Memoir Of Ruatara^*—His Travels And Hardships—Introduction Of Wheat Into New Zealand.

About five months after the Santa Anna had left Bounty Island the King George arrived there, commanded by Mr. Chase. Before the arrival of this vessel the sealing party had been greatly distressed, for more than three months, for want of water and provisions. There was no water on the island, nor had they any bread or meat, excepting seals and sea-fowl. Ruatara often spoke of the extreme sufferings which he and the party with him endured from hunger and thirst, as no water could be obtained, except when a shower of rain happened to fall. Two Europeans and one Otaheitan died from hardship.

In a few weeks after the arrival of the King George the Santa Anna returned, and the sealing party during her absence had procured 8,000 skins. After taking the skins on board, the vessel sailed for England; and Ruatara, having long entertained an ardent desire to see King George, embarked on board as a common sailor, with the hope of gratifying his wish. The Santa Anna arrived in the River Thames about July, 1809. Ruatara now requested that the captain would indulge him with a sight of the king, which was the only object that had induced him to leave his native country. When he made inquiries by what means he could get a sight of the king, he was sometimes told that he could not find the house; and at other times, that nobody was permitted to see King George. This distressed him exceedingly, and he saw little of London, being seldom permitted to go on shore.

In about fifteen days, he told me, the vessel had discharged her cargo, when the captain told him that he should put him on board the Ann, which had been taken up by the Government to convey convicts to New South Wales. The Ann had already dropped down to Gravesend, and Ruatara asked the master of the Santa Anna for some wages and clothing, but he refused to give him any, telling him that the owners at Port Jackson would pay him two muskets for his services on his arrival there; but these he never received.

About this time Ruatara, from hardships and disappointments, was seized with a dangerous illness. Thus friendless, poor, and sick, he was sent down to Gravesend, and page 105put on board the Ann. At this time he had been fifteen days in the river, from the first arrival of the Santa Anna, and had never been permitted to spend one night on shore. The master of the Ann, Mr. Charles Clark, afterwards informed me that when Ruatara was brought on board the Ann he was so naked and miserable that he refused to receive him unless the master of the Santa Anna would supply him with a suit of slops, observing, at the same time, that he was very sick.

I was then in London, but did not know that Ruatara had arrived in the Santa Anna. Shortly after Ruatara embarked at Gravesend, the Ann sailed for Portsmouth. I had been ordered by Government to return to New South Wales by this vessel, and joined her in a few days after she had come round to Spibhead. When I embarked, Ruatara was confined below by sickness, so that I did not see him or know he was there for some time. On my first observing him he was on the forecastle, wrapped up in an old greatcoat, very sick and weak, and was coughing blood. His mind was very much dejected, and he appeared as if a few days would terminate his existence. I inquired of the master where he had met him, and also of Ruatara what had brought him to England, and how he came to be so wretched and miserable. He told me that the hardships and wrongs he had experienced on board the Santa Anna were exceedingly great, and that the English sailors had beaten him very much, which was the cause of his spitting blood; that the master had defrauded him of all his wages, and prevented his seeing the king. I should have been very happy if there had been time to call the master of the Santa Anna to account for his conduct; but it was too late. I endeavoured to soothe Ruatara's afflictions, and assured him that he should be protected from insults, and that his wants should be supplied.

By the kindness of the surgeon and master, and by proper nourishment administered to him, he began in a great measure to recover both his strength and his spirits, and gob quite well some time before we arrived ab Rio de Janeiro. He was ever after truly grateful for the attention that was shown to him. As soon as he was able he did his duty as a common sailor on board the Ann, in which capacity he was considered equal to most of the men on board, page 106till she arrived at Port Jackson, in February, 1810. The master behaved very kindly to him. Ruatara left the Ann, and accompanied me to Parramatta, and resided with me till the November following, during which time he applied himself to agriculture.

After being taken to Norfolk Island in a ship on which he had embarked for New Zealand, he was with me at Parramatta on a second visit when the Ann whaler, belonging to the house of Alexander Burnie, of London, arrived from England. As this vessel was going on the coast of New Zealand, he requested me to procure him a passage on board the vessel, and said that he would try once more to see his friends. I accordingly applied to the master, and he agreed to take him on condition that he would remain on board and do the duty of a sailor while the Ann was on the coast. To this Ruatara readily consented, and when the Ann left Port Jackson he embarked, taking with him some seed-wheat and tools of agriculture a second time. The vessel was five months on the coast when Ruatara, with inexpressible joy to himself and his friends, was landed.

During the time he had lived with me he laboured early and late to acquire useful knowledge, and particularly that of agriculture. He was well aware of the advantages of agriculture in a national point of view, and was a good judge of the quality of land. He was very anxious that his country should reap the natural advantages which he knew it possessed, as far as related to the cultivation of the land. He was fully convinced that the wealth and happiness of a nation depended much upon the produce of its soil.

When he was landed from the Ann he took with him the wheat he had received at Parramatta for seed, and immediately informed his friends and the neighbouring, chiefs of its value, and that the Europeans made biscuit of it, such as they had seen and eaten on board of ships. He gave portions of wheat to six chiefs, and also to some of his own common men, and directed them all how to sow it, reserving some for himself and his uncle Hongi, who is a very great chief—his domain extending from the east to the west side of New Zealand.

All the persons to whom Ruatara had given the seed-wheat put it into the ground, and it grew well; but before it was well ripe many of them grew impatient for the produce, and as they expected to find the grain at the root of the stem, as with potatoes, they examined the roots; and, finding there was no wheat under the ground, they pulled it up and burnt it; excepting Hongi. The chiefs ridiculed Ruatara much about the wheat, saying that because he had been a great traveller he thought he could easily impose upon their credulity by telling them fine stories; and all he urged could not convince them that wheat would make bread.

His own and Hongi's crops in time came to perfection, and were reaped and threshed; and though the Natives were much astonished to find that the grain was produced at the top and not at the bottom of the stem, yet they could not be persuaded that bread could be made of it. About this time the Jefferson whaler put into the Bay of Islands, commanded by Mr. Thomas Barnes. Ruatara, being anxious to remove the prejudices of the chiefs against his wheat, and to prove the truth of his former assertion that it would make biscuit, requested the master of the Jefferson to lend him a pepper-mill or coffee-mill, in order, if possible, to grind some of his wheat into flour, that he might make a cake. But the mill was too small, and he could not succeed.

By the arrival of a vessel at Sydney from New Zealand he sent me word that he had got home at last, and had sown his wheat, which was growing well; but he had not thought of a mill. He requested me to send him some hoes and other tools of agriculture, which I determined to do by the first opportunity. A short time after the Queen Charlotte, belonging to Port Jackson, cleared out for the Pearl Islands. As this vessel would have to pass the North Cape of New Zealand, I thought there was a probability of her touching at the Bay of Islands. Unfortunately, the Queen Charlotte passed New Zealand without touching anywhere, and was afterwards taken by the natives of Otaheite; and while the vessel was in their possession all the wheat I had put on board, as well as some other things, were either stolen or destroyed.

When I received this information I was much concerned that Ruatara should be so disappointed from time to time page 108in bis benevolent exertions to forward the improvement and civilisation of his countrymen, and was fully convinced that nothing could be done effectually for New Zealand without a vessel for the express purpose of keeping up a communication between that island and Port Jackson. When Mr. Kendall, who had been sent out by the Church Missionary Society, arrived in the Earl Spencer, I soon determined either to take up a vessel or purchase one for the service of New Zealand, and to attempt to establish a settlement, which had been resolved upon by the Society in 1808, and for which purpose Messrs. Hall and King accompanied me on my return to New South Wales. I attempted to hire a vessel, but could not get one to go to New Zealand for less than £600, which sum I considered too great for one single voyage. The brig Active at this time arrived from the Derwent, and, since the owner proposed to sell her, I therefore purchased her.

As many dreadful massacres had been committed at New Zealand, both by the Natives and Europeans, at different times (the whole crew of the Boyd having been^* cut off not long before, and the vessel burnt), I did not think it prudent to send the families of the settlers over in the first instance, but rather wished to go myself, if I could obtain permission from the Governor, and take with me Mr. Hall and Mr. Kendall. As I knew many of the Natives, I had reason to suppose that I should have sufficient influence with them to forward my views if I could only go myself. I could then fully explain to Ruatara and the other chiefs the great object the Society had in view in sending Europeans to reside amongst them.

When the Active sailed I sent a message to Ruatara to inform him for what purpose I had sent over Messrs. Hall and Kendall, and invited him to return with them to Port Jackson, and bring along with him two or three chiefs. I sent him a steel mill to grind his wheat, a sieve, and some wheat for seed, with a few other presents. On the arrival of the Active the settlers were very kindly received by Ruatara and all the other chiefs, and every attention was paid to them for the six weeks they remained there.

Ruatara was much rejoiced to receive the steel mill. He soon set to work and ground some wheat before his countrymen, who danced and shouted for joy when they saw the meal. He told me that he made a cake, and baked it in a frying-pan, and gave it to the people to eat, which fully satisfied them of the truth he had told them before, that wheat would make bread.

The chiefs now begged some more seed, which they sowed; and there can be little doubt but that they will soon appreciate the value of wheat. I saw some growing in January last exceedingly strong and fine; the grain was very full and bright when reaped, which leads me to believe the climate and soil of New Zealand will be very congenial to the production of that grain.

Before the arrival of the Active Ruatara had determined to visit Port Jackson in the first vessel that sailed from New Zealand for the colony, in order to procure a mill, hoes, and some other articles he stood in need of. He greatly rejoiced when the Active entered the Bay, as he hoped to get a passage in her; but on receiving the mill I sent, with the seed-wheat, &c., he altered his mind, and said he would now apply himself to agriculture for two years, from his having the means of carrying on his cultivation and of grinding his wheat.

His uncle Hongi had at this time a great desire to visit Port Jackson, and as he is a very powerful chief, and had no friend in Port Jackson who could speak both the English page 110and New Zealand languages, Ruatara determined to accompany him. He told me his wives, friends, and people earnestly requested him to stay with them. He endeavoured to persuade them that he would return in four moons, but this they disbelieved entirely, from an idea that the Active would never return more. The priest told him his head wife would die, if he left her, before his return. This very woman hung herself the day after Ruatara died, on account of her tender love and affection for him. He Cold the priest he had often returned before, and should soon return again. Accordingly he took his leave, with his uncle and a few more friends, and embarked for New South Wales, and safely arrived in about a month once more at Parramatta.

During his stay at my house I often saw him very thoughtful, and asked him what was the cause of his uneasiness. He would reply, "I fear my head wife is either dead or very sick." What the priest told him relative to his wife dying in his absence evidently made a strong impression on his mind. Though he had been about three years in my family before, and acted with great propriety all the time, and upon all occasions was willing to receive religious instructions, yet the superstitious notions of their religion, which he had imbibed from his infancy in New Zealand, were, deeply rooted in his mind. He had great confidence in what the priest asserted, and in the efficacy of their prayers.

On my arrival with him at New Zealand with the rest of the settlers, he appeared now to have accomplished the grand object of all his toils—an object which was the constant subject of his conversation—namely, the means of civilising his countrymen. He thus observed to me with much triumph and joy, "I have now introduced the cultivation of wheat into New Zealand, and New Zealand will become a great country. In two years more I shall be able to export wheat to Port Jackson, to exchange for hoes, axes, spades, tea, sugar, &c." Under this impression he made arrangements with his people for a very extensive cultivation, and formed his plan for building a new town with regular streets, after the European mode, on a beautiful situation which commanded a view of the mouth of the harbour and of the adjacent country. I accompanied him to the spot, and we examined the ground fixed upon page 111for the town and the site for the church. The streets were to have been all marked out before the Active sailed for Port Jackson.

At the very time when these arrangements were to have been executed, he was stretched upon his dying bed. I could not but view him with wonder and astonishment as he lay languishing beneath his affliction; and could scarcely bring myself to believe that the Divine goodness would remove from the earth a man whose life appeared of such infinite importance to his country, which was just emerging from barbarism and gross darkness and superstition. His death has been a subject of much pain and regret to me, and appears a very dark and mysterious dispensation. No doubt he had done his work and finished his appointed course, though I fondly imagined he had only just begun his race. He was a man of clear comprehension and quick perception, and of a sound judgment, and a mind void of fear; at the same time he was mild, affable, and pleasing in his manners. His body was strong and robust, and promised a long and useful life. At the time of his death he was in the prime and vigour of manhood, extremely active and industrious. I judged his age to be about twenty-eight years.

—John Liddiard Nicholas