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Early Wellington

[preamble]

“A sturdy ship of English Oak, with spars and rigging taunt—
She bravely battled out the storms with canvas spread to vaunt
The perils of that long sea-voyage—while mothered in her hold
Were precious souls, all British born adventurous and bold.
F. Marryatt Norris, 1928.

The selection of an exploring ship was made, and the pioneer ship “Tory,” a vessel of 400 tons, was bought and prepared for the voyage. She was armed with eight guns and smalls arms for all the ship's company; filled with the necessary stores and provision, and goods for barter with the New Zealanders, and manned with a strong and select crew. The ship was commanded by Captain Edmund Mein Chaffers, R.N., who had been acting master of H.M.S. “Beagle.” The passengers were Colonel Wakefield, the Company's agent; Edward Jerningham Wakefield, his nephew and acting secretary; Dr. Ernest Dieffenbach naturalist to the Company; Mr. Charles Heaphy, Company's draughtsman; Mr. John Dorset, who had been promised the appointment of Colonial Surgeon; Nayti, a New Zealand native, to act as interpreter; Mr. Richard Lowry, the chief mate; and Mr. Geo. F. Robinson, the surgeon of the ship.

In the steerage were Robert Doddrey storekeeper and additional interpreter; the second and third mates, and Colonel Wakefield's servant; besides the steward and his cabin boy. Petty officers and foremast hands, among whom were a New Zealander and a native of the Marquesas Islands, made up the total muster roll to 35 souls.

The high land of New Zealand was seen on the 16th August, 1839, about noon.

During the voyage a weekly manuscript newspaper and a debating society were established, and vocabularies of the Maori, or New Zealand, language were also constituted from Nayti's dictation, while lessons in English were given to him. Jerningham Wakefield, in his book, “Adventure in New Zealand,” pp. 49–65, describes thus the “Tory's” entry into Port Nicholson harbour: “We had got on board Barrett (a whaler), and his wife (Rangi) and children, with several attendant natives of both sexes, who formed a sort of colony in our ample 'tween decks. Dicky had long been too fat and heavy to go out himself in the whale boats, and left the affairs of the station in the hands of a clerk during his absence (from Te Awaiti.) We also took over a steady trader named Smith, who knew the natives well, and was to be left in charge at Port Nicholson, should we succeed in purchasing it.

page 15

“On the 20th September, 1839, piloted by Dicky Barrett, we advanced up the channel, and were boarded by two canoes containing the two principal chiefs of the tribe living on shore.

“One of mature years,” writes Wakefield, “named Te Puni, advanced with much dignity of manner to greet Barrett as an old friend, and was joined by his nephew, Wharepouri, a fine commanding man of about thirty-five. They were both nearly related to Mrs. Barrett, and had been Dicky's companions in the dangerous wars of Taranaki. The old man was as famous for his wisdom in council as for his former deeds of war. Wharepouri exercised the more immediate direction of the tribe, having acquired a more modern reputation by recent warlike exploits, by his attractive eloquence, and by his perfection in the native accomplishments of canoe and house making, and marshalling his followers in the field.”… . “Te Puni enquired the motive of our visit and expressed the most marked satisfaction on hearing that we wished to buy the place. Wharepouri also expressed his willingness to sell the land, and his desire of seeing white men come to live upon it.”

“The two chiefs passed the night on board.… “They acknowledged that they would be heartily glad to renounce war and cannibalism.” “In the morning of the 21st September, 1839, the two chiefs told Colonel Wakefield to go and look at the land and see how he liked it.”… “A chief named Amahau was appointed to take him up the river (Hutt), and they started, with Barrett and some natives, in a small canoe.

“Several of us landed at a large village opposite our anchorage and witnessed the ceremony of crying over Te Rangi, whom many of her relations had not seen for five years.

“The village lay, as its Maori name (Pito-one, or ‘End of the Sand’) implied, at the western end of the sandy beach,* which is two miles long. The main river falls into the sea at the eastern end, and is called the Heretaunga.

“A merry brawling stream called the Korokoro or “throat” flows between the village and the Western hills. The valley seems to preserve an average width of two miles to a considerable distance, bounded on either side by wooded hills from 300 to 400 feet in height. It was covered with high forest to within a mile and a half of the beach, when swamps full of flax, and a belt of sand hummocks intervened.

“The tangi, or crying, continued for a long period. The resident natives raised the most discordant whining lamentations streaming at the eyes, nose and mouth, and lacerating every part of their bodies with sharp cockle shells until the blood flowed.

“The native visitors seemed anything but comfortable. They had forgotten the art of producing tears at will, and had a decided objection to spoiling their fine clothes, donned for the occasion, by any blood letting.”

“We found abundance of pigeons, and returned laden to the Pa.”… “We found also one solitary white man, named Joe Robinson, living in a village near the mouth of the river, having taken a native wife from the tribe. We saw proof of his industry and ingenuity in the shape of a boat, the planks for which he had cut with a handsaw; and he had made all the nails himself out of iron hoops. The boat earned many a pound in later times by trading round the coast.…”

“On Sunday, the 22nd (September, 1839), several canoes came off with natives to page 16
Fig. 9—Te Puni, a descendant of Ngati Te Whiti Kotua, Chief of Port Nicholson.

Fig. 9—Te Puni, a descendant of Ngati Te Whiti Kotua, Chief of Port Nicholson.

Fig. 10—Wharepouri, Cousin to Te Puni. The Ship Tory in the Offing. Figs. 9 and 10 are reproductions of photos by Mr. Hapi Love, Junior, from the Original Paintings by Mr. C. D. Barraud (1861) hanging in Mr. Hapi Love's Maori Hall in his house (Taumata) on Korokoro Hill, Pito-one.

Fig. 10—Wharepouri, Cousin to Te Puni. The Ship Tory in the Offing. Figs. 9 and 10 are reproductions of photos by Mr. Hapi Love, Junior, from the Original Paintings by Mr. C. D. Barraud (1861) hanging in Mr. Hapi Love's Maori Hall in his house (Taumata) on Korokoro Hill, Pito-one.

Fig. 11—Maori War Canoe. This canoe, named “Waiapu,” originally came from the Whanganui river, and was placed in the Dominion Museum. It was formerly used for fishing purposes, but was fitted up as a War Canoe and manned by descendants of the great Maori Chiefs (to demonstrate the Pito-one Natives proceeding to meet the ship Tory in 1839) at the Pageant held during the Prince of Wales visit to Wellington in 1920 (see Dominion Museum Bulletin No. 7, pages 121 and 81). Mr. Hapi Love has named some of the crew, they, reading from left to right, are: 1, Hapi Love, descendant of Jacky Love; 5. Wi Neera (Porirua), descendant of Te Rauparaha; 8. Kainaki (Taranaki); 13. Geo. Love.

Fig. 11—Maori War Canoe. This canoe, named “Waiapu,” originally came from the Whanganui river, and was placed in the Dominion Museum. It was formerly used for fishing purposes, but was fitted up as a War Canoe and manned by descendants of the great Maori Chiefs (to demonstrate the Pito-one Natives proceeding to meet the ship Tory in 1839) at the Pageant held during the Prince of Wales visit to Wellington in 1920 (see Dominion Museum Bulletin No. 7, pages 121 and 81). Mr. Hapi Love has named some of the crew, they, reading from left to right, are: 1, Hapi Love, descendant of Jacky Love; 5. Wi Neera (Porirua), descendant of Te Rauparaha; 8. Kainaki (Taranaki); 13. Geo. Love.

page 17 be present at our church service. One of them, a low skimming-dish thing, without top side planks, filled and turned over, ducking six or seven natives, including a woman, who were passengers. On the 23rd I accompanied Colonel Wakefield and Barrett to Ngauranga, where we found Wharepouri at work, with an adze, on a large canoe. The bottom of this vessel consisted of a single tree hollowed out, and was sixty feet long.

“Wharepouri introduced the matter of the sale, which a chief named Puakawa (Pu-whakaawe) or “Bitter Milk Thistle” rose and opposed with great energy. He spoke for an hour. On the 24th, the discussion was renewed at Pito-one; many chiefs being present from other settlements. After the serious discussion had closed, some of the warlike chiefs amused us, and themselves, by sham fighting, and their exercise with the spear and tomahawk. One, named Kaihaia (Kaeaea), diverted us much by his active menacing gestures and hideous grimaces of defiance; leaping about like a monkey, and bringing a long pointed wooden spear within an inch of our bodies; then retreating with a roar of laughter every time he saw us shrink from the thrust. He was called Taringakuri or Dog's Ear, and professed great hatred for Te Rauparaha, whose name he frequently shouted out as he brandished his hatchet against thin air.”… “On the 25th the goods which Colonel Wakefield intended to give the natives for their land, were got upon deck, in the presence of about a hundred natives. Except incessant chattering, they offered no obstruction or inconvenience to this process. On the 26th, the chiefs came on board accompanied by their sons, and examined and approved of the quality and quantity of the stuff, and on September the 27th, 1839, the distribution on the deck of the goods commenced.”

“Wharepouri superintended it with much formality. A handsome young chief named Wi Tako, who was related to Mrs. Barrett, received the share of his father, the chief of Pipitea and Kumutoto, and he arrayed himself in a good suit of clothes selected from the heap. Old ‘Dog's-ear’ received the share for his settlement, which is called Kai-whara-whara; Te Puni received that for Pito-one; Wharepouri took charge of the Ngauranga portion and despatched a share which had been made purposely smaller to the Pa Te Aro, where a tributary tribe called the Taranaki had its habitation. The sixth share was assigned to Puakawa and his followers.”…. “I had prepared a deed according to Colonel Wakefield's instructions.”… . “The boundaries and native names being inserted from Wharepouri's dictation, it was brought on deck and laid on the capstan. As I read it through, sentence by sentence, in English, Barrett interpreted into Maori.”… “The chiefs then came up in succession to the capstan in order to make their marks. As each one's name was called, I wrote it down and held the pen whilst he made a mark opposite. They all brought their sons with them, to bind the transaction and to prove that they looked forward to the future.

“The boats were then sent away with the goods for the settlements, the chief of each accompanying them and undertaking to distribute them at his own place.

* Locality of Te Puni Street, Pito-one.