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The New Zealand Reader

Visit Of Nga-Puhi—Muru

Visit Of Nga-Puhi—Muru.

I was roused one morning at daybreak by my servant running in with the intelligence that a great number of war canoes were crossing the bay. King George had told us but the evening before that, ho expected a visit from Tareha, a chief of the tribe called the Nga-Pubi, whose territory lay on the opposite side of the bay. He had also given us to understand that Tareha was a man not to be trusted; and it was feared that some mischief might happen if he really came. The sight, then, of these war canoes naturally caused us considerable alarm; and we sincerely wished that the visit was over.

We dressed ourselves with the utmost expedition, and walked down to the beach. The landing of these warriors was conducted with a considerable degree of order; and could I have divested myself of all idea of: danger, I should have admired the sight excessively. All our New Zealand friends—the tribe of Shulitea*—were stripped naked; their bodies were oiled, and all were completely armed; their muskets were loaded, their cartouche-boxes were fastened round their waists, and their patupatus were fixed to their wrists. Their hair was tied up in a tight knot at the top of their heads, beautifully ornamented with feathers of the albatross.

* [Not Maori: the author's "English spelling of To Uruti, the name of the native who called himself "King George."]

[Patutpatu, a club.]

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As the opposite party landed, ours all crouched on the ground, their eyes fixed on their visitors, and perfectly silent. When the debarkation was completed, I observed that the chief, Tareha, put himself at the head of his men, and marched towards us with his party formed closely and compactly, and armed with muskets and paddles. When they came very near they suddenly stopped. Our party continued still mute, with their firelocks poised ready for use. For the space of a few minutes all was still, each party glaring fiercely on the other; and they certainly formed one of the most beautiful and extraordinary pictures I had ever beheld.

The foreground was formed by a line of naked savages, each resting on one knee, with musket advanced, their gaze fixed on the opposite party, their fine broad muscular backs contrasting with the dark foliage in front, and catching the gleam of the rising sun. The strangers were clothed in the most grotesque manner imaginable—some armed, some naked, some with long beards; others were painted all over with red ochre; every part of each figure was quite still, except the rolling and glaring of their eyes on their opponents. The background was formed by the beach, and a number of their beautiful war canoes dancing on the waves; while in the distance the mountains on the opposite side of the bay were just tinged with the varied and beautiful colours of the sun, then rising in splendour from behind them.

The stillness of this extraordinary scene did not last long. The Nga-Puhi commenced a noisy and discordant song and dance, yelling, jumping, and making the most hideous faces. This was soon followed by a loud shout from our party, who endeavoured to outdo the Nga-Puhi in making horrible distortions of their countenances. Then succeeded another dance from our visitors, after which our friends made a rush, and in a sort of rough joke set them running. Then all joined in a pell-mell sort of encounter, in which numerous hard blows were given and received. Then all the party fired their pieces in the, air, and the ceremony of landing was thus deemed complete.

They then approached each other, and began rubbing noses, and those who were particular friends cried and lamented over each other. The slaves now commenced the page 64labour of making fires to cook the morning meal, while the chiefs, squatting down, formed a ring, or rather an oval, on the ground; then, one at a time, rose up, and made long speeches, which they did in a manner peculiar to themselves. The speaker, during his harangue, keeps running backwards and forwards within the oval space, using the most violent but appropriate gesticulation—so expressive, indeed, of the subject on which he is speaking that a spectator who does not understand their language can form a tolerable idea as to what is the subject then under debate. The orator is never interrupted in his speech, but when he finishes and sits down another immediately rises up and takes his place, so that all who choose have an opportunity of delivering their sentiments; after which the assembly breaks up.

Though the meeting of these hostile tribes bad thus ended more amicably than King George and his party could have expected, it was easily to be perceived that the Nga-Puhi were determined on executing some atrocity or depredations before their departure. They accordingly pretended to recollect some old offence committed by the English settlers at the other end of the beach. They proceeded thither, and first attacked and broke open the house of a blacksmith; and carried off every article it contained. They then marched to the residence of an English captain, who was in England, and plundered it of everything that could be carried away, and afterwards sent us word that they intended to return to our end of the beach.

Our fears were greatly increased by finding that our friends were not sufficiently strong to protect us from the superior force of the Nga-Puhi; and our chief, George, being himself, we supposed, conscious of his inability, had left us to depend upon our own resources. We now called a council of war of all the Europeans settled here, and it was unanimously resolved that we should protect and defend our houses and property, and fortify our position in the best way we could.

Captain Duke had in his possession four twelve-pounders, and these we brought in front of the enclosure in which our huts were situated, and were all entirely employed in loading them with round and grape shot, and had made them all ready for action, when, to our consternation and dismay, page 65we found we had a new and totally unexpected enemy to contend with. By some accident one of our houses was in flames.

Our situation was now perilous in the extreme. The buildings, the work of English carpenters, were constructed of dry rushes and well-seasoned wood; and this was one of a very respectable size, and we had hoped that in a very few days it would be finished fit for our removing into.

For some seconds we stood in mute amazement, not knowing to which point to direct our energies. As the cry of "Fire!" was raised, groups of natives came rushing from all directions upon our devoted settlement, stripping off their clothes, and yelling in the most discordant voice. I entered the house, and brought out one of my trunks; but, on attempting to return a second time, I found the house filled with naked savages, tearing everything to pieces, and carrying away whatever they could lay their hands upon. The fierce raging of the flames, the heat from the fire, the yells of the men, and the shrill cries of the women, formed a horrible combination. Added to this was the mortification of seeing all our property carried off in different directions, without the least possibility of our preventing it.

The tribe of the Nga-Puhi, who, when the fire began, were at the other end of the beach, left their operations in that quarter, and poured down upon us to share in the general plunder. Never shall I forget the countenance of the chief as he rushed forward at the head of his destroying crew. He was called "the Giant"; and he was well worthy of the name, being the tallest and largest man I had ever seen. He had an immense bushy black beard, and grinned exultingly when he saw the work of destruction proceeding with such rapidity; and he kept shouting loudly to his party to incite them to carry off all they could. A cask containing seventy gallons of rum now caught fire, and blew up with a terrible explosion; and the wind freshening considerably, huge volumes of smoke and flame burst out in every direction.

Two of our houses were so completely enveloped that we had given up all hopes of saving them. The third, which was a beautifully carved tabooed* one, some little distance

* [Taboo is for the Polynesian word tapu, sacred, forbidden.]

page 66from the others, and which we had converted into a store and magazine, was now the only object of our solicitude and terror. For, besides the valuable property of various kinds which were deposited within it, it contained several barrels of gunpowder. It was in vain we attempted to warn the frantic natives to retire from the vicinity of this danger. At length we persuaded about a dozen of the most rational to listen while we explained to them the cause of our alarm; and they immediately ascended to the roof, where, with the utmost intrepidity and coolness, they kept pouring water over the thatch, thus lessening the probability of an immediate explosion.

About this time we noticed the reappearance of King George, which circumstance rekindled our hopes. He was armed with a thick stick, which he laid heavily on the backs of such of his subjects as were running away with our property, thus forcing them to relinquish their prizes, and to lay them down before his own mansion, where all was safe. By this means a great deal was re-collected. The fire was now nearly extinguished, but our two really tolerably good houses were reduced to a heap of smoking ruins, and the greater part of what belonged to us was taken away by the Nga-Puhi.

This calamity had made us acquainted with another of their barbarous customs, which is that whenever a misfortune happens to a community, or to an individual, all persons, even the friends of his own tribe, fall upon him and strip him of all he has remaining. As an unfortunate fish, when struck by a harpoon, is instantly surrounded and devoured by his companions, so, in New Zealand, when a chief is killed, his former friends plunder his widow and children; and they, in revenge, ill-use and even murder their slaves: thus one misfortune gives birth to various cruelties.

During the fire our allies proved themselves the most adroit and active thieves imaginable; but previously to that event we had never lost an article, although everything we possessed was open to them. When we questioned them about our prperty, they frankly told us where it was; and, after some difficulty in settling the amount of its ransom, we got most of our things back again, with the exception of such as had been carried off by the Nga-Puhi.

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Upon the cruelty of this custom* I shall make no comments. Probably I should have remained in ignorance of this savage law had I not had the misfortune to become its victim. By redeeming from the Natives what they had purloined from the fire, we had restored to us some of our boxes, desks, and clothes; but all our little comforts towards housekeeping were irretrievably lost.

The high state of excitement into which the savages had been thrown by the late conflagration gradually subsided; and as we had escaped the dreaded calamity of our magazine blowing up, we began to look with calmness on our desolate condition, and draw comfort from thinking how much worse we might have been circumstanced than we then were. I hope our distress may prove a benefit to future sojourners in this country, by showing them the great importance of forming a proper magazine for powder. The agonies I suffered in contemplating the destruction which six barrels, each containing a hundredweight of powder, would cause amongst a mob of several hundred naked savages it is impossible to imagine.

King George, as well as all his people, were most anxious to build us a new habitation entirely themselves. They requested us to give them the dimensions of the various dwellings, and said we should have no further trouble about them. A party accordingly proceeded to the bush to collect materials. They first formed the skeleton of a cottage, containing three rooms, with slight sticks, firmly tied together with strips of flax. While this was in progress another party was collecting rushes, which grow plentifully in the neighbourhood, and are called raupo. These they spread in the sun for twenty-four hours, when they considered them sufficiently dry. They then thatched every part of the house, which for neatness and strength was equal to anything I had ever seen. The doors and windows we employed our carpenter to make, these being luxuries quite beyond the comprehension of the Natives.

We were thus tolerably well lodged again, and our time passed on tranquilly, almost every day developing some fresh trait of character amongst these children of nature.

Augustus Earle

("Narrative of a Nine Months' Residence in New Zealand in 1827 ").

* [Called muru.]