CHAPTER III
[Image of page 67]
CHAPTER III.
Port Nicholson. --Wellington. --Excursion into the Valley of the Eritonga.
We stayed in Port Nicholson until the 4th of October, during which time the agent of the New Zealand Company completed the purchase of that place. Nearly three years have elapsed since our first visit; and a spot scarcely known before that time, and rarely if ever visited by Europeans, has become the seat of a large settlement, with nearly 5000 inhabitants. Where a few hundred natives then lived in rude villages, fearful of their neighbours, but desirous of intercourse with Europeans, and just beginning to be initiated into the forms of Christian worship by a native missionary, there is now a town, with warehouses, wharfs, club-houses, horticultural and scientific societies, racecourses, -- in short, with all the mechanism of a civilized and commercial community; at this very place, where I then enjoyed in all its fulness the wild aspect of nature, and where the inhabitants, wild and untamed, accorded well with their native scenery, there is now the restless European, spreading around all the advantages and disadvantages of civilization and trade. Although aware that I have long been
[Image of page 68]
PORT NICHOLSON.
anticipated in the description of this place, I must beg leave to give a few remarks which I gleaned during this and subsequent visits.
Port Nicholson is situated in a foreland which, in its longest extent, has a north-east to south-west direction, and which is formed to the south-east by the deep indentation of Wairarapa, or Palliser Bay, and to the north-west by the bight of the coast in which Mana, or Table Island, is situated. The outermost point of this foreland is Cape Te-ra-witi. This is the narrowest point of Cook's Straits, the distance to the nearest land in the middle island being only thirty miles. In its geological formation this foreland is a continuation of the hills which I have described as forming the chief part of the land at the other side of Cook's Straits, and it can scarcely be doubted that formerly both islands were here connected. The sea having once broken this connection, a rush of the tide, which comes from the southward, and runs at the rate of five knots an hour during the spring-tides, took place through the opening. The winds prevailing in this part of Cook's Straits the greater part of the year are from the south and south-east, and often increase to heavy gales, augmenting the rush of wat and making considerable inroads on the coast. Port Nicholson was doubtless thus formed, and the general aspect of the foreland, in which the harbour is situated, bears decided proof of the wear and tear of the coasts. At the head of the harbour the hills
[Image of page 69]
PORT NICHOLSON.
of which Cape Te-ra-witi is the outermost point, and those which form the eastern boundary, leave between them a triangular space, formed of alluvial land brought down by the river Eritonga, or Hutt. A sandy beach, two miles and a half in length, borders this alluvial flat, from which the water shoals to some distance. In consequence of its being opposite to the entrance of the harbour, a heavy surf is found here during southerly winds. The apex of this delta is about seven miles from the beach, where the hills approach each other and form the gorge of the river. At a distance of about forty miles a range of hills, which early in autumn are covered with snow, shuts in the view. These mountains--the Tararua range--run north and south, and are therefore best seen from off Entry Island, or Kapiti. They extend towards the centre of the northern island, and are connected, by the Rua Wahine range, with the group of the Ruapahu and Tongariro. To the westward of this range, that is, from the centre of the island towards Cape Egmont, the land is comparatively flat, with slight undulations, Mount Egmont excepted, which stands much isolated.
The hills which bound Port Nicholson to the westward, and terminate at Cape Te-ra-witi, and those which bound it to the eastward, and terminate at Baring's Heads, are branches of the Tararua range.
Their geological structure is argillaceous schist, interrupted, especially on the western shore, by
[Image of page 70]
EARTHQUAKES.
bulky and irregular dikes of red, black, or greenish Lydian stone. Sometimes the clay is more quartzose and granular. This latter I observed on the Tararua Mountains, where it forms a good stone for building purposes. There are also found other trappean rocks about twenty miles up the valley, and on the banks of the river Hutt.
Notwithstanding the very early formation of these schistous and trappean rocks, shocks of earthquakes are sometimes felt at Port Nicholson. They are generally very slight. 1
[Image of page 71]
PORT NICHOLSON.
The best harbour for ships is opposite the embouchure of the river Hutt, and is formed by the curved peninsula of the western headland. Here they obtain good holding-ground, with great facilities for discharging their cargoes, and are protected from the prevailing winds, which are N.W. 200 days in the year, and during the remaining days S. and S.E. That the harbour is good and convenient is proved by the fact that more than 200 vessels have entered and cleared it in safety, although the entrance, without the assistance of charts, is somewhat difficult, and no care has been taken to erect a lighthouse. The boundary hills, both to the east and west of the basin of Port Nicholson, rise abruptly from the water's edge: but in that peninsular part where the town of Wellington has been founded, there is a strip of flat land at their base, about one-third of a mile broad, consisting of a soil composed of sand, shells, shingle, and vegetable earth, and extending to the western headland of the harbour,
[Image of page 72]
ERITONGA RIVER.
where the hills are low and undulating. At the town of Wellington there is consequently a long line of water-frontage, with deep water at a few yards from the shore.
The neck of land between the island of Mana and Port Nicholson consists of hills, with deep ravines, intersected by watercourses, where the natives have some plantations. Of similar configuration is the neck of land separating the port from Wairarapa, or Palliser Bay. At high-water the passage from Wellington to the head of the bay was impassable, but since I left Port Nicholson a road has been constructed, connecting the valley of the Hutt immediately with the town. A road has also been made across the neck of land to the Pararua, a river which discharges itself into Cook's Straits opposite the island of Mana.
Having on a subsequent occasion (August, 1840) explored the valley of the Eritonga, I will here give a description of that river. My intention was to have crossed the snowy mountains which are seen to the northward of Port Nicholson, and to have entered the valley of the Manawatu, which I was told by the natives approaches those mountains in its long and serpentine course, forming a fertile valley, and afterwards discharging itself into Cook's Straits. This I was unable to accomplish, from the difficulties presented by the heavy forest and underwood, although surveyors' lines had been cut for about twenty miles up the valley, from the necessity of
[Image of page 73]
ERITONGA RIVER.
carrying with us all our provisions, but chiefly from the unfavourable season at which I undertook the journey, and in which I had to contend with pouring rains and heavy freshes in the river. Enough, however, was explored to convince me that, although the crowd of mountains around Port Nicholson was remarkable, and the land very thickly wooded, steady industry and perseverance would find a sufficient extent of available land for the support of a town, although connection with a larger agricultural district would be indispensable. Such a district I had already pointed out in the country to the westward of the river Wanganui, comprising the level and undulating land at the base of Mount Taranaki. I started from Port Nicholson on the 30th of July, 1840. All my companions were Europeans, as I could not obtain the services of any natives. This, however, was of no consequence, as they knew the valley as little as myself, never having penetrated far for fear of the Nga-te-Kahohunu tribe, the former proprietors of the place, and their greatest enemies. The river Eritonga forms at its outlet a broad basin in the sandy downs of the coast, and is joined, not far from its mouth, by three tributaries, the Okatu, Emotu, and Waiwatu. During flood-tide it is easily entered by large boats, which can go up for about six miles, when the shallowness of the water, and the danger arising from the snags which are imbedded in its bottom, prevent their farther progress. I followed the lines which the surveyors had
[Image of page 74]
ERITONGA VALLEY.
undertaken to cut along the right bank of the river, and which soon approach the hills that bound the valley to the westward. Our road lay over flat alluvial land, covered to a breadth of about four miles from the sea-shore with a recent but thick growth of underwood. Amongst the trees was one which, on being pierced, yielded about half a wineglass-full of a well-flavoured milk. I am unable to say whether this tree, of which I saw only two specimens in Port Nicholson, and those of a small size, belongs to the same family as the cow-tree of Guiana (Galactodendrum), of which Humboldt has given so graphic a description.
It having at that time been determined to place the town of Wellington on the banks of the river Hutt, I found many of the settlers busily occupied clearing the ground, although it was still very early in the morning. The first colonists at Port Nicholson were imbued with an excellent spirit of industry and enterprise; and it was only to be regretted that, from the land not being yet measured out, the colonists did not know whether they should be allowed to retain the spot which they might choose and begin to cultivate, and thus was wanting the principal stimulant for exerting themselves, and thereby fulfilling the first demand on a new colony, namely, of producing in the shortest possible time a sufficient supply for its own consumption.
Higher up the valley the alluvial land is covered with trees, of which the rimu and kahikatea pines
[Image of page 75]
ERITONGA VALLEY.
are especially remarkable for their size. Both belong to the genus Dacrydium. The former is one of the most beautiful trees imaginable, particularly when young, as at that time its branches bend gracefully downwards, like those of the weeping-willow. This is the pine from the branches of which Captain Cook made spruce-beer. Another tree common in this part of the valley is the pukatea, and is easily known by its trunk, which rapidly diminishes in diameter from the ground upwards. The leaves are thick, serrated, and of a glossy green, and it belongs to the laurel tribe. I am not aware that it has yet been described by any writer. Its wood is white, and resembles that of the beech-tree. The rata also is common (Metrosideros robusta). It is the king of the New Zealand trees, and has the hardest and most durable wood. In the evenings we always looked for this tree, in order to get some of its pealing and friable bark, the lower layers of which are found in a dry state, and were used by us for tinder. These larger trees spread over a number of smaller ones of various descriptions.
About seven miles from the beach the hills which enclose the Hutt approach near each other, the river keeping close under the western range, which slopes with a steep declivity to its bed. The sides of the hills are here strewed over with sharp-edged fragments of clay-slate, intermixed with vegetable earth, which nourishes a vigorous vegetation, but no species
[Image of page 76]
ERITONGA VALLEY.
predominates sufficiently to give a distinct character to the forest.
Up to this place the river has an average depth of from two to three feet. In rainy weather it often swells suddenly, from the narrowness of the valley through which it flows, and from the large supply rapidly brought down from the hills by a number of lateral tributaries. The banks near its outlet are quickly overflowed; and these sudden inundations, after a few hours' rain, have several times taken the settlers lower down by surprise. The river at present meets with many impediments in its course from snags, and is capable of great improvement in this respect.
In the gorge, which, as I have stated, forms the apex of the alluvial triangle of the Eritonga, the hills were almost perpendicular; and, in order to avoid a tedious and fatiguing road, we got into a small punt, which had been brought up thus far for the use of the surveyors. We landed again about half a mile higher up. This part of the river was truly picturesque. The right bank was steep and abrupt, nevertheless it was covered with trees overhanging the river. That beautiful bird the large-crested cormorant 2 is found here in great numbers among the higher branches of the trees. It feeds upon eels and a small kind of fish with which the Eritonga abounds. They are social birds, and many of their
[Image of page 77]
ERITONGA VALLEY.
nests are seen together on a tree, which is always sure to be the one most difficult of access. The unbroken stillness of a New Zealand forest is remarkable: the cormorants themselves have something solemn in their aspect, and are called by the New Zealanders kauwau, or the preachers. Sometimes, indeed, the mako-mako 3 pours forth at long intervals its melodious notes; or perhaps a hawk 4 is seen watching the movements of a smaller bird; or the neat fan-tail flycatcher busy in the lower branches. The vegetation of New Zealand is nourished by the constant moisture, and, although remarkable for the freshness of its verdure, there is not much variety, considering the extent of the island. But of birds and animals the number of species is still more limited; in fact, fewer varieties are found in New Zealand, in comparison to its area, than in any other country.
We encamped for the night on a sandbank, where we found plenty of dry drift-wood. From this place, where the valley widens a little, the river follows the western hills, and at its freshes overflows the left shore, which was covered with the shrublike veronica. Near the eastern hills the dark-green foliage and reddish bark of the totara pine impressed the landscape at once with a distinct feature.
The following day we crossed and recrossed the river six times. Its depth is very unequal, and
[Image of page 78]
ERITONGA RIVER.
often came up to our middle. It is very rapid in its course, and, although in many places not more than thirty yards in breadth, its broad bed, strewed over with large boulders of basaltic rock, proves that this child of the mountains does not always confine itself within such narrow limits. At this place its course is greatly obstructed by totara-trees of immense dimensions: two or three are often piled one above the other, shewing how high the river occasionally rises. About twenty-five miles from its outlet, on the right shore, was a steep rocky bluff, of a hard trap-rock, over which fell two cascades.
Higher up, the banks of the river show by their vertical section the manner in which this valley has been formed. An argillaceous slate is overlaid by a layer of boulders and pebbles, of trappean formation, from ten to twelve feet in thickness. This formation extends to the foot of the mountains, and proves that the level of the water in the Eritonga was formerly much higher than it now is. This is especially seen a little higher up. On the slopes of the lateral hills platforms are found, now on the right, now on the left side of the river, according to its windings, their elevation on each side being the same. They extend a square mile or more in area, and are strewed over with boulders and water-worn pebbles.
I may here observe that the coast near Palliser Bay has a terraced appearance, corresponding probably in level with that just described, for the origin
[Image of page 79]
ERITONGA VALLEY.
of which we must look not in the subsidence of the waters, but in a rise of the land after an interval of repose. These terraces, both on the banks of the river and on the sea-coast, are far too elevated for the highest floods or tides ever to have reached them.
Some of the most valuable land in this part of the valley is found on these platforms: a thick mould, or clayey soil, covers the boulders. The forest is very open, and in some parts consists almost entirely of tawai-trees, and in others of the totara. The totara pine is a very stately tree: its stem is generally five or six feet in diameter, and is without branches for about sixty feet above the ground. The branches spring from the stem at an acute angle, and form several crowns at some distance from each other. The bark is thin, of a reddish colour, and generally peals off in longitudinal stripes. Its leaves are lanceolate and short: they are of a dark-green colour on the upper surface, and of a sea-green on the lower. It grows in this valley chiefly in rich alluvial land, which is exposed at times to inundations, but it is not found on the lowest banks. In other parts of the island, however, I have seen the totara also growing on hills, and it was this pine that I found occupying the highest elevation on Mount Egmont, although there it had diminished much in size, and had become stunted. To the southward of Mercury Bay, on the eastern coast, and of Kawia, on the western, the totara is the only tree used by
[Image of page 80]
ERITONGA VALLEY.
the natives for constructing their canoes. The wood is very heavy and tough, and its durability is not impaired, but rather increased, by its lying in the water. Trees which had been buried in the beds of rivers, apparently for ages, looked as fresh and uninjured as if they had been recently felled. Of the different kinds of timber found in New Zealand totara seems most to resemble our oak in appearance and quality, and the forest in the valley of the Hutt will be of great value to the settlement at Port Nicholson, especially as the trees can easily be floated down the river during freshes. There are harder woods in New Zealand than the totara, such as those of the rata and pohutukaua (gen. Metrosideros), and of the kahikatoa (Leptospermum), a moderate-sized tree, covering the lowest banks on the river Hutt; but these woods are too hard, and can only be worked with great labour and expense.
On the fourth day I joined the party of Mr. Deans, which was employed cutting a line through the forest that runs on the slope of the western hills. Heavy showers of rain and freshes in the river detained us in Mr. Dean's tent for two days: these we passed as well as we could in shooting pigeons, which at this season were feeding in great numbers upon the aromatic berry of the mai pine or the seeds and leaves of the kahikatoa.
About thirty miles up the river, on a plateau on the western hills, I saw for the first time traces of the natives having visited this district before us. At
[Image of page 81]
ERITONGA VALLEY.
this spot the trees were half burnt and decaying, some lying one over the other in disorder, whilst the white and bleak stems of others were still standing upright. High fern had sprung up, as is always the case when a spot has been cleared for the purpose of cultivation. On the opposite bank of the river a circular stripe was pealed off from the bark of totara-trees, a general custom with the natives when they mark and "tapu" a tree for future use. But in this case they seem to have been prevented from felling the trees. These marks were doubtless made while the Nga-te-Kahohunu tribe still possessed Port Nicholson, before they retired through the valley to the eastward, and to Palliser Bay, where they lived for some time in the dark recesses of the forest, continually issuing from their hiding-places to harass their enemies. The present inhabitants of Port Nicholson, whose original dwelling-place was Taranaki, know nothing of the valley of the Hutt, nor are they aware of the existence of the totara-forest, their fears having always confined them to the sea-coast.
This plateau is situated above a perpendicular cliff of about thirty feet in height. A creek coming from the westward discharges at this point a considerable body of water into the Eritonga.
During the time we were detained here the wind was from the south-east; the thermometer kept a daily range from 39 deg. to 50 deg. Fahrenheit, and the air was saturated with humidity. The only place
[Image of page 82]
THE VALLEY OF
where we could enjoy the sun was close to the river's edge, or upon a tree turned across it, as the whole place was covered with bush and forest. Heavy dews fell during the night, and in spite of the shelter of the tent our blankets were always wet through in the morning.
Although the weather continued unfavourable, we were obliged to resume our route on the morning of August 4th, as our supplies were rapidly decreasing. Mr. Deans and two of his men joined my party, making us eight in number. We forded the river to its left shore, and crossed and recrossed it that day sixteen times. In one part the river is shut in by elevated banks about eighteen feet high, from which the land runs in flats towards the eastern and western hills; here we walked for about a mile in the bed of the river. The valley is about two miles and a half broad, and the land of a very good quality. The forest is again formed of one sort of tree, tawai, and is open and park-like. A soft carpet of moss covers the ground in many places. One species of moss, in the shape of a diminutive fern-tree, was very beautiful. The plants of the lower scale of vegetation, as ferns and mosses, were plentiful--the moisture which characterises the winter in New Zealand being particularly favourable to their growth.
The bed of the river at this point is crossed by bars of slaty rock, which strike from north-west to south-east, and dip in some places with a very
[Image of page 83]
THE ERITONGA.
acute angle to the south-west, and at others stand nearly perpendicular. The general breadth of the river had not diminished, but in many places it was very shallow.
In the afternoon we halted ait a place where two streams joined to form the Eritonga, one coming from north by west, the other from east by north. At their junction they appeared to me to be of the same size, but as we advanced I convinced myself that the branch from the eastward formed the principal source.
During the 5th we had heavy showers of rain, hail, and snow; the river was swollen and could not be forded. We were, therefore, obliged to halt a day, and on the 6th we followed the left stream, where some flat land extended towards the hills. Finding that this did not extend far, and that the hills again descended close to the river's edge, I ascended one of them with Messrs. Deans and Eckford, to obtain a view of the surrounding country; but on reaching the summit, through supplejack and underwood, we had the mortification to find that trees obstructed the view in every direction. It moreover began to rain, and a thick fog enveloped everything in darkness.
On the weather's clearing up somewhat, we climbed to the top of a tree, and thence obtained a view of the snow-covered hills of the Tararua; that which appeared the highest, and for which I resolved to steer, bore north-east. When we came
[Image of page 84]
THE VALLEY OF
down the hill, the day was nearly gone, and we returned to our old shed at the junction of the streams. Here we were again detained for a day, as the river was still deep and rapid, and some of our party could not swim. The freshes, however, decreased rapidly during the night of the 7th; we therefore forded the eastern branch, and followed its course through a district covered with tawai-forest. The river, which is here confined between high shores, preserves the same breadth, but is of greater depth. On the opposite shore, which likewise forms a plateau, I observed the rimu pine in great abundance. The section of the cliffy banks shows the same formation as that I have already described, with boulders and pebbles above; but the slate below has assumed a blue colour. We walked for nearly four miles on the flat, which is about a mile in breadth, but were stopped by a sudden curve of the river to the westward. On its right shore the hills were again precipitous to the height of several hundred feet; the force of the current in its winding course has undermined them, occasioning frequent slips. The left shore is low, and bears sufficient marks of its being very often overflowed.
I at first thought that the two branches which I have mentioned as forming the Eritonga were branches of one and the same stream, having the flat which we had passed as an island between them; but this is not the case; the left arm either rises in or flows through some swamp, as its waters
[Image of page 85]
THE ERITONGA.
had the brown colour peculiar to streams passing through swampy ground. I considered that we were now about fifty miles from the sea. In the bed of the river we had the satisfaction of seeing the Tararua range very near to us. A creek here joined the river from the eastward; it appeared to come straight from the mountains, and I therefore determined to follow it. For this purpose we had to cross the Eritonga, which we could not have managed had not a newly-uprooted mai, which had fallen across it, formed a natural bridge. After scrambling for two hours through dense underwood and a soft alluvial soil, we reached the creek, which we crossed, and on the banks of which we encamped.
On our route this day we had seen traces of natives; --a footpath coming from the eastward, although marked only by the half-broken branches of shrubs (a common mode among the natives of pointing out a path through the bush), had been trodden about a year ago, if the appearance of the broken twigs did not deceive me. We had also sure indications that wild pigs were common in the forest. On the sandy banks of the Eritonga we observed the footmarks of dogs and cats, but higher up those of the pigs only were discernible; and from the direction of their paths, which are as well marked as those of men, although more winding, I concluded that they must have found their way to this place not from Port Nicholson, but from Pal-
[Image of page 86]
THE VALLEY OF
liser Bay, or some other place on the east coast. The introduction of the carnivorous dog and cat into New Zealand has had a curious and fatal effect on the feathered races. On the breaking up of the tribes these animals were dispersed into the forest, which afforded nothing for their support but the birds, whose number has greatly decreased in consequence, as can be clearly proved, especially as some --such as the rails--possess very limited powers of flight, and one class, the apterix, cannot fly at all, for the very sufficient reason that it has no wings. We should have been very glad to have fallen in with some natives, or with some of the quadruped rovers of the forest; the latter would have given us the means of prolonging our tour, and the former might have shown us the road to some land unknown. We, however, saw neither man nor beast; and although the natives from the east coast may sometimes wander in this direction from Cook's Straits; and although it may be true, as I have been told by a native of Hauriri, or Hawke's Bay, that from a range of hills near that bay may be seen the fires of Rauparaha in Kapiti; yet, from all I have seen in New Zealand, I am convinced that the formidable pictures of bush-natives which have been drawn are purely the result of imagination. The natives in general are much too civilised and social, and know their own interests too well, to live in a gloomy and inhospitable forest. It is true, indeed, that excursions for surprising and robbing neigh-
[Image of page 87]
THE ERITONGA.
bouring tribes are, or rather were, frequent; and in that manner the natives become acquainted with the most secret recesses of the country: but on such occasions they always return to their settlements.
We had now arrived at the foot of some low hills, which formed the fore-hills of the Tararua range, and were covered with fern, manuka, and the burnt remains of a forest. They were of a gentle slope, with a clayey soil. In the evening we had a fine view from them of a range of snowy hills: we therefore descended on the following day into a deep valley, which separated us from this range. In the valley flowed the creek which I have before mentioned. We afterwards ascended a ridge which was very open, and covered with high and straight trees. Thus far the weather had favoured us, but it now again became bad, and thick clouds reposed upon the heights. We managed, however, to reach the summit towards evening. The cold now became very sensible; the thermometer stood at 37 deg. Fahrenheit, and in the ravines and on the branches of trees there was plenty of snow. I could by no means determine where I actually was, as we were unable to distinguish the objects many yards from us; and besides, the whole range was so covered with high trees as to have prevented us from having any view had the weather been clear. It froze in the night, and more snow fell; and when I awoke in the morning the thermometer stood at the freezing-point.
[Image of page 88]
THE TARARUA RANGE.
The ridge which we had yesterday ascended branches off in a westerly direction from the main range, which runs nearly north and south.
We this day followed the range to the northward, in which direction I had seen a pyramidical elevation towering somewhat higher than the rest. Large trees which had been blown down obstructed our path, a proof of the heavy gales which sometimes rage here. As we ascended we found the snow in greater quantity. The weather was a little clearer, and on reaching the highest summit I climbed up a tree and saw somewhat of the surrounding country. The ridge on which we were ran to the southward; its limits were enveloped in clouds. In the direction of west-by-south I distinguished Kapiti, or Entry Island, about seventy miles distant. Several ranges of hills separated us from the sea. The hills sweep round, and terminate, as it appeared to me, in a wooded promontory at Otaki, twenty miles to the northward of Kapiti. To the eastward I saw another range of hills running nearly parallel to that on which we were, and separated from it by a deep and narrow chasm. In looking into the valley of the Eritonga I saw that the whole was covered with wood; only a small stripe of its waters was visible. Port Nicholson was hid from our view by the eastern hills. The land in the upper part of the valley was composed of low hills, and I distinguished a swamp about three miles in circumference. The character of the
[Image of page 89]
ROADS.
whole was in the highest degree mountainous, and some time must pass before all the valleys, gorges, and ravines can be explored, or rendered accessible. Of the practicability of joining the valley of the Hutt by means of a road with Hawke's Bay and the valley of the Manawatu, I have no doubt; but it can only be done when the colony is in a much more advanced state, and when labour is more abundant and cheaper.
Our stock of provisions was so much exhausted, that we could not safely pursue our route in the hope of finding a way out of this wilderness; I therefore determined to return by the road by which we had come. This we accomplished with some variations, and arrived at Port Nicholson on the 14th of August, after an absence of sixteen days.
From the hills surrounding Port Nicholson I added to my collection a very curious bird, which before was only imperfectly known. This is the bird whose white-tipped tail-feathers are so highly prized by the natives, and are used as ornaments for the head in all parts of the island. But the bird, according to the accounts of the natives, with which my own observation agrees, has a very narrow geographical locality, as it is only found in the deepest recesses of the primeval forest covering the hills around Port Nicholson, and between the latter place and Hawke's Bay. It is called by the natives Uia, and was received into the ornithological system under the name of Neomorpha Gouldii. It
[Image of page 90]
THE UIA.
has been depicted by Mr. Gould, in Part III. of his very splendid work, 'The Birds of Australia,' from specimens which I sent to him. The great difference which exists in the shape of the bill in the male and female birds induced Mr. Gould formerly to regard them as two distinct species, to which he gave the names Neomorpha crassirostris and acutirostris; but it is now well known that there exists a whole tribe of birds showing the same generic difference. This bird is of the size of a magpie: its plumage is of a dark glossy black, inclining to a green metallic lustre. The ends of its tail-feathers are tipped with white for about three-quarters of an inch; the bill is white, rather darker at its base, where it has two wattles of a rich orange colour--a peculiarity of structure which several birds of New Zealand possess.
The male bird has a short, straight, and strong beak, but that of the female is much longer, and forms a segment of a circle.
Accompanied by a native belonging to the tribe of the former inhabitants of Port Nicholson, the Nga-te-Kahohunu, and now a slave, the only person I was told who understood the art of decoying uias, I set out for the hills, and, after a long day's walk, had the pleasure of seeing that the continued loud and shrill whistling of my guide, uia, uia, uia, in imitation of the note of the birds, had attracted four, which alighted on the lower branches of the trees near him. They came silently and with a
[Image of page 91]
ABORIGINES.
brisk flight. I fired and killed two or three of them, but generally they come so near that the natives kill them with sticks, in order not to injure the precious tail-feathers.
In the stomachs of these birds I found fruits of the Elaeocarpus hinau, and also coleopterous and dipterous insects. Mr. Gould's drawing of this bird is most characteristic; but the tree on which he has placed it, the Corynocarpus laevigata, is not found in the forest, which is the only habitation of this bird, but grows in open places near the coast.
The narrow geographical range of this bird, which I have already mentioned, is exceedingly curious; its extinction, for that reason, may not perhaps be very far distant, unless the bird is to be found in the middle island, which the natives, however, deny to be the case.
The natives in Port Nicholson belong to the large nation of the Nga-te-awa (river people), and are about 1500 in number. They are subdivided into several smaller tribes, living in the different coves of the harbour. The present natives are not the ancient inhabitants of the place, but seized it from a tribe called the Nga-te-Kahohunu, after they had themselves been driven from their ancient homes at the foot of Mount Egmont. They received us at our arrival with every mark of friendship, listened to and discussed the subject of our coming among them with great discretion and good judgment, and agreed at last to sell the land; not, however, without
[Image of page 92]
NATIVE CHIEFS.
a lively opposition having been offered by a chief, Puakawa (Bitter Sowthistle), who, with simple and solemn eloquence, warned his people of the cupidity of Europeans, pointed to the fate of the Tasmanians and Australians, and pictured a similar fate as awaiting his own people: the Europeans promised brotherhood to them, he said, but they were men who spoke with the lips only (tangata ngutu kau). This chief, however, was outvoted; partly through the impression which our trade had made on the rest, --partly, I believe, by a higher motive, the desire of acquiring civilization, protection, and instruction from a European colony. Poor Puakawa! During my second stay at Port Nicholson his mutilated body was found in a field not far from his own village; his head had been cut off and his heart taken away. Some of the Nga-te-Kahohunu, mindful of the injuries they had received, and actuated by feelings of revenge and envy, which had been again called forth by the recent sale of Port Nicholson, had sallied from the hilly forest, and had treacherously killed the chief, who, although at first opposing the settlement of the Europeans, had ever afterwards been their sincere friend. About forty men penetrated into the woods to trace the murderers, but they did not succeed in overtaking them, although absent for a fortnight. On their return a great many speeches were made, and it was interesting to see the orators strutting with long strides and lively gesticulations, showing how nature led them to employ all those
[Image of page 93]
NATIVE CHIEFS.
modes of eloquence which with us are only attained by study. One tribe at Port Nicholson had refused to accompany the excursion; and on the return of the party I had an opportunity of observing the exercise of that feeble authority which, amongst barbarous nations, is possessed by one tribe over another. Those who had marched to revenge the death of the chief went to the village of the opposite party, many of whom had become Christians, took away their pigs and provisions, and feasted upon the produce of their land. Being in the minority, they could offer no resistance.
The most influential and active chiefs in Port Nicholson were E Puni, a man of a very mild and graceful disposition, and Ware Pouri, his nephew, who was of a noisy and boisterous character. These two conducted the sale of the territory for the rest; but they had to consult the wishes of a very aged man, Matangi, who, with white hair and beard, but with a frame still erect and powerful, formed a link between the warriors and cannibals of former times and the present generation, who, emerging from barbarism, were beginning to turn their minds to peaceful pursuits, and to embrace the tenets of Christianity. Matangi had been left heir to Port Nicholson by two tribes, also belonging to the Nga-te-awa nation, who had been the most powerful, after the land had been wrested from the Nga-te-Kahohunu, but had emigrated to the Chatham Islands. Some few individuals of these tribes who are called the
[Image of page 94]
CLOUDY BAY.
Nga-te-Motunga and Nga-te-Tama, still remained at Port Nicholson.
Up to the present time, nearly three years since the purchase, there has not been a single serious misunderstanding between the natives and the European settlers; and my hope that, by a prudent management and forbearing treatment, the evils would be avoided which have everywhere else followed in the train of English colonization, has not as yet been disappointed: nor is it unworthy of remark, that the tribes at Port Nicholson had had very little intercourse with Europeans before our arrival at that place, their only visitor having been a missionary from the Bay of Islands a short time before, for the purpose of preventing the natives from concluding a treaty with the Company's agent, or, rather, to secure the best parts of the land, not indeed for the church, but merely for himself.
We left Port Nicholson for Cloudy Bay on October the 4th, with a light northerly wind. When we came outside the harbour we had squalls, and afterwards a fine breeze from the north-west, which was soon succeeded by a calm; but a fresh breeze springing up, we anchored in the afternoon at the entrance to Cloudy Bay. We found there the barque Honduras, of London, which had come from a whaling establishment at Otago, on the eastern coast of the middle island, and was completing her cargo at Cloudy Bay. We stayed here until the 13th of October, and then sailed for Te-awa-iti, in order
[Image of page 95]
CLOUDY BAY.
to take in Mr. Barret, an old trader and whaler, who was to accompany us to Taranaki. From the entrance of Cloudy Bay to the south entrance of Tory Channel the distance is about twenty miles. The coast between these points is very bold, from 200 to 300 feet high, and the sea breaks against the weather-worn rocks with tremendous violence. The aspect of the coast is dreary and barren, the formation being a yellow schistous clay. In the whaling season the boats, running out from Te-awa-iti and Cloudy Bay harbours, are sometimes surprised by a gale, and obliged to run ashore, where they find scanty shelter in a small inlet called Barret's, or in another called Jackson's Boat Harbour, where frequently they are windbound for several days, and suffer much from want of provisions, their only resource being a few shell-fish, and some penguins which inhabit the hollows of the rocks. All the year round whale-boats may be seen running to and fro between Cloudy Bay and Te-awa-iti, Entry Island and Port Nicholson, and other parts of the coast, trading for provisions or cruising for whales. In calm weather the native ventures out in his war canoe, now, happily, seldom bent on warlike enterprises, but on peaceful visits to his friends and relations. As the prominent points of this coast are therefore well known to whalers, they have given names to all, which I shall adopt in concisely describing them. At a subsequent period I had a run in a whale-boat from Te-awa-iti to Cloudy Bay on a
[Image of page 96]
WHALING HARBOURS.
medical visit, and had a good opportunity for inspecting the coast. A ship must keep clear of the land on account of some sunken rocks. After leaving Port Underwood we may pass in a boat between the northern head of the harbour and an irregular mass of rocks called the Coombe Rocks. About two miles from this point the shore forms a small bight, called Raumoa, or Fighting Bay, where at all times the tide produces a heavy swell. This place is of some renown in the history of Cook's Straits. When Rauparaha and the Nga-te-awa tribes had, after a sanguinary contest, driven away from these shores the Ngaheitao, the latter, who had settled on the eastern shore of the middle island, often returned in hostile parties to revenge the loss of their country. In one of these excursions, Tairoa, the chief of the Ngaheitao, with many of his followers, had been enclosed by the canoes of the enemy in this bight, from which there is no retreat inland. He saw nothing but certain death before him; but Rauparaha, the leader of his opponents, deferred the attack on account of a bad dream; a fog came on in the morning, and Tairoa made his escape, to the great disappointment of his enemies.
The next shallow bight of the coast is called Barret's Boat Harbour. Although boats must be hauled up over fearful rocks, this place has often given shelter to whale-boats in distress. From this point a difficult path leads into Tory Channel opposite to Te-awa-iti. Run-under Point is a rocky promontory half way between Tory Channel and
[Image of page 97]
WHALING HARBOURS.
Cloudy Bay: thence the coast sweeps round in a large curve, forming Island Bay, so called from a small rocky isle near the southern shore, called Glasgow Island, from the name of a brig which rode out a heavy gale there. A furious tide sets into this bay, agitating the water even in calm weather.
Jackson's Boat Harbour, the next inlet between the rocks, affords, if possible, less shelter than Barret's Bight.
Before reaching the southern head of Tory Channel we pass Lucky Bay, which is of a similar aspect. The southern head of the entrance to Tory Channel forms a promontory, and is remarkable for the broken appearance of the rocks of which it consists. Through some excavations the waves rush from Cook's Straits into this channel.
When we were off the mouth of the channel we had a moderate south-east wind, and waited for the ebb-tide. As the tide sets into this narrow entrance with great force and velocity, it must always be taken into consideration in running a vessel into the channel. The Honduras had come in the day before, during a calm, with the flood-tide, and two boats towing ahead, yet she struck on a rock off the northern head and became leaky. A pilot is very necessary, and generally one will come off from Te-awa-iti on a gun being fired outside the head.
Ten or twelve years ago the southern headland of Tory Channel was the scene of a sanguinary contest between the original natives of the channel,
[Image of page 98]
ISLAND OF ARAPAOA.
the Nga-te-Kahohunu, the same who originally inhabited Port Nicholson, and the tribes of the Nga-te-awa. Rauparaha, at the head of the latter people, earned here inglorious laurels by shutting up his opponents on a narrow tongue of land, and then exterminating them.
The next destination of the Tory was Kapiti, or Entry Island, in Cook's Straits, and, leaving Te-awa-iti for that place on the 15th of October, we were towed by two boats round the northern headland of the channel. The coast of the island of Arapaoa to Cape Komaru, the eastern headland of Queen Charlotte's Sound, runs nearly in a straight line, and is extremely steep, on which account many slips have taken place. It is scarcely possible to find a more iron-bound shore. At four o'clock in the afternoon Cape Komaru bore N.W. by N.1/2 N.; the island of Kapiti, N.N.E. 1/2 E.; the island of Mana, N.E. by E.; Cape Terawiti (the Rising Sun), S.E. by S.1/2 S.; Point Jackson, W.N.W.
During the night the breeze fell, and we were beating about between Mana and the Two Brothers. At three o'clock on the following day we anchored between Kapiti and the mainland, to the northward of a small rocky island called Tokomapura, or Evans's Island, which is inhabited by an English whaling-party. A little to the eastward of the southern end of Kapiti are two other small islands: the outermost is called Tauramoria, or Rauparaha's Island, from its being the usual place of abode of
[Image of page 99]
EVANS'S ISLAND.
that chief; it is sometimes called Mayhew's Island, after an American who has a whaling-party there. The innermost island is smaller, and is called Motu Narara; it is separated from the southern end of Kapiti by a narrow channel, which, however, is deep enough for small vessels. This island is also called Hiko's Island, on account of this chief's residing there. On this island also there is a whaling-party of Americans. As soon as we had anchored, a boat with whalers came off from Evans's Island, as well as a canoe manned by natives. We learnt from them that a battle had been fought in the morning on the sandy beach of the mainland, from which we were about three miles distant, between people of the Nga-te-awa tribe, who have there a large fortified village called Waikanahi, and another tribe called the Nga-te-raukaua, who several years ago came from the interior, and settled on the shores of Cook's Straits. They have a village at Otaki, about fifteen miles to the northward of Waikanahi. We heard that many had been killed and wounded in the battle; that the Nga-te-raukaua had been defeated, and had retreated. My duties as a medical man called me ashore, but the roughness of the sea prevented me from landing. Rauparaha sent a message, requesting Colonel Wakefield to come to him on Evans's Island, as he did not dare to visit our ship, for fear the natives we had on board might, prove to be his enemies. We went on shore in the afternoon, and found Rauparaha sitting on the
[Image of page 100]
WARS OF THE
ground, with his wife Etope, wrapped up in mats and blankets, and painted with red ochre. He is between fifty and sixty years old, with remarkably Jewish features, an aquiline nose, and a cunning physiognomy. His manner was very restless; he was rather sparing of his words, and seemed much depressed at the issue of the battle. He was very generally considered to have been the instigator of this contest, and the secret supporter of the Nga-te-raukaua. However, he denied the charge, and said he wished for peace. There seemed, however, to be no reason to doubt the truth of the accusation, as he bears an old hatred to the Nga-te-awa, although belonging to the same tribe; not, however, to that clan of it which was engaged in this fray. At all events, Rauparaha seemed in this case to have played the dangerous game of keeping on good terms with both parties. He had gone out on the morning of the battle in his canoe towards Waikanahi to await the issue, and, perhaps, to partake of the spoil; but he returned when he saw that the Nga-te-awa defended themselves manfully against the superior force of the Nga-te-raukaua. Rauparaha is related to the latter, through his present wife; but many others of his clan, amongst them E Hiko and Rangihiro, are more closely connected with the Nga-te-awa, and are unwilling to join Rauparaha in his enmity against them. On the morning of the affray Hiko had been sent for to prevent the battle. This chief is, by his father Tupahi (who visited
[Image of page 101]
NATIVE TRIBES.
England), related to the Nga-te-raukaua, and by his wife to the other tribes of the Nga-te-awa, and, from his relationship to both, is always chosen as peacemaker, for which office, moreover, he is well qualified by personal inclination and talent. In this case, however, he did not succeed, and soon returned to his own island.
Such is man in his barbarous state! Though endowed with many good qualities, his charities are exclusively confined to his own tribe, which is, in fact, composed of his blood relations. His neighbours, inhabiting the same land and speaking the same language with himself, he generally regards as his natural enemies.
Rauparaha soon left Evans's Island, in order to go to his own: he promised to come to the ship in the morning, after we had succeeded in quieting his fears as to the natives we had on board.
The following morning I went to Waikanahi. The spot where the affray had taken place presented a mournful sight: sixteen of the tribe had been killed in the battle, and many severely wounded. I was almost the whole day occupied with the latter, who submitted with great fortitude to the operations which I found necessary. Only one man, whose leg was smashed to pieces, preferred death to amputation. In bearing pain the New Zealander is certainly not inferior to a European, although he does not show that stoical indifference to suffering so highly valued by the Indians of America.
[Image of page 102]
MEDICAL AID
At our arrival on the beach we were welcomed with a salute of musketry, which continued until we entered the fencings of the pa.
All the people of the village were assembled; and though grief was expressed in every face, they received us with the greatest kindness and attention, and we were obliged to shake hands with everybody. They regarded us as friends and allies, for we had brought with us from Te-awa-iti some of their relations; and when they saw the medical men of our party giving assistance to the wounded, their confidence and gratitude were unbounded. Some of the women gave themselves up to violent expressions of grief, cutting their faces, arms, and legs, with broken muscle-shells, and inflicting deep gashes, from which the blood flowed profusely. We had brought with us E Patu, the son of a chief in East Bay, whose uncle had been killed in the battle. We found the widow standing on the roof of a hut, deploring in a low strain the loss of her husband. When E Patu approached she threw herself upon the ground, and, lying at his feet, related to him, in a funeral song, how great had been their happiness, how flourishing were their plantations, until the Nga-te-raukaua had destroyed their peace and bereft her of her husband. During this time E Patu stood before her, convulsively throwing his arms backwards and forwards, and joining in her lamentations.
An old woman, bent down under the burden of many years, had her arms and face frightfully cut;
[Image of page 103]
TO THE WOUNDED.
she was painted with red kokowai, with a wreath of leaves round her head, and gesticulated and sang in a similar manner.
In this place there were no wounded, they had been carried to the principal and most fortified pa, which lies a little to the northward. This latter village was very large; it stood on a sand-hill, and was well fenced in, and the houses were neatly constructed. Everything was kept clean and in good order, and in this respect it surpassed many villages in Europe. The population seemed to be numerous, and I estimated it, together with that of the first-mentioned village, and a third, about a mile higher up, to amount, on the whole, to 700 souls. Several native missionaries, some of them liberated Nga-te-awa slaves, live here; and the natives had built a large house, neatly lined with a firm and tall reed, for their church and meeting-house. At the time of our visit they were expecting the arrival of a missionary of the Church of England from the Bay of Islands, who purposed living amongst them.
The medical aid which they had given to their wounded was confined to binding the broken limbs with splints made of the bark of a pine, or of the strongest part of the flax-leaves, and carefully protecting the wounds from external injury by means of hoops. Some of these bandages had been very well applied.
I went to the beach on the following day to attend my wounded patients, and to visit the scene
[Image of page 104]
ORIGIN OF THE WAR.
of battle. This was at the third village, and many traces of the strife were visible; trenches were dug in the sand of the beach, the fences of the village had been thrown down, and the houses were devastated. I heard the following particulars relative to the cause and commencement of the contest: --Several years ago the Nga-te-raukaua came from the interior, and formed a settlement on the sea-shore. The whole coast from Taranaki to Port Nicholson is a weather-beaten lee shore, and the only place where large ships can with safety anchor is the roadstead of Kapiti. Not satisfied with a settlement which they had formed at Otaki, they wanted to come nearer to this place of anchorage, for the advantage of trading, and their aim, during several years, has been to drive the Nga-te-awa from Waikanahi, which is opposite Kapiti.
It seems that the attack was concerted a few weeks ago at some funeral festivities celebrated in the island of Mana, in honour of Waitohi, a very old woman, who had enjoyed great renown as a prophetess amongst the different tribes. She was a relation of Rauparaha, and mother of Rangihaiata, another Nga-te-awa chief. At these festivities Nga-te-raukaua and Nga-te-awa had assembled together and committed some excesses by killing several sheep belonging to a European, for the sake of the wool, which is in great request for interweaving in their mats. These festivals lasted several weeks, and during that time it was said Rauparaha con-
[Image of page 105]
FUNERAL CEREMONIES.
certed with the Nga-te-raukaua to make the attack, promising them his aid. On their return to Otaki they passed Waikanahi: the Nga-te-awa expected an attack; however, they passed quietly, but returned shortly afterwards. Early before daybreak they surrounded the village, and one of their number, entering a hut, asked a boy for a light. No New Zealander travels so early in the morning with friendly intentions, and the boy, knowing him to be one of their enemies, fired at him, and roused the tribe. The women escaped to the other village, to obtain aid, and the conflict began. The aggressors were defeated, and lost sixty men, amongst whom were several chiefs.
The Nga-te-awa buried their own dead; and the improved state of this tribe was shown by the fact that, instead of feasting on the dead bodies of their enemies, they buried them, depositing them in one common grave, together with their muskets, powder, mats, &c, a generosity and good feeling as unusual as it was honourable to their character. The grave of their enemies they enclosed, and made it "tapu."
I saw in Kapiti some people of the Nga-te-raukaua tribe, who had intermarried with the Nga-te-awa, and lived there; for it is a general custom that the husband resides with his wife among her own people. The country of the former tribe abounds with excellent flax, and they use it chiefly in the manufacture of the fine mats, called Kaitaka mats, which form the principal presents amongst them-
[Image of page 106]
NEW ZEALAND MATS.
selves, and are found all over New Zealand. The fibres of the Phormium tenax take the dye excellently; and into the borders of these mats figures are woven, of thread dyed black and red, which very much resemble the figures in the ancient Mexican decorations, and are of a very firm texture. There is much intercourse between the European settlers at Kapiti and the natives at Otaki, the principal settlement of the Nga-te-raukaua, a trade being carried on between them in pigs and potatoes: and I must repeat my assertion that the hatred of the New Zealander is never directed against the white man, who may travel where he likes, and is never molested unless his own misconduct give rise to a quarrel.
