The Aobclist. A TON OF GOLD! OR, THE NARRATIVE OF EDWARD CREWE.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2129, 30 October 1875, Page 4

The Aobclist. A TON OF GOLD! OR, THE NARRATIVE OF EDWARD CREWE.

By W. M. 13.

A Tale of Local Interest.

Chapter VI.

" Happy as Clams on a High Tide."

We started with the first of the flood-tide next morning, by ourselves this time, for the natives we had brought from town left us here.

We drifted up with the tide, with an occasional flaw of wind in our favour, some ten miles more, we again came to an anchor, opposite a settler's house, prettily placed at the edge of the bush, with a sloping grass paddock in front extending down to the river's side. Here Janson was to load his schooner, for the tide had no strength much higher, bo he expected to hrar of canoea full of wheat and flax, from the settler ashore ; and, sure enough, there was a letter from Mr Alexander, the trader from whom we were to get our cargo. .Now, as my friend Janson had never " had time" to acquire the art of reading he handed the letiei* Gver to me to read for our mutual satisfaction. Here it is— ' The direction was in Maori, nfter this manner, " Kia Haniana te Kangitira O to Kaipuki," and the contents ran thus:— " Dsau Jakson, " There is a mob of natives coming over to this place from ' Waikato,' to have a taU about some land, and tlifi tribe here will least them, and are getting a lot of eels, and also many shark from Tauranga. so that I can find no men tolale the canoevS down the river to you, nor shull I be able to do so tor a week to come.

" Jf you will leave the schooner in the care of M r Leak you can come back with the bearer of this in my * kopapa.' She pulls very light, and you may do the trip in two days if you,stick at it, and I will find you a horse to ride about and see the country, and other jv'ew Zealand h spitalities shall not be wanting."

" Well," said Janson, " what shall we do?"

"It is all very well for you," I replied, "who are asked, and are to be mounted, and can thus ride about and see the country. I wonder if I could go with you p " "Of course you must. Mr Alexander is a capital fellow. You know him, don't you?" : We were in the middle of this discussion when Mr Alexander's native came -«p —a good-looking young fellow rejoicing in the name of " Kawiri," which, oh, my reader! is an attempt to say "David." Be was better dressed than most Maories as became a hanger on at a white man's house, and one who understood the ways of the " pakeha." A pleasant, gay Lothario.of a youth was our Eawiri, and he soon settled the matter in hand, as to whether I was to be of the party up to " his pakeha kianga " in the affirmative, and half, an hour afterwards we were paddling against the stream close in to the shore,' Rawiri' singing a love song at the very top of his voice which might certainly have been heard a mile away: a song, if Jasson's rendering were correct, that had better not be written down.

He took a great fancy to me did this young fellow, and set to work to instruct me in Maori, taking much pleasure in first, as a kind of elementary course, teachme to swear, at the same time enjoining your humble servant to use much discretion in that form of conversation as'be 'Maori 3 had very cogent objections to being anathematized in his own language; and advising me. should I ever be angry with natives, and feel an uncontrollable necessity to relieve my feelings by an outpouring of strong language, to be sure and use the English phraseology, which would not be understood and might convey the idea of compliments, blessing, or anything else to the native mind.

That afternoon we passed a small native settlement, inhabited by a slave tribe, who, I understood, lived on a kind of suffrance, i syi»g a rent in eels for their worthless lives to the great chief " Taraia "

When tin* night came we camped, building a very rough hut, a roof only, with one end on the ground, and so forming some shelter on the windward side, and this, with a fcood fire in front, made us as comfortable and jolly as travellers canoeing it coul i desire. On again, the next day, we paddled against a four-knot streams through a level country, at least on the western side, but en the left hand or eastern bank, the ranges—mountains, indeed, they might be called —commence within a few miles of the river.

I thought the district fine, and that some day, in years to come, towns and villages would rise on either side and steamers ply on and on into the heart of the country. Wo always landed for a midday meal; once -it was on the second day—we saw some hot springs at the foot of the " Aroha, Love Mountain" Eawiri said they ebbed and flowed imperfect unison withthe tide at Tauranga, a harbour on the east coast, fully thirty miles distant. However that may be, it was low water with the springs during the time of our visit, . -

A pleasant voyage was this canoeing up the Thames.

We never got ajar. With Eawiri it would have been impossible to cjuarrel, even if one had the most fractious of tempers, and, as to Janson, he was gruffly happy, growling less than e'er a mariner I had met before, although growling is to seamen a solace and relief.

He also told us stories half in English and half in Maori, which last rather doubtful linguistical performance was for the supposed edification of Uawiri. His storie3 related to his early seafearing life, and certain voyages he had taken from the Brazils to the Mozambique and back with cargoes of slaves. Here is one Janson'd stories :—

" Just off the Brazilian coast there is an island' called Maranham, a hot place as you may suppose when I tell you that it 5s little ovefr two degrees south of the line. .

" I once shipped myself from the port there in a fine thveo-masted schooner as carpenter and second mate. Our ' old man,' the skipper, was a Yankee, and a believer iv the power and virtue of swearing, together with the free use of his fists, or even the belaying-pin, on the heads of any of his crew who did not please him ; indeed he was a ' worshipper of force* ns became the captain of a slaver. "We were bound for 'Quilimani' in the Mozambique for a cargo of slaves. " Had I any scruples about trading in my fellow creatures, do you ask ? " No, why should I ? They were well cared for on the voyage. We kept them laughing and singing as much as possible, and fed them well. Why, bless you some who were mere scarecrows when first we got them on board, after a few weeks at sea, with good food and plenty of it, became as glossy and handsome as ever it is the nature of a nigger to attain. " Some* people make a great fuss about the wickedness of the slave-trade.

"I, for my part, think that there is nothing much wrong about it, seeing that black fellows are mostly quite happy as slaves. Why! they are not like white folks, but are contented when they have a master who has to find them in food and everything, and they have nothing to think about or bother themselves with except their work, and that is generally light enough; lighter by far than that of the working classes in Europe. I would as lief be a blackfellow and a slave in the Brazils as an agricultural labourer in some of the English counties. " On our outward voyage our skipper and I ' got across/ as he did indeed with most of us, and some of the men he handled rather roughly, but he kept his hands off me, which was well, for I never allow any one to do that sort of thing. " However, in due time we arrived at Quilimani, and took in our cargo of livestock, aDd were well on our way home, our longitude being about 30 deg. west, when the captain ar.d I again fell out. " I was dressing up a spar which we inttnded for a new main-boom, and dubbing it into shajie with my adze, when our 'old man' came up and found some fault with my work—unnecessary fault as I thought, and from high words we well nigh got to more than blows, 1 having my adze in my hand, and in the he»t of the angry argument, flourishing it rather near, 1 suppose, to the skipper's head, though I never thought of hurting him, and he, perhaps, only wanting an excuse to quarrel outright, without more ado whipped a pistol from his pocket and let fly at me ; how he missed I cannot tell, possibly he only wanted to frighten me; however, luckily for him and for me as well, the mate and some of the men got between us, or I should certainly have cut him down with the adze.

" I was not put in irons, but sent to my cabin which was my workshop as well; being second mate, I was exempt the irons in a case like this.

•* You ask how, not-being able to read or write, Icould help to work the reckoning.

"The captain and mate did that, I only attending to the heaving of the ' log,' and I can write as much as is required to keep the d^ad reckening—on a slate.

" What Ldreaded most now that I was in this plight was the likehood of a long imprisonment when we got into port, for what would be called an attempt upon the captain's life, and I well knew that justice ashore was not impartial, takine sides with the skipper, and listening to his version of a story rather than to ' forecastle ' evidence. And rightly, too, I must admit, else how could discipline be maintained on board ship in the xnerchmant service.

"I had seen a ship (shortly before my altercation with the captain) coming up before the wind on our quarter, and had judged that she would cross our course, and, not far from us, soon after dark.

" If I could only get aboard that ship. I'thought of gently- lowering one of the boats during the night, and of taking my chance of being picked up by her or some other vessel. But no, that could not be done without the mate or the captain— who would now take my watch—hearing me.

441 crept out of my cabin and went forward, to have another look at the ship, which, although now dark, I could see by her lights to be nearing us fast.

"-Although the risk was great I determined to slip over the side, and make an effort to get within hail by swimming. One great thing in my favour was the calmness of the sea. Returning to my cabin, my eye lighted upon certain empty five-gallon oil-drums, and with the idea that 1 could form these into a kind of raft I proceeded to lash three of them together end to end, using a light piece of timber to stiffen and help to hold them secure. It was quite dark now, and I had little fear of any notice being taken of my movements by the crew. " These three cans I then carried forwarp. hanging thrm by a short • lanyard ' over the bulwarks to windward, and returning to my cabin, continued my work by lashing the other three drums in like manner; this lot I also carried forward, and perching myself on the bobstay, just by the • dolphin striker,' I set to work to fix all together.

" The drums formed, as I had arranged them, two light nnd very buoyant cylinders, twelve inches in diameter by about six feet long, and I cohii leted my raft by lashing three pieces of board from one set of oil-cans to the other, thus keeping them about four feet apart.

" I was just about launching my novel craft when bethought me of a lantern I had, so I returned for it, and for a box of matches, which latter I placed in my cap : I also stuffed some biscuits and tobacco into my pockets, and on my way forward I picked up an oval-shaped boat's waterkeg, into this I bailed some four or five 1 dippers' full from the cook's fresh-water cask; but lacking a bung, I took a broomhandle I knew of; it fitted the hole very well and was handy in another way as I shall tell you presently.

"It was a nice calculation to decide when to leave the schooner, and what made it so more difficult was that the wind had failen much lighter, and by that means I was thrown out of my daylight reckoning. " There was a ship to be seen, but only seeing her lights, left me very.uncertain as to her distance, and when she would cross our track.

'." I returned once more to the deck of the schooner to get an old-blade to serve me as a paddle, and then, not without some fear as to the wisdom of my venture, I launched my raft, and let myself down very ' gingerly' upon her. I found that she would bear me very well when seated and letting my legs dangle in the water, so without more thought I pushed well off from the schooner.

" Until I was fairly clear you may be sure I was as still as possible ; had, bow-

ever, any one been looking astern as the schooner forged ahead, I must have been observed.

" I soon found that the ship was nearing me, for every now and then I rose on the top of a swell, I could see the ' loom ' of her through the darkness.

"I might have been half an hour on my raft, when I judged by the quickly j diminishing distance between the ship and myself, that now was my chance to make myself seen and heard, no I carefully lashed my lantern to the broom-handlo, the other end being still fixed in the waterkeg, and then having life it, elevated the light. I then commenced sh»uting aud otherwise making a noise by striking the flat of my paddle on'the sea. " Soon, to my great joy, those on the ship returned my hail, and the next minute I saw that they had slightely altered their course, and were now steering straight in my direction. 11 Another five minutes, and when within fifty yards, I sung out for them to be ready with a rope ; and then again, when nearer, to port a little, or they would run me down; presently the rope came, and I quickly made it fast to the cross-piece at the fore end of my raft, and with many a helping hand I gained tha deck of the Charles Martel—Captain Dykes—Wool ship from Sydney—Homeward bound."

Our canoe, Kopapa, was a light one to pull, and we manned it famously. Janson sat in the stern ; " Te Ke " (JRawiri) took the bow ; "Te Ihu " (I) was located about miilships, and, although we made good way, we did not burst ourselves with pulling. The beauty of paddling is that any one of the crew can.." take spell" without throwing the rest much out, whilst the man in the bow can steer nearly as conveniently as the sternmost " hand."

JNear the Aroha mountains a stream, called "Te Kohea," empties itself into the Thames, and here there are some rapids up which we had to pole, " Toko." When I say " we," I mean Bawiri, for our canoe was too crank for more than one to stand up in her at a time, and at one place where the current ran at the "rate of knot*," he got out, and, wading, forced us along to where the stream was more tranquil. It was late in the afternoon of the third day when we got to the landing place and were there heartily welcomed by Mr Alexander; no occasion to «<oubt his hospitality. He made it appear, and us to feel, that we were conferring a great boon upon him, by coming to cheer his solitariness.

" For you see," he said. " although on first-rate terms with all the Maories about here, they are, after all, not like ourselves."

A remark I most thoroughly indorse in after years; but at the time of which I write everything was so new, so " rosecoloured," and delightful, that I thought it would be anything but a hardship to live " a la Pakeha Maori."

Janson and I were soon quite at home, and with Rawiri to help, rigged up a sleeping-tent, for our kind host's house was not big enough for our accommodation.

O ! glorious times of it had Janson and self durisg our sojourn up country. The first evening we laid our plans how we should spend the following week, and the programme included a visit to the Lake district, riding round by Tauranga and Maketu. But if I were to give a sketch only of what we saw, and of the fun we had, I fear my narrative would l>o too long, and besides this, a description of Itotorua, the Lakes and hot-springs, has appeared in several books already, so I will forbear, fearing to saddle my story with too much egotistication, a blemish impossible to be altogether avoided by an autobiographist.

The scheme for our start in the morning being fully matured, we fell to talking of native manners and customs. Mr Alexander, who spoke the language well, and knew the Maori habits and traditions, told us many interesting stories of the " good old times."

Just one I am tempted to relate for the particular behoof and advantage of the habitues of Jkxeler Hall:— •

Alexander's story

"Not niany years ago the bulk of the natives still remained heathen, and as a friend of mine was the means if Christianizing a certain tribe with some little help from myself, I have it in my power, to let you into a bit of catechetical knowledge, evidently unknown to the missionaries.

"You may have heard what a large and powerful tribe the Ugati—— are. and how in some things they are in advance of their neighbours, as I may instance, they never having recourse to fern-roots as an article of food, generally growing sufficient wheat and potatoes, and rearing a quantity of pigs, to carry them over the months of scarcity.

" Of course it was an important object, as you may suppose, to gain such a tribe over to Christianity. Well, after much labour, the missionaries persuaded these people of the truth of this to them, new religion. The next step was to leach them, in some infinitesimal manner, the tenets of the Church of England. " I never threw any obstacle in the way of this wholesale conversion, as I might have done ; on the contrary, as you will readily concede by-and-by, I helped them considerably.

" That some missionaries are good men and true, I will admit, bufc too many of them are narrow-minded ignorant fellows, who do a prodigious amount of barm to civilization ; and others, again, are real bad, in fact professors of the right, but failing lamentably, which is more conspicuous because they are professors. "I-must say that I never knew of a lloman Catholic missionary going wrong, not that I belong to his faith, or for one moment assent to hia rubbish, only I speak of men as I find them ; and those who hail from Rome have my leave to wear the above feather in their head-gear if they think it any ornament.

" The natives were apt pupils, and in a short time were thought competent to pass their examinations, as, indeed, the greater number were; for could they not repeat the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments quite glibly in their own Maori ?

"In due course, a time and place were fixed upon when all the tribe should receive the sacrament of baptism, and the principal dignitaries of the church were to be present, to assist the local missionary at the ceremony. A happy state of things that had only one little drawback, in the. shape of an old highly-tatooed and much-respected chief; scion of an illustrious ancestry, who, now far advanced in years and infirmity, could not be taught these new formularies of the ' pakeha.' "The poor old fellow had every wish to learn, but fount! them all so extremely hard

to remember, more so perhaps, as in rendering.th.6 above three universal Christian formularies into Maori the transactors had to coin several new words that bad no previous existence in the New Zeala def\s vocabulary, English words being so transmogrified to fit the native's powers of pronunciation as to be very far from English and yet not much like Maori. " It just came to this, and if the old warrior could not pass the ordeal, and. it was quite plain to_ all of them that he never would, then not one of the Ngßti -— would forsake their ancient traditions and old ideas of omnipotence, nor, as it were, leave their elderly clansman in the lurch to go to —— by himself. To be continued. •