Beat the Deserter.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3479, 18 February 1880, Page 2

Beat the Deserter.

The special correspondent of the Herald has succeeded in getting an inter*iew with Bent, the deseiter Hying with the nalires, who has for jears been frequently referred to, and whose exploits have more than once formed a topic for a newspaper controversy. The Herald's special says:— Before setting out, I had obtained from a former comrade of Bent a description | of certain birth marks, and a.so of tatfoo and other marks duly registered when Bent was sentenced to imprisonmeni for ! stealing a watch, in order to enable ma to identify him. When my guide and I arrived at the spot we found a young native g'rl end an old nv.n, the father of Bent's wife. The girl started off to tell Bent of our arrival, and the old man conducted us to where some mats were spread in the shade of a tree, and on which ; several Maories, one of whom was of very high-raDk, were lying. These al! welcomed me. In about half an hour an exlraoruioary figure, reminding me forcibly of the old pictures of Kobioson Crusoe, made his appearance, shooif hands, and lay down without saying a word. He was dressed in dilapidated odds and ends of European clothing, a cap adorned with mi!lU~ry buttons, covering | a head of unkempt heir, dark, sharp, and anxious eyes, prominent hooked nose that had evidently met with some injury, a firm mouth and chin ; ia repose, a terribly haggard expression, but in conversation excitable, arid at times almost hysterical. His features generally bear strong indications of his descent from the North American Indians, bis* father,; a well-known ship-builder of Eastport, Maine, having married a half-caste Indian. His action, movements, and gestures are all more Maori than European, and be speaks Maori much more fluently than English, many words of which he uses without understanding their meaning. He gave an account of his life, the details of which will be published. That be has

given great assistance to the natives, and imparted to them what knowledge he possessed of military... movements, <fee, there can be no doubt, but that he ever fired upon the Europeans he denies.