John Rutherford.—Part Ii.

For some time after his return from Cook Strait, Rutherford's life appears to have been unvaried by any incident of moment. "At length," says he, "one day a messenger arrived from a neighbouring village with the news that all the chiefs for miles round were about to set out, in page 265three days, for a place called Kipara^*, near the source of the River Thames, and distant about two hundred miles from our village. The messenger brought also a request from the other chiefs to Aimy to join them, along with his warriors, and he replied that he would meet them at Kipara at the time appointed. We understood that we were to be opposed at Kipara by a number of chiefs from the Bay of Islands and the River Thames, according to an appointment which had been made with the chiefs in our neighbourhood. Accordingly everything was got ready for our journey as quickly as possible; and the women were immediately set to work to make a great number of new baskets in which to carry our provisions. It is the custom for every person going on such an expedition to find his own arms and ammunition, as also provisions, and slaves to carry them. On the other hand, every family plunder for themselves, and give only what they think proper to the chief. The slaves are not required to fight, though they often run to the assistance of their masters while engaged.

"When the day was come for our departure I started along with the rest, being armed with my mery, a brace of pistols, and a double-barrelled fowlling-piece, and having also with me some powder and ball, and a great quantity of duck shot, which I took for the purpose of killing game on our journey. I was accompanied by my wife Epecka^†, who carried three new mats to be a bed for us, which had been made by Eshou^‡ during my absence at Taranake^§. The warriors and slaves whom we took with us amounted in all to about five hundred; but the slaves, as they got rid of the provisions they carried, were sent home again, as we had no further use for them. While on our journey, if we came to a friendly village at night we slept there, but if not we encamped in the woods. When the provisions we had brought with us were all consumed, we were compelled to plunder wherever we could find anything.

"On the opposite side of the river, which was about half a mile wide, and not more than four feet deep in any part, about four hundred of the enemy were encamped, waiting for reinforcements. Meanwhile messengers were continually passing from one party to the other with messages concerning the war. One of them informed us that there was a white man in his party who had heard of and wished to see me, and that the chiefs, who also wished to see me, would give me permission to cross the river to meet him, and I should return unmolested whenever I thought proper. With Airny's consent, therefore, I went across the river, but I was not permitted to go armed, nor yet to take my wife with me. When I arrived on the opposite side several of the chiefs saluted me in the usual manner, by touching my nose with theirs; and I afterwards was seated in the midst of them by the side of the white man, who told me his name was John Mawman,^* that he was a native of Port Jackson, and that he had run away from the Tees sloop-of-war while she lay at this Island. He had since joined the Natives, and was now living with a chief named Raw-matty,^† whose daughter he had married, and whose residence was at a place called Sukianna,^‡ on the West Coast, within fifty miles of the Bay of Islands. He said that he had been at the Bay of Islands a short time before, and had seen several of the English missionaries. He also said that he had heard the Natives had lately taken a vessel at a place called Wangalore,^§ which they had plundered and then turned adrift, but that the crew had escaped in their boats and put to sea.

"I now returned to my own party. Early the next morning the enemy retreated to a distance of about two miles from the river; upon observing which our party immediately threw off their mats and got under arms. The two parties had altogether about two thousand muskets among them, chiefly purchased from the English and American South Sea ships which touch at the Island. We now crossed the river, and, having arrived on the opposite side, I took my station on a rising ground, about a quarter of a mile distant from where our party halted, so that I had a full view of the engagement. I was not myself required to fight, but I loaded my double-barrelled gun, and, thus armed, remained at my post, my wife and the two slave girls having seated themselves at my feet.

"The engagement had not lasted many minutes when the enemy began to retreat, and were pursued by our party through the woods. Some of them, in their flight, crossed the hill on which I stood; and one threw a jagged spear at me as he passed, which stuck in the inside of my left thigh. It was afterwards cut out by two women with an oyster shell. The operation left a wound as large as a common-sized teacup, and after it had been performed I was carried across the river on a woman's back to my hut, where my wife applied some green herbs to the wound, which immediately stopped the bleeding, and also made the pain much less severe.

"A few days after our return home from Showrackee^* we were alarmed by observing smoke ascending in large quantities from several of the mountains, and by the Natives running about the village in all directions and singing out 'Kipoke,'^† which signified a ship on the coast. I was quite overjoyed to hear the news. Aimy and I, accompanied by several of the warriors, and followed by a number of slaves loaded with mats and potatoes, and driving pigs before thorn, for the purpose of trading with the ship, immediately set off for Tokamardo,^‡ and in two days we arrived at that place, the unfortunate scene of the capture of our ship and its crew on the 7th March, 1816.

"I now perceived the ship under sail, at almost twenty miles distance from the land, off which the wind was blowing strong, which prevented her nearing. Meanwhile, as it was drawing towards night, we encamped, and sat down to supper. I observed that several of the Natives wore round their necks and wrists many of the trinkets which they had taken out of our ship. As Aimy and I sat together at supper, a slave arrived with a new basket, which he placed before me, saying that it was a present from his master. I asked him what was in the basket, and he informed me that it was part of a slave girl's thigh, that had been killed three days before. It was cooked, be added, and was very nice. I then commanded him to open it, which he did, when it presented the appearance of a piece of pork which had been baked in the oven. I made a present of it to Aimy, who divided it among the chiefs.

"By this time the chief's son had begun stealing in the ship, on which the crew tied him up and flogged him with the clue of one of their hammocks, and then sent him down into his canoe. They would have flogged the rest also had I not interceded for them, considering that there might be still some of my unfortunate shipmates living on shore on whom they might avenge themselves. The captain now consented to take me along with him; and, the canoe having been set adrift, we stood off from the island.

"For the first sixteen months of my residence in New Zealand I had counted the days by means of notches on a stick, but after that I had kept no reckoning. I now learned, however, that the day on which I was taken off the Island was the 9th of January, 1826. I had, therefore, been a prisoner among these savages ten years all but two months."

—G. L. Craik