A Narrative of a Nine Months' Residence in New Zealand in 1827 Part 13

"On Friday, the 17th, we sent out our large cutter, manned with seven seamen, under the command of Mr. John Rowe, the first mate, accompanied by Mr. Woodhouse, mids.h.i.+pman, and James Tobias Swilley, the carpenter's servant. They were to proceed up the Sound to Gra.s.s Cove to gather greens and celery for the s.h.i.+p's company, with orders to return that evening; for the tents had been struck at two in the afternoon, and the s.h.i.+p made ready for sailing the next day. Night coming on, and no cutter appearing, the captain and others began to express great uneasiness. They sat up all night in expectation of their arrival, but to no purpose. At daybreak, therefore, the captain ordered the launch to be hoisted out. She was double manned, and under the command of our second lieutenant, Mr.

Burney, accompanied by Mr. Freeman, master, the corporal of marines, with five private men, all well armed, and having plenty of ammunition and three days' provision. They were ordered first to look into East Bay, then to proceed to Gra.s.s Cove, and if nothing was to be seen or heard of the cutter there, they were to go farther up the cove, and return by the west sh.o.r.e. Mr. Rowe having left the s.h.i.+p an hour before the time proposed for his departure, we thought his curiosity might have carried him into East Bay, none of our people having ever been there, or that some accident might have happened to the boat, for not the least suspicion was entertained of the natives. Mr. Burney returned about eleven o'clock the same night, and gave us a pointed description of a most horrible scene, described in the following relation:--

"'On Sat.u.r.day, the 18th, we left the s.h.i.+p about nine o'clock in the morning. We soon got round Long Island and Long Point. We continued sailing and rowing for East Bay, keeping close in sh.o.r.e, and examining with our gla.s.ses every cove on the larboard side, till near two o'clock in the afternoon, at which time we stopped at a beach on our left going up East Bay, to dress our dinner.

"'About five o'clock in the afternoon, and within an hour after we had left this place, we opened a small bay adjoining to Gra.s.s Cove, and here we saw a large double canoe just hauled upon the beach, with two men and a dog. The two men, on seeing us approach, instantly fled, which made us suspect it was here we should have some tidings of the cutter. On landing and examining the canoe, the first thing we saw therein was one of our cutter's rowlock ports and some shoes, one of which among the latter was known to belong to Mr. Woodhouse. A piece of flesh was found by one of our people, which at first was thought to be some of the salt meat belonging to the cutter's men, but, upon examination, we supposed to be dog's flesh. A most horrid and undeniable proof soon cleared up our doubts, and convinced us we were among no other than cannibals; for, advancing further on the beach, we saw about twenty baskets tied up, and a dog eating a piece of broiled flesh, which, upon examination, we suspected to be human. We cut open the baskets, some of which were full of roasted flesh, and others of fern root, which serves them for bread.

Searching others, we found more shoes and a hand, which was immediately known to have belonged to Thos. Hill, one of our forecastle men, it having been tattooed with the initials of his name. We now proceeded a little way in the woods, but saw nothing else. Our next design was to launch the canoe, intending to destroy her; but seeing a great smoke ascending over the nearest hill, we made all possible haste to be with them before sunset.

"'At half after six we opened Gra.s.s Cove, where we saw one single and three double canoes, and a great many natives a.s.sembled on the beach, who retreated to a small hill, within a s.h.i.+p's length of the water side, where they stood talking to us. On the top of the high land, beyond the woods, was a large fire, from whence, all the way down the hill, the place was thronged like a fair. When we entered the cove, a musketoon was fired at one of the canoes, as we imagined they might be full of men lying down, for they were all afloat, but no one was seen in them. Being doubtful whether their retreat proceeded from fear or a desire to decoy us into an ambuscade, we were determined not to be surprised, and therefore, running close in sh.o.r.e, we dropped the grappling near enough to reach them with our guns, but at too great a distance to be under any apprehensions from their treachery. The savages on the little hill kept their ground, hallooing, and making signs for us to land. At these we now took aim, resolving to kill as many of them as our bullets would reach, yet it was some time before we could dislodge them. The first volley did not seem to affect them much, but on the second they began to scramble away as fast as they could, some howling and others limping. We continued to fire as long as we could see the least glimpse of any of them through the bushes. Among these were two very robust men, who maintained their ground without moving an inch till they found themselves forsaken by all their companions, and then, disdaining to run, they marched off with great composure and deliberation. One of them, however, got a fall, and either lay there or crawled away on his hands and feet; but the other escaped without any apparent hurt. Mr. Burney now improved their panic, and, supported by the marines, leaped on sh.o.r.e and pursued the fugitives.

We had not advanced far from the water-side, on the beach, before we met with two bunches of celery, which had been gathered by the cutter's crew.

A broken oar was stuck upright in the ground, to which the natives had tied their canoes, whereby we were convinced this was the spot where the attack had been made. We now searched all along at the back of the beach, to see if the cutter was there, but instead of her, the most horrible scene was presented to our view; for there lay the hearts, heads, and lungs of several of our people, with hands and limbs in a mangled condition, some broiled and some raw; but no other parts of their bodies, which made us suspect that the cannibals had feasted upon and devoured the rest. At a little distance we saw the dogs gnawing their entrails. We observed a large body of the natives collected together on a hill about two miles off, but as night drew on apace, we could not advance to such a distance; neither did we think it safe to attack them, or even to quit the sh.o.r.e to take an account of the number killed, our troop being a very small one, and the savages were both numerous, fierce, and much irritated. While we remained almost stupefied on the spot, Mr. Fannen said that he heard the cannibals a.s.sembling in the woods, on which we returned to our boat, and having hauled alongside the canoes, we demolished three of them. During this transaction the fire on the top of the hill disappeared, and we could hear the savages in the woods at high words, quarrelling, perhaps, on account of their different opinions, whether they should attack us and try to save their canoes. They were armed with long lances, and weapons not unlike a sergeant's halbert in shape, made of hard wood, and mounted with bone instead of iron. We suspected that the dead bodies of our people had been divided among those different parties of cannibals who had been concerned in the ma.s.sacre, and it was not improbable that the group we saw at a distance by the fire were feasting upon some of them, as those on sh.o.r.e had been where the remains were found, before they had been disturbed by our unexpected visit. Be that as it may, we could discover no traces of more than four of our friends' bodies, nor could we find the place where the cutter was concealed. It now grew dark, on which account we collected carefully the remains of our mangled friends, and, putting off, made the best of our way from this polluted place. When we opened the upper part of the Sound, we saw a very large fire about three or four miles higher up, which formed a complete oval, reaching from the top of a hill down almost to the water-side, the middle s.p.a.ce being enclosed all round by the fire, like a hedge. Mr. Burney and Mr. Fannen having consulted together, they were both of opinion that we could, by an attempt, reap no other advantage than the poor satisfaction of killing some more of the savages.

Upon leaving Gra.s.s Cove we had fired a volley towards where we heard the Indians talking, but by going in and out of the boat our pieces had got wet, and four of them missed fire. What rendered our situation more critical, it began to rain, and our ammunition was more than half expended. We, for these reasons, without spending time where nothing could be hoped for but revenge, proceeded for the s.h.i.+p, and arrived safe aboard before midnight.'"

It is a little remarkable that Captain Furneaux had been several times up Gra.s.s Cove with Captain Cook, where they saw no inhabitants, and no other signs of any but a few deserted villages, which appeared as if they had not been occupied for many years, and yet, in Mr. Burney's opinion, when he entered the same cove, there could not be less than fifteen hundred or two thousand people.

On Thursday, the 23rd of December, the Adventure departed from, and made sail out of, the Sound. She stood to the eastward, to clear the straits, which was happily effected the same evening; but the s.h.i.+p was baffled for two or three days with light winds before she could clear the coast. In this interval of time the chests and effects of the ten men who had been murdered were sold before the mast, according to an old sea custom.

When Captain Cook was in the Sound on his third voyage, he learned that the ma.s.sacre arose over an unpremeditated quarrel. Kahura, who had been active in the tragedy, told Cook that a Maori having brought a stone hatchet to barter, the man to whom it was offered took it, and would neither return it nor give anything for it, and on which the owner s.n.a.t.c.hed some bread from the party of Europeans, who were at dinner on the beach, as an equivalent, and then the quarrel began. Kahura himself had a narrow escape of being shot, while another was shot beside him; and the Europeans, outnumbered, were surrounded and killed. It was also stated by the natives that not one of the shots fired by the party of Captain Furneaux led by Mr. Burney to search for the missing people had taken effect so as to kill or even to hurt a single person.

APPENDIX II.

THE DEATH OF WHAREUMU (KING GEORGE).

The death of this Bay of Islands chief, who acted as protector to Mr.

Earle during his residence at Kororareka, is thus described by Messrs.

Hobbs and Stack, Wesleyan missionaries at Hokianga, in a letter dated from Mangungu, Hokianga, on the 22nd March, 1828:--

"On the same day that Hongi died at Whangaroa a son of the late Pomare's, named Tiki, was killed at Waima by a chief of the tribe called Mahurihuri. Waima is in Hokianga, and only a few miles distance from us.

The cause of the quarrel was this: Tiki had had some of his pigs stolen by the natives of Waima, and he was seeking utu by robbing their sweet potato plantations, for which he was shot.

"As soon as the report of the young man's death reached the Bay of Islands, 400 natives collected together, forming two divisions, under two separate chiefs, Whareumu, or, as he is called by the Europeans, King George, and Toi, and came to Hokianga. Toi and his party arrived first at Waima, where he found Patuone and all the natives and other chiefs of our district. After robbing the natives of Waima of their potatoes, etc., peace was made, and no further evil consequences seemed likely to arise.

The next day, the 14th, Whareumu and his party arrived. He was highly displeased with Toi for having made peace on such easy terms. He prevailed upon him, therefore, to break his league. Whareumu was also very insolent to Muriwai, intimated that he was a coward, and poured contempt upon the idea of the Hokianga natives standing in their own defence. On the morning of the 15th a quarrel ensued between the 400 Bay of Islanders and the natives of Waima, our natives also having now become their allies. This fray did not at the outset seem likely to be attended with fatal results, but, as Solomon justly observes, the beginning of strife is like the letting out of water; so it was in this instance.

Shots were fired on both sides till several were killed and wounded. At length Muriwai, who was a pacificator, was wounded and fell. Supposing he was killed, our natives (for the natives of Waima fled as soon as matters a.s.sumed a serious aspect) no longer regarded matters lightly, but turned round in great rage, for they also were in the act of retreating, and singled out Whareumu as a satisfaction for Muriwai. Whareumu received two b.a.l.l.s before he was killed. The one which killed him went through his throat. As soon as he fell all his followers fled, leaving about nine of their companions dead on the field, amongst whom was Oro, the chief who commenced our Whangaroa robbing. This ended the contest. Patuone and Nene immediately took up the body of the fallen chief and made great lamentation over him, and have since placed his body between the bodies of their own relations as a mark of respect."