CHAPTER VII. RAUPARAHA. 1815-1839.
[Image of page 68]
CHAPTER VII.
RAUPARAHA. 1815-1839.
"Truly the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty. Let such as philosophize on the happiness enjoyed by man in his savage state, visit such scenes and hear the ten thousand sighs and groans which echo in these gloomy shades, and shudder at the innocent blood shed through the length and breadth of heathen lands--and then, if they can, tell the world that such are happy."--REV. ROBERT MOFFAT, writing in 1829, of African savages.
THE thoughtful, far seeing, reflective Hongi, no doubt shot down his enemies, as most soldiers do, under the conviction that, if he did not kill them, they would kill him. He was perfectly correct in his calculation, made before he went to England, that the chief who first obtained a sufficient supply of firearms would at once kill or enslave all his less successful rivals. This was the inevitable result of the Maori code of morality, which exalted the never-dying desire for revenge to the position of a cardinal virtue, and regarded any deficiency of its manifestation, or any sense of discriminating justice as to the objects upon which vengeance was to fall as an evidence of spiritless insensibility, unworthy of anything but a slave. Comparing him with his contemporaries--with those who had been educated in the same moral atmosphere--we see very much to admire in Hongi. The scrupulous exactness with which he kept his promise to his dying uncle, Ruatara, the steady respect with which he always treated Mr. Marsden and approved of his work, the restoration of their land and liberty to so many of his conquered captives, his dying directions
[Image of page 69]
prohibiting any sacrifice of slaves on his grave, and enjoining protection to those "whose work had always been good," distinguished him not a little from those of his countrymen whose ruffianly thirst for blood, unchecked by a particle of sympathy even for the most undeserved suffering, leaves us at a loss for any carnivorous animal with which to compare their cruelty.
It would be a relief to avoid any detailed narrative of the cruel work of destruction of their own race, the records of which so deeply stain the pages of New Zealand history at this period; but it would be unjust to the by no means perfect work of civilisation which has since been accomplished if we were entirely to omit all the revolting records of the results of savage lawlessness, unameliorated by the teachings of the missionary, the precautions of philanthropy, or the restraints of legislation. Nothing that philanthropy could devise or accomplish would have kept back the firearms, the fire water, the diseases, or the convicts from New Zealand; and our only consolation must lie in the hope that the antidotes have minimised the poison, or that the blessings of civilisation have more than outweighed the calamities which have everywhere proved so inseparable from the introduction of the powers, the indulgences, and the diseases which attend so constantly on our more complicated and less limited methods of existence.
The more concentrated population on the east coast of New Zealand, the extent of civilization which the missionaries had there accomplished, the greater number of flax dressers, the extensive and useful Kauri forests, and the greater number of accessible natural harbours, all tended to attract shipping in that direction. With shipping and commerce came firearms and gunpowder, and any unequal distribution of these could not fail to disturb the balance of military power amongst tribes so fond of fighting, so prone to regard each other as enemies, and with whom the superior power to defend or to destroy was practically the only surety for life or liberty. We have seen how Hongi foresaw what must result from this change, and how he contrived to take the first extensive advantage to be gained by precedence in the acquisition of firearms.
[Image of page 70]
The powerful Waikato tribes were not slow to profit by the severe experience they had suffered at the hands of the Ngapuhi, under the leadership of Hongi. The acquisition of firearms became the one great object of all their dealings and industries, and they soon found themselves in a position to turn the tables upon the Taranaki tribes from whom they had often suffered so much. Although admitted on all hands to be amongst the bravest of the brave fighters in New Zealand, the absence of good harbours on the west coast had left the Ngatiawa tribes without any adequate supply of European weapons; so that they were soon attacked by the now well-armed tribes who had so often been worsted by them. After holding out in their strongest pah for some months, they were eventually starved into submission, and were immediately butchered or enslaved. The Waikato chief, Te Wherowhero, is said to have secured to himself the luxury of driving his heavy greenstone axe into the brains of 250 of the captured victims, brought to him and their heads placed within his reach as he sat upon the ground. The instrument of this atrocity is said to be preserved as a trophy by the descendants of this wholesale executioner.
Another chief, whose life extended to a later date, and whose deeds have been more continuously recorded, must be noticed here, although the last and the least eventful part of his life would take us some twenty years further on than that of Hongi. Te Rauparaha had more of the fox and the wolf, and less of the lion, in his composition than either Hongi or Wherowhero. Morally, there is really nothing to admire in his character. Most of his success was due to treachery and extreme cunning, although he was not without cool courage in emergencies. Neither friend nor foe could trust him; and nothing was too dishonourable or too cruel for him to practice, if likely to accomplish any selfish purpose of his own. His first warlike expedition was avowedly undertaken against a friendly tribe for no other purpose than to procure for himself and his boyhood wife a more luxurious table than that supplied by his parents, and was made successful by cunningly putting his young comrades where they would be
[Image of page 71]
chased by the enemy, whilst he lay concealed to kill the disordered pursuers. But, in those days, cunning was more essential to success than even courage in a leader, and the stratagem being successful, and procuring a good supply of prisoners for the table of his relatives, at once placed the young cannibal in a position superior to that of his elder brothers, and soon brought him congenial employment in the same direction.
Rauparaha watched the success of Temarenga, of Hongi, and of Wherowhero with his suspicious and reflective mind, and came to a very distinct and, no doubt, to a very correct conclusion, that he and his tribe would not be allowed to retain their attractive inland home at Kawhia, amidst powerful neighbours whose anger he had so often provoked, and who had many opportunities to procure supplies of the weapons which everywhere commanded success.
Having failed in his attempt to form an alliance against the Waikatos, he joined Tamati Waka Nene in a destructive raid against the southern tribes, in which he helped to annihilate a large number of the Maoris in the south of the North Island. In the course of this expedition, he visited the Island of Kapiti, from which he saw passing ships which filled him with a desire to reside where the only effectual means of destruction and of defence could be procured. He made himself well acquainted with Kapiti and the adjacent country, and seems to have fixed upon it as the spot which he would be able to defend against all enemies, and from which he could, by commerce, by stratagem, or by force, procure the indispensable firearms.
Having decided that this should be his next great object, he at once began to provide for it with characteristic secrecy and steadiness of purpose. The residents on the Island were treated with special leniency and liberalty, and every effort made to assure them of his friendship and good-will. Wherever it was found practicable, arrangements were made for kumara or potatoes to be grown where there were friends to protect them, on the route which he expected to take; and not a few weak tribes were marked out as the easiest means of obtaining a supply
[Image of page 72]
of animal food for the long migration he contemplated. The powerful Waikatos were restrained from attacking him before his departure by the assurance that the fair land he was forsaking should be theirs on his leaving it. He burned the buildings to which his own people were most attached, and, choosing 170 picked warriors, with 230 women and children, he entered upon this remarkable exodus. He led them from their own beautiful birth-place, not to Canaan but to Kapiti--not through a wilderness but through a longer path of blood--to be fed, not on manna, but on potatoes and potato growers--not to a more lovely and fertile country, but to a more defensible home. He was probably leading them from the slavery and destruction which so soon overtook those who were left behind; but, whether any slave driver would have been more inhuman than himself, or whether more of those who followed him would have perished in the one case than in the other may well be doubted. Still, he led and they followed, weeping, but with even more faith than the Israelites accorded to Moses. He was not a Moses by any means, but the Maoris of those days would not have appreciated Moses, and they did appreciate the man who was always able to deceive their enemies, or to sacrifice friends for their sustenance, and who ultimately accomplished all that he undertook to perform. Long halts were made where supplies could be obtained, and the women and children were sometimes left behind to be brought on when the warriors had cleared the way for their reception. Sometimes the women were dressed so as to appear as warriors. Parties were sent forward to kill friends or foes for a supply of meat, just as Stanley sent his men forward to shoot buffaloes or collect bananas, and a mother was successfully ordered to strangle a crying infant whose noise was likely to betray them to an enemy.
The Waikato chiefs, Wherowhero and Waiharoa had determined to exterminate Rauparaha and his small band at Taranaki, and had concealed their preparations so well that Rauparaha knew nothing of their approach until they were close upon him. But, even then, his superior knowledge of the country, and the complete discipline of
[Image of page 73]
both the men and women of his party enabled him to make such an unexpected attack upon those who had intended to annihilate him, that he completely routed them, and made them supply more than too dead bodies to his commissariat. His complete success, against such superior numbers, gave him a reputation, both with his followers and with his enemies, which contributed much to his safety for the rest of the journey, and practically overburdened him with followers.
On leaving Taranaki, the women and children travelled much in canoes, as did Rauparaha himself; so that only the warriors, now nearly 400, travelled by land. They were fairly well supplied with kumara, and excuses were never long wanting for obtaining a supply of Rauparaha's favourite food. At Patea six of Rauparaha's men were murdered, which gave him an opportunity to make a wholesale slaughter of the natives of Waitotara, and to take from them a large canoe in which Rauparaha travelled himself.
His desire for large canoes had now become so strong that they were used to bait a trap, in which he was very nearly caught, by the combined efforts of the Wanganui and the Muaupoko tribes. He was induced to visit a Muaupoko chief named Toheriri, on the promise of receiving a number of fine canoes. His son-in-law, Rangihaeata, suspected treachery, and did his best to persuade Rauparaha from accepting the invitation; but canoes were just then such an important factor in Rauparaha's designs that he went, with several of his friends and children, without any protection. The members of his party were accommodated in various pahs for the night, Rauparaha alone remaining with Toheriri. When Rauparaha was believed to be fast asleep, Toheriri went out to order the assassins to begin their work. Before he returned Rauparaha had escaped, naked, unarmed, and alone. He succeeded in eluding all pursuit, and reached his army, now at Ohau.
This very plain indication of the intentions of his mainland neighbours towards him, of course compelled Rauparaha to turn his attention to them before attempting Kapiti.
[Image of page 74]
This he did, with the usual result. His table was long and amply supplied with Muaupoko carcasses, and Toheriri himself, after being duly tortured, was also devoured in triumph.
Kapiti was not so easily captured as he had expected. His force was not exactly a marine force, and the islanders had not been deluded as to his intentions. After several repulses, he succeeded, as usual, by one of his stratagems. He went off with a large war party in another direction, leaving his uncle, Te Pehi Kupe, to cross the straits at night, and attack the islanders when sleeping soundly under the impression that there was nothing to apprehend, whilst Rauparaha and his warriors were engaged elsewhere. The surprise was complete, and the defeat easy. Those of the islanders who were not slain became fugitives in the forests and swamps of the Manawatu. Thus Kapiti became the naturally fortified home from which the great destroyer of his race could emerge at his pleasure to engage in the captivating occupation of depopulating the great South Island as well as the North.
Their attempt to murder Rauparaha, and the actual murder of his friends and children, long supplied a never-failing reason for attacking the tribes of Wanganui and Muaupoko, who vainly sought refuge in their lake pahs. Wherever they went they were constantly harassed, defeated, and devoured by the Ngatitoa, led by Rauparaha and Rangihaeta. Many combinations were attempted against these destroyers, but none were effectual. Soon after Rauparaha had settled down at Kapiti, a large pah was erected at Hotuiti, on the north bank of the Manawatu, in which were collected remnants of the Muaupoko, Rangitane, and Ngatiapa tribes.
Rauparaha sent messengers to the Rangitane, proposing peace, and suggesting that chiefs should be sent to his camp to settle the terms. This proposal was complied with; the leaders of the allies were sent to Rauparaha's camp, where they were at once murdered, and, whilst the allies were entirely off their guard, expecting the return of their chiefs with the terms of peace, their pah was rushed by the Ngatitoa, and those who were not killed on the spot
[Image of page 75]
were marched off to be reserved for the future supply of their conquerors' ovens.
But a far more formidable combination was next completed. Ratu, a great Muaupoko chief who had been made a slave to Rauparaha's uncle, Pehi, escaped from Kapiti to the South Island, where he greatly enlightened the natives as to Rauparaha's designs upon them; and ultimately succeeded in forming a combination of some fifteen tribes from the North and South Islands, supplying more than 2000 warriors with ample means of transport to Kapiti. At four o'clock in the morning, some three years after Rauparaha had been settled in Kapiti, a large force of able warriors was landed at Rangatira, at the north of Kapiti, whilst Rauparaha and the main body of the Ngatitoa were further south at Taepiro. The small force of Rauparaha's warriors, under Pokitara, were soon worsted and pushed to the extreme north; but their leader contrived to get the attacking commander to agree to a truce which saved his men. Almost immediately after the truce had been concluded, and whilst canoes were still swarming towards the island, Rauparaha arrived with the main body of the Ngatitoa; and utterly disregarding the truce which had served his purpose so well, he instantly attacked the invaders, leaving 170 of their bodies on the beach, whilst the remainder were forced into the sea, where most of them were drowned in the attempt to reach the still approaching canoes. A great harvest of canoes and dead bodies was collected by the triumphant Ngatitoa, and Rauparaha composed and sang a song to commemorate the event.
Such a complete repulse of such a formidable combination against him, made Rauparaha undisputed ruler of Kapiti, and left him free to wreak his vengeance on all the tribes within his reach. His many victories and his constant plundering had given him a wide choice of allies and warriors, and supplied him with nearly all the arms he could desire. In 1828 Pehi returned from England, and brought a considerable accession of strength to Rauparaha in more ways than one.
A powerful chief of Ngaitahu, named Rerewhaka, was known to have expressed his indignation of Rauparaha's
[Image of page 76]
treachery, and at his killing and devouring propensities. One of his escaped slaves told Rauparaha that Rerewhake had said, that if Rauparaha dared to set a foot in his territory, he would rip him open with a shark's tooth. This was quite enough to put in motion what was now the most powerful army in New Zealand, and with terrible effect. With abundance of canoes, arms and ammunition, and with 350 chosen warriors, Rauparaha sailed for Kaikoura, where Rerewhaka maintained his largest establishment. The voyage occupied four days from D'Urville Island. Arriving at night, they anchored near the landing place, and in the morning were mistaken by the Ngaitahu for some friends they were expecting to pay them a visit--a mistake that was at once perceived and made the most of by Rauparaha. His men were landed without opposition, and at once commenced to slaughter the unarmed Ngaitahu, who had come in large numbers to welcome their expected friends. As these unarmed men rushed to their pah they were mixed with the murdering invaders, who thus got possession of the stronghold without a struggle. The strongest men and the weakest women and children were killed on the spot, and consumed in the usual manner, whilst many hundreds were conveyed to Kapiti to contribute in various ways to the gratification of their captors there. The killed and captured are said to have amounted to over 1400. Poor Rerewhaka was not fortunate enough to be slain at Kaikoura, but was tortured and afterwards eaten at Kapiti.
In the following year Rauparaha paid another visit to Kaikoura, and, although the remnant of the inhabitants fled at his approach, they were overtaken and exterminated, their destroyer passing on to attack a section of the same tribe at Kaiapoi.
Red-handed as they were, with the slaughter of the Ngaitahus at Kaikoura and at Omihi, Rauparaha and his warriors had yet the audacity to pretend that they had come to the same tribe at Kaiapoi with friendly intentions, and for the purposes of trade. Without placing much faith in his professions, the Kaiapoi chiefs admitted a number of Rauparaha's chiefs inside their pah. The insolent and
[Image of page 77]
imprudent conduct of Rauparaha's uncle, Pehi, soon confirmed their worst suspicions, especially as the wily old commander took care not to put his own person in their power. A threatening speech from Pehi was the cause, not only of his own death, but of the death of a great part of Rauparaha's leading warriors; by which Rauparaha felt himself so weakened that he decided to postpone his vengeance. After killing his prisoners, he returned to Kapiti.
Tamaiharanui, the principal chief of the Ngaitahus, was at Kaiapoi at the time Rauparaha's chiefs were slain, and probably took a leading part in advising a step which had postponed the destruction of his people. Rauparaha was not long in contriving to torture the brave old Spartan who had thwarted his murderous intentions at Kaiapoi. For this purpose he met with a European scoundrel as cruel and as unscrupulous as himself. An English brig, named Elizabeth, called at Kapiti, commanded by a Captain Stewart. By promising him a cargo of dressed flax as freight to Sydney, Rauparaha found no difficulty in engaging him as an accomplice in a series of the most cruel murders on record. Stuart engaged to proceed to Akaroa with Rauparaha and a party of warriors, or rather assassins in the brig. Arrived at Akaroa, Rauparaha and his assassins remained concealed in the hold, whilst Stewart went on shore and invited Tamaiharanui to come on board with his wife and daughter to purchase firearms from him. As soon as they came on board they were seized by the Maoris, and Tamaiharanui's torture began in earnest. He was put in irons, which soon cut into his ankles, whilst his wife and daughter were insulted in his presence. Although in irons he contrived, with the assistance of his wife to strangle his daughter to save her from a worse fate.
The many accounts of what actually took place are various and conflicting, but we are inclined to think that the most reliable record is that given in the Story of New Zealand, by Arthur S. Thomson, M. D., Surgeon-Major, 58th Regiment, page 264. It will be seen that he met with the Englishman who acted as interpreter between Rauparaha and Stewart, and was shown the ramrod with
[Image of page 78]
which Tamaiharanui's last torture was inflicted. He thus writes in 1859:
"In 1829 Te Pahi, a chief, of whom an account is subsequently given, was murdered by the natives living about Bank's Peninsula during a friendly visit which that travelled warrior made to barter muskets for greenstone. No satisfaction was deemed sufficient for such a man but the head of Tamaiharanui, the chief of the tribe, and it devolved on Rauparaha and Rangihaeata, his nearest relatives, to avenge his death. For this purpose, Captain Stewart, on the promise of a cargo of flax, conveyed Rauparaha and eighty warriors, in the brig Elizabeth, from Kapiti in Cook's Strait to Bank's Peninsula in the Middle Island. When the ship cast anchor, Rauparaha's party hid below, while Stewart falsely represented himself to those who came on board as a flax trader. Unsuspicious of treachery from white men, the natives told Stewart that their chief was living in the Wainui Valley, a short day's journey from Akaroa. Stewart invited him to visit the ship, and, three days afterwards, Tamaiharanui, his wife, son, daughter, and several of his tribe came on board. Descending into the cabin, Tamaiharanui met Rauparaha face to face. Te Pahi's son drew up the upper lip of Tamaiharanui, and cried, 'These are the teeth which eat my father.' A massacre ensued, and all were slain save Tamaiharanui, his wife, and his daughter, who were kept to grace the victor's return. Then Rauparaha's warriors landed, and slew every native they met.
"Captain Stewart immediately returned to the island of Kapiti. During the voyage, human flesh, brought on board in baskets, was frequently devoured amidst singing and war-dancing, the violence of which shook the ship. Tamaiharanui, his wife and daughter, a girl aged sixteen, named Nga Roimata, or the Tears, witnessed these cannibal orgies over the flesh of their relatives and friends. The chief, bound hand and foot, allowed no sign of sorrow to steal over his tattooed face; but the mother, who was not manacled, strangled her daughter by her husband's orders. Rauparaha, enraged that this beautiful and high-born maiden should thus be lost, sucked Tamaiharanui's blood,
[Image of page 79]
being a murderer, from a flowing vein, ran a red-hot ramrod through his body, and aggravated the anguish of the poor man's awful situation by his bitter jests; but Tamaiharanui died in extreme mental and bodily agony without affording his tormentor the satisfaction of seeing on his countenance an indication of either. His wife was afterwards killed at Otaki. The instrument which slew Tamaiharanui was shown to me in 1849, stained with the chiefs blood, by the Englishman who acted as interpreter to the expedition. Captain Stewart never got the promised flax freight from Rauparaha. He was tried before the Supreme Court of New South Wales for the part he acted in the massacre, and only escaped punishment from want of evidence. Like that of De Surville, Stewart's death was sudden and violent, and occurred not long after his murderous cruise to Akaroa. He dropped dead on the deck of the Elizabeth- rounding the iceberg promontory of Cape Horn, and his body, reeking of rum, was pitched overboard by his own crew with little ceremony and no regret."
About a year after this highly savoured taste of blood, Rauparaha's plans for a more deliberate and wholesale revenge appear to have been completed, and were carried out with great skill and determination, notwithstanding the recent loss of so many of his ablest chiefs. There can be no doubt that Kapiti abounded in a large supply of good fighting material, and that the long experience and resourceful powers of Rauparaha made him a very able selector of men to be trusted for what he wanted them to do.
Dividing his large force into two, sending one by the cold highlands, through Tarndale, and taking a larger number under his own command down the east coast, he contrived, as usual, to arrive at his object of attack just when he was least expected. A great proportion of the Kaiapoi warriors were away at Port Cooper (now Lyttelton) leaving the pah chiefly occupied with old men and women. But the few who were at home did their duty well, and repulsed Rauparaha's warriors again and again until the absent defenders returned, and, with desperate
[Image of page 80]
courage, forced their way through a deep swamp into the pah. When this had been effected, Rauparaha saw that his men could never take the pah by storm, and he prepared to destroy it in a way from which no courage could defend it. He approached the palisade by a regular military sap, and, when near enough, piled up an immense quantity of dry brushwood, which he intended to fire as soon as the wind blew on to the pah. The daring defenders fired it whilst the wind blew off the pah, but the wind changing soon afterwards, they found that, like the Indian widow, they had lighted their own funeral pile. Their only choice lay between burning, drowning, or landing on the opposite bank to be tomahawked by their enemies. Few, indeed, escaped, and the destruction might have been considered as complete as even Rauparaha could desire; but he did not return until he had divided his forces into small detachments, and sent them fifty miles south to destroy every village, and to capture as much human game as they could find to take home with them. When this had been accomplished, he returned laden with spoil, often carried by the doomed captives from whom it had been taken.
The tribes on the Wanganui River next occupied his attention, and many willing allies were found ready to assist in their destruction--by which another thousand are said to have been added to his victims.
After this, his too numerous and now less ably controlled allies broke out into deadly hostility amongst themselves, which weakened Rauparaha so much that he never again recovered the same undisputed power that he held prior to the attack on the Wanganuis. After desperate encounters between these veteran warriors, now well supplied with firearms in which the destruction on all sides was enormous, they appear to have come to the conclusion, that, if any of them were to be left alive, fighting must cease. With much difficulty, and with the aid of better heads than Rauparaha now possessed, a peace was at length arranged, and the country divided amongst the ablest warriors, in what may be called the last great struggle prior to the systematic settlement of Europeans in New Zealand, which effectually terminated Rauparaha's career as a wholesale exterminator of his race.
[Image of page 81]
Although Rauparaha lived for ten years after the arrival of Colonel Wakefield in the Tory, in 1839, we need not follow him further, as he was no longer a factor of first importance in New Zealand history. He had, even before that date, lost the power which alone made him respectable in the eyes of those who had so often combined to serve under him. His residence at Kapiti had given him facilities, not only for the acquisition of firearms, but also for the constant supply of firewater; so that, whilst age was undermining his physical power, alcohol had wholly destroyed that even flow' of mental resource which his followers admired so much, and which had never failed him in his more temperate years. The Rauparaha who was so easily captured by Sir George Grey, at Porirua, was no longer the same Rauparaha who could not be captured or killed in their own house by all his designing entertainers at Papaitanga.