A Child of the Wilds.

I had a certain sympathy for him when he came into conflict with the law and had his son and one of his tribesmen shot dead. He was the product of his wonderful and lawless environment, the grim old holy mountain that had watched over him from his birth, and the dim and gloomy highlands of his warrior fathers. Indeed, he grew in a fighting spirit from his earliest days, for his people, led by Te Kooti, were at war with the Government when he was born. His father Kenana (Canaan) was killed in the engagement at Makaretu, inland from Gisborne, at the end of 1868; and Rua was born shortly afterwards.

Against all this strange posing and religious theatricals of Rua's heyday in his mountain home, and his over-generous plurality of wives, must be set his good work after his tussle with the Law, and his imprisonment. He was an unofficial recruiting agent for the Government, and a gentle hint from him sent many a young stalwart to the camps. He urged his people to become farmers, and he set the example of industry himself on his land at Matahi, in the Waimana Valley, where he died.