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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 80a

"Up the Wanganui River

"Up the Wanganui River.

"The Premier consented to the request of Topia to visit on Sunday the Native settlement of Tieke, thirteen miles up the river. The compact was made, and at 9 a.m. on Sunday we were all aboard a big canoe, 78ft. long, and pushing out into the stream. There were twenty-eight of us, ten Europeans and the rest Maoris. Under the stimulus of the steady beat of sixteen paddles the canoe swept rapidly up the stream. A fugleman in the bow encouraged the paddlers to their best exertions by stirring cries delivered in a sonorous voice, to which responses were made from time to time with a fierce and startling suddenness. Very soon we encountered the rapids, and we had reason to admire the dexterity with which our crew handled their iron-tipped manuka poles. With rhythmic regularity they lifted the poles, and with simultaneous movement they plunged them into the water, where they grated harshly upon the stony bottom of the river, while the canoe shot forward through the water that leaped, boiled, and surged on either side. The Europeans twice disembarked, while the canoe with great skill was propelled through the madly-leaping waves; but all the other rapids were passed without stoppage or difficulty.

"Entrancing was the kaleidoscopic picture that unfolded itself under our eyes at every turn in the serpentine course of the river. On either side rose a lofty and perpendicular bank of rock, clad from foot to summit with dense foliage resplendent with tree-ferns and other graceful specimens of native shrubbery. Sometimes a rocky grotto or cave arrested our gaze, sometimes a deep cleft or chasm streaked by a narrow ribbon of foaming water; anon a small creek, itself a dream of ideal virgin beauty; and occasionally a Native where, to which our attention was attracted by the chant of welcome delivered in shrill and long-sustained notes by some Native woman. The fugleman was relieved from time to time, Topia himself taking a turn at the vocal exercise, and also bearing a hand at intervals with the paddles. About noon one of the manuka poles was raised aloft in the prow, with two handkerchiefs fluttering from it, one of crimson and the other of orange. A little further on we caught sight of a light canoe, which was shooting along far ahead to apprise the villagers of our approach. With shouts of joy our paddlers bent all their energies to the task of overtaking the smaller craft; but after a spurt of a quarter of an hour, during which the smaller canoe more than held its own, our men recognised that the struggle was hopeless, and therefore slackened their stroke.

"A few minutes before 1 o'clock a turn of the river brought Tieke into view, perched upon a small grassy promontory. The Natives there had caught sight of us as soon as, if not sooner than, we perceived the settlement, for repeated discharges of firearms warned us that they were assembled, and had already begun to announce the welcome that awaited us. As we drew nearer we saw them rushing down helter-skelter—men, women, and children—to the waterside, where they began their song and dance of welcome, accompanied by much gesticulation, the women especially commanding notice by reason of their demonstrativeness and the garlands of willow which they had entwined in their hair or waved in their hands.