CHAPTER X. THE STORY OF WETEA'S FAREWELL.
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CHAPTER X.
THE STORY OF WETEA'S FAREWELL.
There died at Kirikiri, Thames, on December 27th, 1899, a remarkable old Maori known as Matene Te Nga. He was probably the last survivor and eye-witness of the tragic events which occurred when the Totara Pa, on the left bank of the Waihou or Thames River, was taken by Hongi Hika, the Maori Napoleon, in 1821. Matene remembered the pa being attacked some years before by a united war party of Ngapuhi and Ngatipaoa, under the noted chief Te Hinaki. On that occasion a very great multitude, mostly women and children, were shut up in the fort, and, their water supply being cut off, they were in extremis till a band of sixty or seventy young braves from within the pa clothed themselves in their thickest mats and sallied forth. Fighting their way through the enemy, they reached what was then a deep pool at the foot of a small waterfall called Te Korokoro-o-Tuhukea, just below where Mr. Anderton's house now stands. After plunging into the water, they fought all the way back to the pa, which they regained in somewhat diminished numbers, and, hastily throwing off their mats, wrung the precious moisture into the parched mouths of the perishing women and children. This battle was called "Te Waiweruweru," or the battle of the dripping garments.
Matene told me that one bright spring morning in October, 1821, while he was engaged with his people potato planting about Kopu, word came that a large fleet of canoes was sailing up the gulf. This fleet contained the dreaded Hongi and 800 Ngapuhi, all armed with muskets. The enemy landed at Whaiapu, below the Totara Pa, by the graves there; but in those days the Thames River ran quite close to the railway line,
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and there was a shelly beach, and no mangroves as at present. After marauding all over the country, murdering all they met, the Ngapuhi offered to make peace, and fifty or sixty chiefs, including Te Wera, Te Morenga, Te Whareumu, Ururoa, Titore and Rewa, were admitted to the pa. After being hospitably entertained and presented with some mats and greenstone meres, the visitors withdrew in the evening.
Te Morenga lingered behind the rest, and stooping down, pressed his nose to that of Ahurei, the second man of greatest rank in the pa, and whispered, "Kia tupato"-- "be on your guard." The Ngapuhi were seen to embark and sail away in the canoe, but they only went as far as Tararu. Returning on foot before dawn, they took the pa by surprise, slaughtering, it is said, a thousand persons, and taking innumerable prisoners. Ahurei slew the first man who entered by splitting his head with a stone axe. The Ngapuhi only lost two men, Pu and his eldest brother Tete, the son-in-law of Hongi.
Among the unhappy prisoners were two young men of high rank, who had surrendered upon being called by name. They were led before Hongi, who ordered them to be bound and a cooking fire lighted. When the oven was heated, Hongi was about to slay his captives, but the elder one, Wetea by name, said, "Spare me yet a little while, that I may sing a last farewell to my people, to the land, and to the world." He then composed and sang a pathetic chant, commencing "Horahia te marino."
While he was singing his death dirge the people crowded round, and the sight of the noble young man, now about to die, so moved them to pity that they besought Hongi to spare his life. But the cannibal general's heart was filled with fury at the loss of his son-in-law, Tete, and rushing upon Wetea, he plunged his short sword into his bosom, cutting off a portion of his breast, which he thrust into the fire, roasted and ate. 1
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The heroic Wetea paused not in his singing, and showed no sign of fear or anguish, but afterwards, while smiling scornfully, he taunted Hongi, saying: "Is this the worst a great warrior like you can do?" This so enraged Hongi that he drove his weapon into Wetea's throat, and applying his lips to the gaping wound drank in Wetea's life-blood till the young brave fell forward on his face and died. Wetea's nephew and fellow-captive, Tukehu, shared the same fate, and both bodies were cooked and devoured.
This treacherous act of Hongi's was looked upon with great disfavour by a number of his companions. Te Wera, Te Morenga, Whareumu, and others separated from him, and sailed round Cape Colville to the East Coast. They went South as far as Te Mahia, where Te Wera became the great chief of that district.
When Hongi and the Ngapuhi were satiated with feasting on the slain, they returned to the Bay of Islands, landing at Kerikeri in December, 1821. They took with them the embalmed body of Tete. His widow, after murdering a number of hapless young female prisoners, shot herself in the presence of all the people.
This is the death song chanted by the brave young Wetea:--
WETEA'S DYING LAMENT.
Horahia te marino,
Horahia i waho ra
Hei paki omakanga
Mo Haohaotupuni
Hei hukenga waihoe.
Noku te wareware
Te whai rangi au
Nau e Ahurei
Kai tonu ki te rae
O Kohi ra ia
Marama te titiro atu
Te puia i Whakaari ra
Ka taruru tonu mai
Ka wehe te marino.
Hei kawe i au e
Kai tu tonu mai
Translation.
O peaceful, spreading calm,
So beautifully fair,
Stretching far o'er sea,
No stormy clouds are there,
Beclouding the sky.
As the swift-gliding bark
Haohaotupuni canoe
2
With paddles all flashing
Sailed far, far away.
Bewildering also was it
Not to follow thee there,
But that hope is past,
For it wert thou, Ahurei;
3
Who so rashly thus ventured
Too near the wild cliffs
Of rock-bound Kohi.
4
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Te pou o te Kupenga
O Taramainuku.
Ko wai au ka kite
Ku rehe ai au
Te titiro ki Moehau ra ia
Me kawe rawa ra
Hei tokau pau e
Ki tawhiti ra
Ki te ketunga rimu
Ka wehe rangi au e-i.
E'en thence might be seen
Far-famed Whakaari
5
Whose sky-reaching clouds
Foretold my sad doom.
Yet beguiled by the thought
That the calms follow storm,
And would bear us away
Where we never might part,
But still stand together,
Like the firm standing pillars
Of Taramainuku's great net
6
I cannot see;
Mine eyes are dimmed
With misty tears.
I cannot see
The towering peaks
Of mighty Moehau
7
Ah, speed my spirit hence
Through ocean depths
And caverns wreathed
With waving weeds,
8
To that far shore.
Farewell to this sad world.
