottom of the river while crossing it to ! bathe in the hoc sj rings. 6th. — Messenger arrived from Te Rapa thfs morning to say that the great man (Te Heu Heu) was ready to receive us. We went -oj^r.and foand a bull-necked old man of about 5 "* sixty years, wrapped in a dirty mat, sitting on \ a large stone, which no one but himself and , principal wife dare sit on, and surrounded by ; his chiefs and retainers. We looked in vain ', for the dignity that we had heard distinguish.ed Te Heu Heu among the chiefs. We gave him Te Rauparaha's letter, which he said wasj good. He made us a long speech, which as' far as we could understand, was a theme most 1 peqgle are eloquent upon, viz., himself; and 1 toloTus particularly not to go to Rotorua, as the people there were bad, and would rob us,, to which we did not pay much attention, as I maories are rather given to malign their neighbours. He pressed us very much to .change, our quarters, and come and stop with him,' but we declined, as we intended to start on[ our journey in a day or two. After giving him a few presents we went back to our ware. We were informed that he had told the Wanganui natives not to give up their land without part payment in muskets and ammunition, : and also that .he laid .claim to the land on' either side the river, s as the river had its source on his mountain, Tongariro. 7th. — Rainy day. The man who robbed Mr. R n at Manawatu, at Rotoraira, favoured us with his .company the^gre'ater part of (he day. He told us he had no affection for pakehas in general, but that as -we had come with his friend Heri-kei-kei, he would not molest us. Heard that some white. man who was travelling through the Taupo country, with a pack on his back, had, in crossing on a tree over a small stream, fallen and was killed. Bth. — Heavy rain all night. This morning Heri-kei-kei's brother " Te Heri," came into our ware laughing so heartily that we thought ' he had some good news to tell us. He informed us that Te Heu Heu and all his people had been destroyed. We found on inquiry that it was correct, but could not get over to see the place as it was tapu. I 9th. — Could not get a canoe to take as over to Te Rapa, as no natives would go. 10th. — Weather very cold, snow on the tops of the hills. The natives flocked from all parts to have a tangi over Te Heu Heu, and said if they got him out they would not mind the others. Fifty-four people, men, women, ! and children, were said to have been killed, a number of muskets, and a quantity of ammunition buried under the mud. 11th. — People still arriving, many of them with guns. 12th. — Morning fine and cold. We went over to Te Rapa and found the beautiful karaka trees we had been admiring all swept away, and nothing but a mass of mud to be seen on the slope where there were houses, trees, and fences a few days before. It seemed probable that the heavy rain during the

night had swelled the hot springs in the hill immediately over Te Rapa, and that, like a flow of lava, it had rushed down on the devoted place; or, there might have been some volcanic agency at work. There had been no symptoms of an earthquake that night. There was great crying among the assembled natives, and after that, as usual, a feast of pork, fish and potatoes. Upwards of a hundred men then set to work to try and get the chief out, but as few of them had^ any thing better than their hands, it seemed rather doubtful whether they would succeed in removing the enormous mass of liquid mud. 13th. — People all off again to Te Eapa, to resume digging for the chief. 14th.— Very hard frost. Th<? chief not yet discovered. 15th. — Found that the character Mr. T r had given of Heri-kei-kei was quite •correct, as we had paid the money we agreed to give him at Waagaaui to furnish men to Rotorua. Three of the four men who were ; to go were not to be found this morning, when we were about to start, and he seemed quite indifferent about it, notwithstanding all his, former professions. We got three men however, and embarked in a canoe, on the lake, and after going three miles, landed at Waitanui, a deserted pa, the largest we ever saw in the country, extending one fourth of a mile along the shore ; three miles from which is a small | pa* named Wai Mariree where we slept. 16th, — Two of our men said they did not like to go to Rotorua, but on our offering to carry our baggage, they started off with it, and carried it to Motateire, six miles further oa. There was little cultivation about these . two pas, the natives' principal subsistence seemed to be the small fish of the lake. I7lh. — Two of our men would not go on. One of our friends from Otaki, £ Kumi, or as we called him, the " Ogre" and a man named Peter, who seemed to be very religious, and spoke a little English, which he had learned on board a whaler, happened to be going ia a canoe up the lake ; we took advantage of their offer, and embarked on the lake which was as smooth .as glass. In about an tour a stiff breeze arose, and with a heavy cross sea, on account of which this lake is considered very dangerous. We scudded before the wind for some time, till a -sudden gust blew down the sail, and the canoe became like ' a log in the water, and was filling fast, with nothing better to bale than a frying pan. Luckily as we were just preparing for a swim, we got the sail up, and managed in the nick of time, to get under shelter of a point at Rotongaio where we landed for the night. — Got a fine view -of Tongarico this day at the south end of the lake, which was one of the finest we ever saw. 18th. — Went 8 miles over the lake to Rangatira pa which we found empty, this appeared to have i>een once a large pa. The people owing to the scarcity of fish, bad gone farther off to a wood. The shores of Taupo seemed almost devoid of trees, and the soil, except a few spots, indifferent. On the western side are 'bold -cliffs, and the natives saw some few pas. The population around the lake is reported to be about 1,500 which we should think a good deal exaggerated. An excessive panic bad seized them, on account of the death of Te Heu Heu, as they were afraid of the Maniapoto tribe coming to attack them. Some of them said they would move down to Kapiti, where they would ibe anything but pleasant neighbours to the Port Nicholson people, and others to <Rotoru&. Not finding any people in the pa we sailed three miles farther, to the Waikato river, which is even there of -considerable depth and breadth ; we went down about two miles to some hot springs called Waiereke where we slept. 19th. — Crossed the river to the left bank and proceeded through a desolate country, for seven miles, to a wood called Oruanui, where there are several natives who were going to build a pa. ,20th. — Several people arrived to day, many of them had come up with us from Otaki and were the people who stole our tobacco ; they pretended to be delighted to see us, but, qualified their affection by asking for tobacco ; towards evening they shouldered our baggage, and went two miles off fo the Kueni's pa. 21st — The natives at this pa seemed a bad set. The chief, who called himself a great j rangatira, asked payment for water this mor- . ning. We at la&t got away, and went two miles through a wood of fine totara to a plain covered with thick fern, through which we proceeded for four miles to a new pa on rising ground, at the edge of the wood. There seemed to be a good deal of cultivation in detached spots, which had been cleared in the wood. Here also the natives appear to construct their own canoes, as we passed a new one, seventy-two feet long, concealed among the fern. There were not more than a dozen natives at this place, who seemed poor, but civil. We had now been some days without salt, our sugar being expended long ago ; the only luxuries now remaining to us were a little tea and chocolate.

52nd. — The weather too severe to start. 23rd. — Had a long talk with the " Ogre" about payment, as he was incited by Peter; and wanted to extort more from' us, although we were almost too liberal to them ; at last we settled with them, and started. On' leaving; we gave a small piece of tobacco to a little queer looking old man, a native of East Cape, like ourselves a 1a 1 stranger, who ran after us with some sugar Wrapped in a leaf, which we refused ; the " Ogre," however, was not so scrupulous, as he snatched it immediately out of his hand. This was the only instance of gratitude we experienced in a znaori during our journey. Went six miles to the Waikato, over hills and plains, without a tree or shrub of any size to be seen, then struck off along the bank for about four miles to a village named Takapao, situated on the bend of the river. We found this place deserted, the inhabitants having gone some miles off to the woods to their cultivations. 24th. — The "Ogre" was detected this morning stealing tobacco out of our box, which he hastily put back when discovered, saying that he merely wished to see whether we really had sufficient tobacco to pay him or not ; he however managed to hide some. After a long search among the rushes, a canoe was found but so leaky that it would not float. They managed at last to caulk it with grass and mud ; in performing which Peter stole a knife, that was lent to him, saying that it had fallen into the river, he was seen dexterously to stick it to the " Ogre's" slave. They now put our baggage into the canoe and the slave paddled us across leaving our two friends on the other side. The slave on landing us, went back, and we waited patiently for some time, expecting to see the others come across, when suddenly Peter .got up and ran off, pursued by the slave and <the " Ogre," shouting and flourishing his tomahawk saying, he would kill him. We looked quietly on while this farce was acting, not exactly knowing the meaning of it, when our patience being exhausted we shouldered our baggage and carried it out of sight about two miles off, thinking that they woald come over to us by and bye. Aiter a short time one of us went back to have a parley, when after some demur the ** Ogre" came across with his slave ; he pretended great love for us and said that although a very great chief, he together with his slave would carry our baggage to Rotorua. He said that Peter would not come across, as he was afraid we would shoot him. — While one of us was talking to him, the other who remained with the baggage, appeared at a short distance off carrying the gun ; his countenance suddenly changed as he no doubt expected instant execution, and he ran off followed by his slave, saying that he would go to his village for more provisions and return in the evening. — The reason of his so suddenly decamping was in consequence -of one of us .coming up with the gun which his guilty conscience thought was for instant execution. We now went back to our baggage, which we opened, when the cause of Peter's desertion became apparent. In packing up our things in the morning he had abstracted a new blanket and left a worthless one in the place of it, hence the fear of being shot, as he thought we had discovered it before, seeing us open our packs on the bank of the river. We bivouacked for the night on the river's bank. We now recollected that Peter had borrowed the gun the day before, as he said, to shoot a duck, and on returning the gun discharged, we found one barrel stuffed with mud, which with difficulty we got out, on which the " Ogre" asked us to load it again for him to shoot, he returned it with the nipple stopped up, as we afterwards found out. The other barrel would not go off, which they well knew of. These circumstances persuaded us that they had intended a more extensive scale of robbery, but had not the courage to carry it out. 25th. — Waited till ten o'clock, when there being no signs of the " Ogre," (in fact we had little idea of his returning,) we left our box and Peter's blanket hid under the bank, and started with upwards of sixty pounds each on our backs, amidst alternate showers of rain and hail. Went across the plain to a high range of bare hills at the top of which is an extensive table land of very barren soil, where it came on to snow heavily, which made the path very indistinct. After a fatiguing march of ten miles we halted, but were unable to procure water and obtained very little wood for our fire. In the night it froze hard and was extremely cold. (To be continued.)