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Chapter X.

Unceasing preparations were carried forward to resist the coming invasion. The fishing-suburb of Kauroa was destroyed, that it might not afford shelter to the enemy, and the palisades were floated up the Mohaka stream broken up, and stored in the fortress for fuel. The harvest was gathered, and carefully garnered in pits in the fort; not a fine day passed without the gigantic sea-nets being hauled upon the sandy north shore; and all the fish they contained which could be dried in the sun, were prepared and laid in store. Scarcely a day elapsed without the arrival of canoes loaded with provisions sent as presents from up the river. The upper tribes of the river had refused to enter upon the war, but individuals and families, not having the laws of neutrality before their eyes, were moved by relationship or affection, and brought provisions for the garrison. Some, too, who had left home merely with the intention of taking down provisions, urged page 175either by the desire of making great their names, or by "aroha" (love and sorrow in one word) for the garrison, refused to return with their companions, and cast in their lot with that of the defenders of the Fortress. All preparations were finished, even to sinking the most valuable canoes in distant swamps, where it was impossible that they could ever be recovered without the presence of those who had assisted at their concealment; but the enemy delayed making his appearance. This long delay was felt to be an injury, and caused dissatisfaction. They had to undergo a disagreeable operation, the sooner it was over the better; and they naturally felt impatient for the commencement of a siege, of the result of which none felt the slightest misgiving.

At length the North concentrated its might and marched towards the fortress. This time there was no attempt to stay their progress, and at Onéwhero they halted unmolested to tangi (weep) for Nini, and all who had fallen, and to vow vengeance upon those who had slain their friends.

The fine weather, it was the close of autumn, favoured them, and they timed their march so that a fleet of their canoes, laden with provisions, crossed the bar as they marched along the sands in front of the fort. "Slow and sure" appeared to be the maxim of the Rarawa, for they made no attempt to cross the river that day. The following day they marched up the river to where the stream divided among the islands, forded it at low water, marched down the left bank, and made page 176their appearance in due form under the walls of the fortress. They danced war dances, sang war songs, taunted the garrison, and announced their intention of building a Pa under their walls, and starving them into submission. To taunts and threats the garrison were deaf as the grim wooden figures, which, from the tops of the palisades, looked down and defied, the Rarawa. Not a voice answered, not a man showed himself. In vain the besiegers danced the war dance, sounded the war trumpet, and exhausted their ingenuity in the invention of opprobrious taunts. In haughty silence the garrison mocked their threats. A quarrel, in which one party makes no reply, is not exciting; so, having vainly wasted their fury, the Northern army fixed upon the site of their encampment, a short distance from the fort gates, and as near as the nature of the ground would admit. The actions of the Northern hordes soon showed that they had entered upon the siege with a terrible earnestness of purpose. After the day of their arrival, they wasted no time in idle displays. They marked out the lines of a large Pa, which they proceeded to fortify. This effected, the substantial houses they built made it unmistakably evident that they anticipated, and had undertaken, a long siege. They were indefatigable in storing provisions before the winter came upon them; trains of slaves were perpetually upon the road between their camp and their homes; and, whenever the weather permitted, their canoes risked the short voyage between the river and the northern estuary.

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While they were engaged in felling pine trees for the palisades of their Pa, some little distance up the river, they were met by a deputation from the tribes of its upper waters, who came to enquire whether the Rarawa and their allies wished the war to extend over the whole river, or whether they were willing to confine it below the ford among the islands between two and three leagues above Ngutukaka?

The northern tribes had quite enough upon their hands, and had no wish to increase the number of their enemies. The embassy was therefore received very graciously, and assured that the invasion should not extend above the islands.

Literally the first stone was thrown from the fort. The Pa of the Rarawa was completed, and the white palisades made of soft wood, not intended to be permanent, were in position, when, one afternoon while a strong south-west wind was blowing, a shower of red-hot stones slung from the fortress rushed, borne upon its wings, over the camp. These missiles effected the mission upon which they were sent, and, in a few minutes, a fire, which commenced upon the roofs of the houses, was raging with a rapidity and fierceness only to be equalled in a town similarly constructed of wood, reeds, and rushes. The blow fell heavily upon the besiegers. In a few hours they lost the labour of months, and though they could easily renew their fortified camp, their loss in provisions was irreparable.

Then for the first time the triumphant Ngatiroa page 178made a demonstration. In the lunette appeared a body of warriors as if about to sally, and upon the face of the hill fort an immense crowd assembled, waving garments, and shouting cries of welcome and invitations to their enemies to come into Ngutukaka. The Rarawa fell into their ranks, dancing, shouting, and calling upon the besieged to come forth and fight like men, and not to wait till they were conquered by famine. Excited almost to madness by these taunts, the warriors in the outwork danced and sang with such fury that their enemies hoped and expected to see "the great mouth" open, and the besieged sally forth from under their walls; but prudence prevailed, and the gates remained closed.

If the besieged had any expectation that the loss of their camp would force the Rarawa to raise the siege, they were soon undeceived, for their enemies lost not a day in repairing the disaster. They moved their camp some distance down the Mohaka, and again raised fortifications and built houses; and, by cutting a deep trench from the stream above their camp, and leading the aqueduct through the centre of their Pa, secured themselves, as far as was possible, against a second onflagration.

Many months passed without the least symptom of weariness on the part of the besiegers. Winter had come and gone, and the yellow flowers of the kowhai were proclaiming mid-spring, when the besieged began to feel that what they had looked upon as bravado, might prove to be stern reality. The Rarawa had for some page 179time been clearing and digging the kumira grounds in the neighbourhood. This was not done, as had been supposed, as an empty threat, for they planted large fields of fresh kumira and taro.

This sight struck a chill into the defenders of Ngutukaka. All ranks and ages dearly loved freedom and the open air, and long confinement and want of change of diet had commenced to do their work. Sickness and discontent were stealthily introducing themselves amongst the garrison. A few old people and a few young children had succumbed, and abandoned the closed fort for the open plains of the next world. This was to be expected as inevitable, but the sagacious Te Wira saw that it would no longer be safe to continue the interdict or tapu he had placed upon all egress from the fort. To satisfy the inextinguishable craving for fresh food inherent in all races, except among the vegetarians who live under the laws of the great Hindu legislator, Munu (and even they must have fresh butter), a family had appropriated, killed, and eaten a dog belonging to another hapu of the tribe. A dispute about the animal arose between the two families, and so great was the craving, not only for food, but for excitement, that in a very short space of time nearly one half of the garrison, ranged upon the side of the owners of the dog, with arms in their hands were defying the other family and its equally numerous supporters.

With difficulty Te Wira appeased the tumult by telling them that if they would not wait with patience, but insisted upon fighting, he would take off the tapu, page 180and that small parties would be allowed egress from the fort to forage and to cut off stragglers. For his own part he had confidence in the dying words of Karaka, and the Great Gates should never be opened till the siege was raised.

That night several parties of daring men lowered themselves from the fortress by flaxen rope ladders, and, taking the paths upon which they had often watched the besiegers, crouched down in ambush. Their enemies were off their guard, and on the following night the foraging parties returned to the fort, bringing with them a few birds, eels, and fresh water cray-fish, and, what was even more acceptable to the garrison at large, a few human heads. These last duly appeared in the morning as decorations of the palisades of the fort, being placed upon the tops of the heads of the carved figures, from whence the Rarawa were invited to come and remove them. The mutual taunts and jeers which then ensued were such as could only have been uttered in the stone age, before an acquaintance with the musket had to a certain extent civilised savage man, by making a distance, usually not within earshot, a general condition of warfare. When man can slay his enemy from a distance, he rightly thinks that he himself runs less risk than in a hand-to-hand encounter; and those terrific battles lately fought with mitrailleuse, chassepot, and needle-gun, would have been infinitely more sanguinary, had the men who waged them been armed with spears of wood or iron.

The character of the war changed from the time of page 181the besieged sending out night parties of foragers. The Rarawa nightly patrolled round the portions of the fort from which they thought it possible men might descend; sometimes surprising those descending, at others being themselves cut off. No longer forbidden to leave the fort, numbers constantly made the attempt. Fathers risked their lives to obtain food for a sick wife or child; lovers went forth that they might once more hear the voice of her they loved; and those who had neither wife, child, or true love, went forth to gain a name, which they considered the greatest gift this world could bestow. All were free to leave the garrison for a time, but it was understood that all who left were bound in honour to return. Men belonging to the upper tribes of the river returned to visit their families and friends, carrying a legible account of the hardships they had undergone in their emaciated appearance; but no further appeal for help was made to the powerful Maniawhere tribe, which at the commencement of the war had refused to afford assistance. At length, however, the ghastly appearance of their connections produced its effect upon them. They had never wished or expected that Ngutukaka should fall, merely that a little of the conceit, of which the Ngatiroa possessed so large a share should be knocked out of them. Besides, the fall of the Ngatiroa fortress would greatly weaken the tribes of the central confederation. It was therefore time to interfere. An embassy was accordingly sent to the Rarawa to inform them that the Maniawhere tribe felt aroha (love and sorrow) for the Ngatiroa, and page 182intended shortly to pay them a visit of condolence. This they should do when the siege had lasted one year. It would therefore be requisite that, if the fortress were not by that time taken (of which they had no expectation), the siege should be raised. To these terms the Rarawa offered no opposition. They would raise the siege at the end of the year. Only one short month of the twelvemonth remained unexpired when this condition was forced upon the Rarawa. Their engineers therefore at once entered upon the last effort of their science. An enormous fascine of brushwood was constructed, bound together by flaxen ropes, and of so great a size that the men who rolled it before them did so in security behind the shelter it afforded. When the garrison saw the monstrous engine of destruction approaching, they were filled with fear; there were their enemies under arms, preceded by what looked like the trunk of a great tree, many times magnified. On it came until it reached the chevaux de frisc in front of the great palisades. It then burst into flames, and burnt so fiercely, that the men upon the fighting stage, which ran along the palisades, were glad to escape into the fort. The valuable posts of totara and konaka wood, the carved figures upon the tops of which had looked down upon the last siege more than a century before, were soon in flames, but the gates upon the narrow staircase were too strong to be forced, and the impregnable rock again foiled its enemies, who had hoped to be able to enter the inner defences along with the defenders. With the failure of this last blow the skill page 183and patience of the assailants appeared to be exhausted, for a few days afterwards they set fire to their Pa and retreated to their homes.

It is difficult to describe the joy that reigned in Ngutukaka when the siege was raised. If deliverance from pain, protracted suffering, or fear, are the highest material pleasures which poor human nature is capable of enjoying, what must have been felt, at the deliverance from all of these together, by the women and children who had endured them for so long a period, and by their husbands and fathers, who, if they had not so deeply felt the horrors of the situation upon their own account, were struck through the helpless ones depending upon them.

Spies followed the retreating army, and witnessed its transportation to the northern side of the estuary. Then, upon their return, the long closed gates of the fortress were at last thrown open, and forth poured the relieved multitude to enjoy once more the delights of freedom. Down to the river they rushed to drink the sweet waters for which they had so long sighed, and once more to cool their war-worn frames in its ample stream. Singing songs of victory, the warriors danced the war dance, taking pride to themselves as those who had triumphed in the great game.

A few days after the siege was raised, a number of the garrison, whose abodes were at Rotorua and further up the river, left for their homes, taking with them Te Wira, who was much shaken by the long continued anxiety he had undergone. Tomo refused to go because page 184his bosom friend, the Tohunga, declined to accompany him.

For Ngawhare, usually so fond of change of scene, positively refused to go; giving as his reason that the stars presented a most menacing aspect. A great calamity was, he said, evidently at hand, for never had he seen a star so near the moon,—it was almost within her arms.

The morning after the departure of the Ariki and the party for Rotorua, the sun rose with cloudy reluctance, grieving perhaps that it was again its lot to witness the destruction of thousands of human insects, the victims of their own cruel fratricidal rage. A fog covered the river, and it was not dispersed until the sun had risen to some height. No sooner was the opposite side of the bay visible, than in "the Snare," about a league distant, there was seen an object which sent a thrill of pleasure through every soul in the fort. As the fog lifted, the cry arose, "He ika moana," "the fish of the great sea!" "the fish of the great sea!"

Forthwith from their houses pour the inhabitants in crowds to where the best view is to be obtained of the black monster knocking about in the surf, with a flock of sea-gulls flying round and lighting upon its carcase. Even at that distance the hump upon its back is visible, and it is pronounced to be a large male sperm whale. It is almost high water, so that there is no time to lose; the dead whale has come in with the flood tide, and, if not secured, will go back to sea with the ebb. The warriors run page 185down to the landing-place on the Waitebuna, and, jumping into their canoes, are ferried across as fast as possible, the boats returning to take across fresh numbers of those impatiently waiting upon the beach. The young girls and children follow with slower foot-steps, while the women and the old people stand still and gaze with eager eyes at their husbands, brothers, and sons running along the north sands in hundreds; but look! the foremost are slackening in their speed, and regard the whale doubtingly—"Great Spirit! what is that?" Ah! short-sighted Ngatiroa, it is destruction and death. The jaws of the tremendous trap have closed, and from the sand-hills behind it rises high and loud the war song of the Rarawa; two compact phalanges charge forth, the one dashes in pursuit of those who have fallen into the trap baited with the mock whale, the other rushes to seize the canoes, scarcely pausing to slay the wretches who come in its way.

When the Mania intimated to the northern tribes their intention of coming down to raise the siege, the Rarawa engineers were driven to exert their highest skill. The haughty fortress must fall quickly, or the Ngatiroa would escape the vengeance due to their treachery and arrogance. Secrecy was enjoined, and small parties from the tribes present at the siege were sent home to kill all the dogs, dye their skins black, and sew them together in long strips. This done, the siege was raised, as we have seen, and the army of invasion returned home, only to return at night, as soon as they had manufactured of the long canes of the forest page 186the likeness of the frame of a whale. This was covered with the dyed skins, and fish were fastened here and there upon it, to attract and deceive two sets of gulls, those of the sea and those of Ngutukaka. Before day-light the bait was placed in the place so appropriately named "The Snare," and with furious curiosity the northern army watched the effect of the trap so secretly contrived, and so skilfully laid. Alas! when we think of the hundreds of brave, industrious men, the hundreds of mild good women, and the hundreds of helpless children, who, that morning, looked their last upon the sun, and of the thousands who fell in internecine war in Maoria in the two centuries which followed the fall of Ngutukaka, the ominous prelude to the devastating conflicts which prepared the way for the Pakeha, we feel how little we can understand the government of this world, and its unequal distribution of happiness and misery. Until, however, that government is changed and the inequality of fate redressed, to be unprepared for war is to disobey the instinct implanted in man, and to neglect the innumerable warnings to be found in the pages of history.

The hardships of the siege had fallen with the greatest severity upon those whose part it was to bear their sufferings without complaint, and who, by their sex, were denied the relief produced by active exertion. Long and weary had the days been to the women, compelled to hide their grief for the husbands and children they had lost, and deprived of the alleviation found by the men in their efforts for the defence.

Ever seeking the houses in which sickness or death page 187was present, and by her heavenly serenity producing sympathetic calmness, Tui had been the ministering angel of the beleaguered garrison. Her presence, and the sound of her sweet voice, diffused relief even in those houses in which death had reaped the richest harvest, and the green fruit had fallen in the greatest profusion. The attentions of her lover enabled her to make little presents of fresh food, which—for such is poor human nature—made her appearance doubly welcome where sickness was present. Matuku bore a charmed life; during the latter part of the siege he had spent more of his time without, than within, the fortress. None had so often braved a descent from, and a return to, the rock.

When he first brought the presents he had obtained at the risk of his head, and laid them before the mistress of his heart, she entreated him not to peril his life, saying that he knew how little she cared for food. He knew that, he said, but he also knew that she would find pleasure in giving away what was so much desired and required by others.

The discovery that her lover was ready to hazard his life for the sake of affording her pleasure, had seemed to etherealize the girl, and the regretful tenderness with which she constantly regarded him, betrayed her conviction that they were never destined to be united.

On the morning when the sun for the last time illuminated an unconquered fortress upon the shores where it still loves to shine so brightly, Tui was seated in the house of her uncle, Te Wira, finishing the border of a large shawl, which she had commenced at the be-page 188ginning of the siege; her lover was beside her, watching the progress of her active fingers, for he secretly hoped that his betrothed was engaged upon their wedding garment, to finish which she had remained in the fortress when her uncle left for Rotorua. When the wild cries of alarm arose, Matuku rushed out to ascertain the cause. Returning to the house, he entreated Tui to fly with him. "No, friend of my heart," said she "alone, your escape is certain; encumbered with me, you will be overtaken; fly, I beseech you, and save yourself."

Resolutely the young man answered, "I prefer death with you, to life without you."

"Then, my husband, let it be so," said the girl; for the first time addressing him by the dearest of all names.

She continued, "My love, I have ever loved you; even before the day when you were hailed as the hero of Onewhero, but a noble maiden could not bestow her hand unsought, or during a time of public distress. This shawl I had intended for our bridal garment. That bridal will now never take place in this world; but we can die together, and depart united for the Islands of the Blest."

She then calmly removed the shawl from its frame, and threw it over both their shoulders. Wrapped in it and one anothers' arms, they left the house, taking the path to the tapu grove, along which hundreds of panic-stricken wretches were flying, preferring the unknown of the hereafter to the known of this life. Walking slowly, page 189but without a moment's hesitation, they slipped over the cliff, clasped in one anothers' embrace, as though they had not seen the abyss below.

Craning over the precipice stood the Tohunga, striving to find courage to follow the example of the crowds who were jumping the life to come. "Ah!" groaned he, "so I have met the catastrophe the stars have lately predicted; yet, this is not the ill which it is foretold the sea is to bring to Maoria; no, this thing, which is of the earth, is contemptible and of no account, compared to the evils which the approach of death discloses to me, and which I see will accompany the advent of a race who will utterly destroy the Maoris, and leave fewer vestiges of us than we have left of the naked moa hunters."

"Why should I hesitate to go," he continued, as Tui and Matuku passed him on their unknown journey, so absorbed in one another that they saw him not; "I who have enjoyed all that this life can give, until I have become satiated with existence and its pleasures, when the young and the brave, with life all before them, depart without hesitation?"

The triumphant shouts of the victors cut short the moralising of the Tohunga.

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