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 A SKETCH OF THE . 
 NEW ZEALAND WAR
 
 SKETCH OF THE 
 NEW ZEALAND 
 
 WAR Gfc «b (Sb 
 
 By MORGAN S. GRACE C.M.G 
 
 COUNT OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE 
 MEMBER OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUN- 
 CIL OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 IT 
 
 LONDON 
 
 HORACE MARSHALL AND SON 
 
 TEMPLE HOUSE TEMPLE AVENUE EC 
 1899
 
 Butler &. Tanner, 
 
 The Selwood Printing Works, 
 
 Frome, and London.
 
 TO 
 V.C. SIR ANTHONY HOME K.C.B 
 
 an eminently distinguished man, whose Literary Taste is only 
 surpassed by his Personal Courage, this brief sketch is 
 dedicated. My admiration for his pure Love of 
 Justice and Truth suggested this Narrative, 
 and the pleasure I take in contem- 
 plating his surprise at its details 
 gives zest to this effort to 
 renew my Youth.
 
 Preface 
 
 'T^HIS sketch of the Maori War Is not in- 
 ^ tended to have any merit except spon- 
 taneity. I have consulted no authorities, read 
 no despatches. 
 
 I hold that no one who was a participator in 
 the events of this war could realize its true 
 character by reading the published accounts of 
 it. 
 
 I have a photographic plate in my brain of 
 everything that I saw, from which I can strike 
 off pictures at will. And I can act as a phono- 
 graph of everything I heard. I can describe 
 and narrate by word of mouth without difficulty, 
 but I am a cramped writer, and mere penman- 
 ship makes my progress like that of a horse
 
 PREFACE 
 
 galloping with his legs tied. All the same, as 
 I shall soon be dead and gone, I now give 
 effect to the wish I have had in my mind for 
 more than thirty years. 
 
 I scorn a lie in any form, not merely on 
 account of its intrinsic faultiness (for I have 
 known dozens of fine fellows in all walks of 
 life lie on occasion without circumstance), but 
 because, if I told a lie, I would have to own 
 up at once and take the consequences, lest my 
 adversary should think I was afraid of him. 
 What I have written I have seen or heard from 
 true and worthy witnesses, and If you will look 
 through my eyes, you will see It also. The 
 knowledge cannot fail of a humanizing effect. 
 You will thus learn what blundering asses we 
 were, and what fine fellows the Maori.
 
 Contents 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction i 
 
 My Early Days 9 
 
 Arrival in Auckland 15 
 
 Off to the War 21 
 
 Soldier's Account of the War 27 
 
 Entrenched at Waireka 41 
 
 Attack on a Stockade 53 
 
 Sir Donald McLean's Story 65 
 
 Waitini and Wiremu Kingi 73 
 
 General Pratt at Mahoetahi 83 
 
 A Military Hospital 93 
 
 Peach-Groves and Thistles 99 
 
 Maori Surprise Attacks 105 
 
 General Cameron 119 
 
 From Cameron to Chute 127 
 
 ROPATA AND THE HaU-HaUS I43 
 
 Beguiling the Ngatipukeka 155 
 
 Sir George Grey and General Chute . . .165 
 
 Conclusion 169
 
 List of Illustrations 
 
 Dr. Morgan Grace Frontispiece 
 
 WiREMU KiNGi To face page 28 
 
 War Map of New Zealand 
 
 WiREMU TAMIHANA 
 
 Haperona .... 
 A Maori Storehouse. 
 Kereopa .... 
 Chief of the Ngatipukeka 
 
 50 
 73 
 
 79 
 119 
 
 151 
 
 162
 
 Introduction 
 
 THE experiences of the Anglo-Saxon race 
 in its relations with the Maori have al- 
 ways been uncommon. The Maori from the 
 commencement practically asserted his superi- 
 ority, and in many essentials has justified the 
 assertion. 
 
 It will be remembered that in the early trad- 
 ing days a Maori chief always spoke of a 
 White Man as his Pakeha (White Man). The 
 trader's privileges were based on the Maori 
 chief's proprietory claims. The White Man 
 had no inherent rights. His life and property 
 were really at the mercy of the chief. The 
 Maori, being essentially a gentleman, wrapped 
 this thorn deftly in rose leaves. Its existence, 
 however, was real. 
 
 It is a fact, that Bishop Pompalier, on first 
 landing north of Auckland, presented himselt 
 in full canonicals, mitre on head and pastoral
 
 2 INTRODUCTION 
 
 staff in hand. The Maori surrounded him, 
 flourishing their tomahawks, and deliberately 
 undressed him to examine into the character 
 of his pretensions. When they came to his 
 undershirt and drawers, His Grace the Arch- 
 bishop made signs to them that good manners 
 dictated restraint of their curiosity. They 
 respected his wishes, but tried on all his gar- 
 ments. As he had exhibited much amiability 
 and dignified sweetness, they assisted him to 
 re-robe, and led him to their runanga-house, 
 treating him with every consideration. The 
 attitude of the chiefs to the Church of Eng- 
 land missioners was characterized by the digni- 
 fied respect due from great functionaries to 
 each other. The Maori showed themselves 
 above prejudice. This was clearly displayed 
 in a theological discussion conducted in the 
 Auckland district by the Maori adherents of 
 the Catholic and Anglican Churches as to the 
 Church of England claim of Apostolical suc- 
 cession and consequent authority. A great 
 meeting was assembled in Waikato. The 
 Maori devoted ten days to the public discus- 
 sion, which was held in the open air. The 
 astute Catholic advocate yielded the honour of 
 opening the debate to the Anglican, as New 
 Zealand was a British colony. He then took
 
 INTRODUCTION 3 
 
 two and a half summer days to reply. He had 
 by him a bundle of sticks. He planted the 
 first in the ground, christening it St. Peter, and 
 gave a sketch of St. Peter's life and works. 
 He followed this up by placing a labelled stick 
 for each of the Popes in historical succession, 
 sketching each worthy's story, and, when he 
 came to the period of the Reformation, pointed 
 with emphasis to the break in the Anglican 
 line. The Maori, who cared only for the 
 argument, gave the decision by acclamation in 
 favour of the Catholic Church. The debate 
 was an admirable instance of the faculty of 
 sustained attention to discussion shown by 
 the Maori in listening ; of the power of order 
 and concentration shown by their orators, with 
 the force of conviction at the root of the effort ; 
 and of the acuteness of the Maori, already as 
 great in theology as his teacher. The same 
 capacity to excel is seen to-day in the Maori 
 within the walls of Parliament. He is unsur- 
 passed either as a political strategist in party 
 warfare, in eloquence if words avail, or in re- 
 ticence if mystery is likely to forward his 
 objects. The result is, he often holds the 
 balance of power between political parties, and 
 whilst loudly declaiming that the rights of his 
 race are always made subservient to the inter-
 
 4 INTRODUCTION 
 
 ests of the white people, has really for a 
 quarter of a century escaped the payment of 
 his legitimate portion of the land-tax, whilst 
 benefiting enormously by the construction of 
 railways, macadamised roads, and expensive 
 bridges leading to his landed property at the 
 cost of the Colony. 
 
 So well has the Maori managed editors and 
 public opinion generally that it has been cus- 
 tomary to say the Maori has been robbed of 
 his land by the European. I have no hesita- 
 tion whatever in affirming that the European 
 has been robbed of his money by the Maori, 
 under the sanction of the most approved, 
 gentlemanly, courteous methods. 
 
 It must not be forgotten that the Maori's 
 title to his lands was attained by conquest and 
 occupation. There was no constitutional law 
 to guide the Maori. He occupied by force, 
 and defended his occupation by war. What- 
 ever the aggressions of the Anglo-Saxons, 
 their power to make treaties was always regu- 
 lated by the constitutional law obtaining in the 
 British Isles. A reference to The Law oj 
 Nations (Ed. 1834), by Chitty ; to the Charter 
 of Lord Carlisle ; to Sir Humphrey Gilbert's 
 Charter for Virginia ; and to the Letters 
 Patent to John Cabot, proves that England
 
 INTRODUCTION 5 
 
 had no legal sanction to make a treaty bearing 
 the interpretation which the pressure of the 
 Church Missionary Society and Exeter Hall 
 subsequently gave to the Treaty of Waitangi. 
 The true meaning of the Treaty of Waitangi 
 as understood by the Maori and interpreted 
 by Anglo-Saxon law and usage was that the 
 Maori were protected in possession of all the 
 lands they had hunted over or cultivated. In 
 the end the Europeans were cheated into buy- 
 ing from the Maori millions of acres of land 
 which the native New Zealander had never 
 seen. 
 
 So much for the statecraft of the Maori. 
 The missioner interpreted the Treaty of 
 Waitangi for him : the Maori took the profit 
 and repudiated his benefactor. In dealings for 
 land with private individuals it is true that the 
 Maori sometimes had the worst of the bargain, 
 but quite as frequently the European found 
 that when he had paid for the land the Maori 
 seller subsidized other claimants to upset the 
 title, and remained in the enjoyment of his 
 tribal claim to the property after he had spent 
 the price obtained for it in feasting his rela- 
 tions. It was from the beginning a case of 
 diamond cut diamond, and as nothing could 
 really impoverish the Maori as long as there
 
 6 INTRODUCTION 
 
 remained to him the tribal right to Hve on and 
 with his own people, the chocolate-brown dia- 
 mond cut the deepest. So much for the Maori 
 in peace. I hope presently to delineate some 
 of his warlike characteristics.
 
 MY EARLY DAYS
 
 I 
 
 1WAS the delicate son of a highly intel- 
 lectual mother : physically the poorest 
 specimen of a large family. I adored my 
 mother with the reverence which a feeble 
 child feels for a protector. She never showed 
 a particle of partiality for me. Indeed, 
 mothers rarely set their hearts on any but 
 their eldest or youngest children, and her 
 eldest son was stormily successful from the 
 cradle up. He conquered all difficulties with 
 the air of an emperor, and kicked or cuffed 
 or bluffed his way up to the top of any circle 
 in which he moved. He was a fine fellow : 
 I was not. 
 
 I had, however, enough of a child's subtlety 
 to enable me on most occasions to find in- 
 genious excuses for the difficult positions 
 into which I drifted. 
 
 In course of time my health became so weak 
 it was thought desirable to send me to a farm 
 in the country, called Sheadogue, which was
 
 10 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 owned by my father, and managed by what in 
 Scotland is called a bailiff. Here I acquired 
 that attachment to the people which has since 
 given me the freedom of their hearts. I went 
 to school with a lot of bare-footed, ragged- 
 breeched urchins, who first instilled heroism 
 into my soul. Their theory was '' blood is 
 blood." They showed me ruined abbeys, 
 broken-down bridges, tumbling walls, Gothic 
 tombs and chapels ; all of which, I was as- 
 sured, belonged to my ancestors. This was a 
 revelation. My mother's mind was ascetic : 
 my maternal grandmother was a Scotch Cal- 
 vinist. All this field had been hidden from 
 me, and now, with the acute perception of a 
 child's mind, I saw trouble in store. 
 
 I could not feel that I had ''any blood" in 
 me, and yet I knew that argument was out of 
 the question. As I foresaw, when any diffi- 
 culty arose to bar our boyish objects, every one 
 exclaimed, '* Blood is blood," and I was called 
 to the front. 
 
 Nobody could have been more unfit for the 
 position. It was useless to reason, so I did 
 my best. Sometimes I had to engage in per- 
 sonal conflict a champion from some other 
 barony. The result was invariably disastrous. 
 On these occasions my backers used to lift me
 
 MY EARLY DAYS ii 
 
 off the ground, and wipe the blood off my face 
 with my cap, saying, " You are powerful weak 
 entirely. Never mind, ' blood is blood.' Go 
 in again." And I did, with the same result, 
 until a general scrimmage resulted, at which I 
 was better, as, though very slight and small, 
 I was as active as a squirrel, and knew how 
 to hearten others. 
 
 These experiences accustomed my mind to 
 tribal disputes and irregular warfare, and I 
 make these disclosures to warn the reader that 
 my sympathies are with the Maori, though my 
 affections are all with the British soldier, who 
 in adversity or success is a child of nature.
 
 ARRIVAL IN AUCKLAND
 
 II 
 
 1 ARRIVED in Auckland In June, i860, In 
 medical charge of troops. We had 
 touched at Sydney and heard of the Maori 
 War. Communication was scant at that time, 
 and but little was known. Enough, however, 
 to make me feel the Maori tomahawk crunch 
 through my skull into the brain. 
 
 Nothing can be more charming than the first 
 view of Auckland. I have seen many beau- 
 tiful cities in Europe, Asia, America, and 
 Australia. I doubt whether any compare 
 favourably with Auckland in situation and 
 surroundings. It looked to us weary voyagers 
 a haven of rest. No one could believe that in 
 such a lovely country, so peaceful, so attractive, 
 war could be possible. 
 
 The troops on landing were met by a mili- 
 tary band, and marched up Queen Street, sur- 
 rounded by a rejoicing people. We brought 
 fresh hope and joy to anxious colonists. The 
 affair at Waireka had left a poor impression as 
 
 IS
 
 1 6 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 to the efficacy of British troops in Maori war- 
 fare, and anxiety and alarm pervaded the /V 
 public mind. 
 
 I reported myself to the Chief Medical 
 Officer, and left a card on the Commandant's 
 daughter. How well do I remember her 
 first question — ** Well, what do you think of 
 Auckland ? " 
 
 I stood up, looked out of the window, and 
 said, ** Beautiful ! It is a thousand pities, how- 
 ever, the North Shore is not planted." 
 
 I turned round, looked at the circle in the 
 drawing-room, and said to myself, "These 
 people think me a prig. I wonder why ? " 
 
 I was detailed for duty at the General Hos- 
 pital in Auckland City, and settled down to my 
 work. In a few days a very nice, gentlemanly 
 man — a brother medical officer — said to me, 
 *' I have my orders for the seat of war. Your 
 arrival has played the devil with everything. 
 I am making love to the sweetest girl in the 
 world. Long before my return (if I ever 
 return) some combatant officer will have car- 
 ried her off." 
 
 I felt the cold shivers run down my back, 
 and the whistle of the Maori bullet in my ear. 
 I muttered to myself, *' Blood is blood," and 
 said to him, —
 
 AUCKLAND 17 
 
 *' My dear fellow, I am dying to go to the 
 seat of war. I am a poor devil of an Irish- 
 man, accustomed to a turbulent people. I 
 have seen the lady : she is a beauty. For her 
 sweet sake, I'll be off and get tomahawked. 
 I will volunteer for active service. You have 
 friends : you can manage the rest." 
 
 And he did.
 
 OFF TO THE WAR 
 
 19
 
 Ill 
 
 1WAS ordered to the seat of war, and par- 
 aded with the rest in the barrack square 
 preparatory to the march to Onehunga. I 
 had on my undress staff frock-coat ; I have it 
 still. It would not go within six inches of 
 buttoning round my waist now. 
 
 The men of the 65th who paraded were 
 shaggy, bearded giants, roughly clad, with 
 their arms in excellent order. In comparison, 
 I looked a dandy, and knew it. I had served 
 recently with the Rifles. The Brigade- Major, 
 mounted on a rough ten-pound animal, rode 
 straight at me, pulled his horse on his 
 haunches, swung him a bit to the left, and 
 shouted out, — 
 
 ''You think yourself a swell, sir. I am 
 Brigade-Major Slack. You are going to 
 Taranaki. Tell Colonel Gold, sir, he is 
 bitching the whole war. As for Colonel 
 Murray, I shall have him broke, sir, I shall
 
 22 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 have him broke. I have reported the whole 
 business to the Horse Guards." 
 
 He rode off. I smiled, and ranked him a 
 shingle short. We embarked in the ss. 
 Airedale. She was so uncommonly low in 
 the water and so crowded with men that I felt 
 sure she would topple over. With every roll 
 of the boat the soldiers on deck felt their left 
 or their right. The weather fortunately was 
 fine. We arrived off New Plymouth early in 
 the morning, and landed in surf-boats. I was 
 met on the beach by a cheerful-looking young 
 officer with 65 on his forage cap, who said, 
 " You had better go up to the mess-room, and 
 have some breakfast." 
 
 I inquired my way, and was directed to a 
 long, two-storied shed ; walked upstairs, and 
 entered a bare wooden room with a long trestle 
 table in it. It was apparently empty. A 
 corner was cut off by a rough paper screen. 
 
 I walked up to a shabby mirror over the 
 mantelpiece, arranged my hair, and settled my 
 silk stock. I had landed in my undress frock- 
 coat, — in fact, I had never had it off since I 
 left Auckland, — and felt very uncomfortable. 
 A stage-whisper broke on the silence of the 
 room : — 
 
 *' Begorra, Mick, here is another of them
 
 OFF TO THE WAR 23 
 
 patent-leather French soldiers, just like Captain 
 Richards of the Light Bobs." 
 
 To explain this, it is necessary to say that 
 a blue frock-coat is not a regimental uni- 
 form. 
 
 I was a staff-assistant surgeon, and there- 
 fore had no regimental uniform. 
 
 I glanced through a chink in the screen, and 
 saw a pair of honest grey eyes contemplating 
 me with scorn. Without turning round, and 
 whilst still arranging my hair, I called for 
 stirabout and milk. There was a smothered 
 guffaw behind the screen. A fine, handsome 
 soldier walked out, and said, — 
 
 *' Begorra, sir, there is no stirabout and milk 
 in this country at all, at all ; but I can order for 
 you rashers and eggs." 
 
 *' Rashers and eggs by all means let it 
 be." 
 
 We were both quite grave, but each had in 
 his eye an amused twinkle that was more elo- 
 quent than words. This incident got about 
 amongst the soldiers, and made me free of 
 the 65th Foot.
 
 SOLDIER'S ACCOUNT OF THE 
 WAR 
 
 25
 
 IV 
 
 NEXT day I put away my undress frock- 
 coat, and wore a blue jumper and a 
 forage cap to show my rank. I now give you 
 a soldier's account of the war up to the date 
 of my arrival : — 
 
 ''This was a bit of a ruction about land. 
 Outsiders had nothing to do with it. We 
 could have managed it all ourselves, but we 
 were not going to be hurried. After we had 
 time to get warm there would have been some 
 fine fighting. Then we would have settled our 
 quarrels, had a big feed together, and gone on 
 again, in a comfortable, easy manner. You 
 see, the 65th has been in New Zealand about 
 eighteen years. We all talk the language, 
 more or less. Indeed, some of us have close 
 relations amongst the Maori. Whether or 
 not, they are a decent, civil-spoken race, and 
 we know many of their chiefs and people as 
 well as we do our messmates. 
 
 ''Well, Wiremu Kingi insulted Governor
 
 28 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 Gore Brown by saying, ' The Waitara is 
 mine. I will not allow its sale.' When re- 
 quested to talk the matter over with the Gover- 
 nor, Wiremu said, — 
 
 '* * It is for me to talk, for others to keep 
 silent' 
 
 ** He then left the meeting in a dudgeon, and 
 walked off with his followers. 
 
 '* Governor Gore Brown considered the Queen 
 in his person insulted, and ordered the survey 
 of the land and the completion of the purchase 
 from Te Teira, who was friendly to the Pakeha, 
 and a great ruffian. Wiremu Kingi built a pa 
 on the disputed block, and we were sent out to 
 storm the pa. All this was in perfect good 
 blood. Wiremu Kingi knew we were going to 
 attack, and some of his men marched with us 
 when we were on the way to surprise it. 
 
 '' The pa was not a fighting stockade ; it 
 was what the Maori call a ' land title pa.' 
 Wiremu had defended his title by the erection 
 of the stockade. Just before we arrived to 
 storm the pa, Wiremu Kingi, according to 
 Maori custom, evacuated his 'land title pa,* 
 and went off to his fighting fortress. We, 
 under orders, invested the land title pa, which 
 we all knew was empty, and at the word of 
 command stormed it gallantly.
 
 ^ WIREMU KINGI
 
 SOLDIER'S ACCOUNT 29 
 
 ** We then put up a land title fortification and 
 returned to New Plymouth. Everything was 
 going on nicely till some members of another 
 tribe, the Ngatiruanui, who were also adver- 
 saries of Wiremu Kingi's, murdered some 
 white people to the south of New Plymouth. 
 Had we then gone to Wiremu Kingi, who was 
 a Ngatiawa, and asked him to put off the 
 quarrel about the land, and come and help us 
 punish the Ngatiruanui, all would have been 
 well. 
 
 " An expedition was organized, to withdraw 
 our white people from the Southern districts 
 where the murders had taken place. 
 
 *'The Maori had built a land title pa at 
 Waireka, just on the side of the high-road. 
 It was thought desirable to have the relief 
 party pass round by the sea-coast, whilst the 
 65th watched the Waireka pa. 
 
 *' When men are sent out to fight Maori, they 
 should be told what they have to do, and 
 ordered not to return till they have finished it. 
 Colonel Murray, who commanded the 65th, 
 received positive orders to return by nightfall. 
 The Militia and Volunteers who had gone 
 round by the sea-beach fell in with some Maori 
 and fired on them. An irregular skirmish took 
 place, a great deal of noise was made, and very
 
 30 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 little harm done. I was in Charley Urquhart^s 
 company, and saw the whole proceedings from 
 the top of the hill. When it began to grow 
 dark, Colonel Murray ordered the troops under 
 his command to retire. It was a fine night. 
 The soldiers thought something might turn 
 up in the way of diversion, and as they were 
 scattered about in skirmishing order, it was 
 difficult to collect them together. 
 
 '' At last they consented to hear the recall, 
 and marched in an irregular manner along the 
 high-road towards New Plymouth. 
 
 " On the way they met the sailors who had 
 landed to cut into the sport. We chaffered and 
 hob-nobbed with them in the dark, and told 
 them there was an empty pa just near the high- 
 road, full of curios and pigs and sport of every 
 kind ; and they rushed on. When the sailors 
 got out of the bush they saw the stockade in. 
 the open, and the officers and men all rushed 
 right at it. A few old Maori, seeing us retire, 
 had returned to the pa — which was a land 
 title and not a fighting pa — to cook some 
 potatoes. These fired a volley on the sailors, 
 and then ran away. One or two Maori were 
 killed, and several sailors wounded. 
 
 " This was the real cause of the war. These 
 Maori were Ngatiawa. Few of our people
 
 SOLDIER'S ACCOUNT 31 
 
 knew one tribe from another. We had at- 
 tacked Wiremu Kingi's tribe because the 
 Ngatiruanui had murdered our people. 
 
 ''Wiremu Kingi's people could have murdered 
 all our settlers before morning without diffi- 
 culty, but did not do so, because, according to 
 Maori custom, the Ngatiawa had no right to 
 erect a stockade on our land. Waireka was 
 our land. We had not only bought it, but 
 cropped it, and held it for many years. The 
 Ngatiawa knew this well, and only put up a 
 stockade as a protest against our occupation of 
 the Waitara. Our farmers who grazed their 
 cattle up to the very line of the Maori knew it 
 also, and both Maori and white men used to 
 smoke their pipes in the evening, sitting on the 
 logs around, and some of the white men from 
 a neighbourly feeling helped to hump the 
 heavy timber needed for the corner-posts of 
 that pa. 
 
 ''Well, the newspapers made a great racket 
 about all this, said the 65th had run away, and 
 that had it not been for the bluejackets the 
 whole country-side would have been murdered 
 and New Plymouth sacked. 
 
 "We said nothing, but felt pouri (Maori 
 for 'sad'). In a short time the women and 
 children came in from the out settlements.
 
 32 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 Not a hair of one of their heads had been 
 touched ; not a particle of their furniture, or a 
 single head of their stock had been looted. 
 
 *' Soon a wing of the 40th Foot arrived from 
 Melbourne, under the command of Major Nel- 
 son, and with the Naval Brigade were camped 
 on the Waitara. Communication with this 
 force was kept open by a little steamer, The 
 Tasmanian Maid, which crossed the bar of the 
 river, and kept up supplies. All this time the 
 route by land was practically open, and settlers 
 came and went by the Bell Block, as if we were 
 all at peace ; but our military commanders 
 either did not know this, or care to admit it. 
 The fact is they were all quarrelling amongst 
 themselves, and nobody knew what the next 
 orders from the Governor in Auckland might 
 bring forth. 
 
 *' Major Nelson was a fiery old field-officer 
 who longed for distinction. He was egged on 
 by Commodore Seymour, who had landed his 
 men, and itched to surpass the achievement of 
 his junior officer who had stormed the Waireka 
 pa. 
 
 " Major Nelson sent word that he proposed to 
 storm the Puketekauere pa, named the day, and 
 warned Colonel Gold, who was the senior 
 officer, to support him by a land march, so as
 
 SOLDIER'S ACCOUNT 33 
 
 to cut off the retreating Maori on his left 
 flank. Now, Captain Richards of the 40th 
 Foot had come down as a staff-officer, and when 
 our mess-room was pretty full, swaggered up 
 to the looking-glass, arranged his undress frock- 
 coat, curled his moustachios, and said : ' Damn 
 me ! There is no pa in the country I could not 
 take with my company of Light Bobs.' 
 
 " There was no remark made. As soon as he 
 had left, the word was passed round the regi- 
 ment, ' Captain Richards and the 40th shall 
 have their chance. We will not spoil the 
 sport.' 
 
 " When Colonel Gold, who was in command 
 of our regiment, and the senior officer, received 
 Major Nelson's demand for support, he 
 stormed violently, and swore he would forbid 
 the attack. Though he was not aware of 
 Captain Richards' boast — for he was a married 
 officer, and did not frequent our mess — the 
 regiment tipped him the wink; so he sanctioned 
 the attack, and promised the support. 
 
 ** Puketekauere was a position of great natural 
 strength. Two small elevations ran into each 
 other, joined by a smooth saddle. The rear 
 and right were protected by a raupo swamp. 
 Raupo swamps are impassable, though they 
 look inviting. The front was easily approach- 
 
 D
 
 34 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 able even by heavy guns. The left rested on 
 the Waitara River. As is common in river 
 formations, these little eminences had a curve 
 in the middle. They presented the form of an 
 elongated kidney, with its back to the raupo 
 swamp. The front hillock was higher and less 
 flat on the top than its fellow, and the bend in 
 the saddle enabled musketry from the lesser 
 hillock to command the approach to the other, 
 
 '' Major Nelson had no real knowledge of the 
 country or the character of his antagonist. The 
 Maori built a stockade on the larger hillock, ran 
 up his flag and danced his defiance on the open 
 hillock that led to it. This was more than 
 human nature could stand. Major Nelson 
 fumed and swore until he received the neces- 
 sary permission from Colonel Gold. He then 
 started off in the dead of the night : Captain 
 Messenger with his Grenadier Company and 
 Lieutenant Brooks with some Light Bobs. 
 The men carried their top-coats, 120 rounds of 
 ammunition, and two days' provision. These 
 were to travel all night, and, at the break of 
 day, to storm the stockade from the rear, as the 
 Major with the guns assaulted it from the 
 front. 
 
 *' Captain Messenger once despatched, the die 
 was cast. There was great preparation, and
 
 SOLDIER'S ACCOUNT 35 
 
 before dawn off set the main body under Major 
 Nelson and Commodore Seymour with the 
 heavy guns. Nothing but dead silence pre- 
 vailed. The surprise was complete. The 
 twenty-four pounders, the mortars, and the 
 twelve pounders opened fire. The stockade 
 splintered like matchwood. The assault was 
 ordered, and with a ringing cheer the soldiers 
 and sailors vied with each other to get in first. 
 There was merely a dropping fire from the 
 Maori, and victory was certain. As soon as 
 our men got up to the stockade, a withering 
 fire was opened from the lesser flanking hil- 
 lock. The stockade was only a draw. The 
 Maori had rifle-pitted the whole of the saddle 
 and the lesser hillock. As soon as the true 
 position was unmasked, the recall was sounded. 
 The wounded were picked up, the guns were 
 unlimbered. The battle was lost, and for all 
 practical purposes Captain Messenger's force 
 was left to look after itself. The Grenadiers, 
 under Captain Messenger, had at last found the 
 rear of the pa. Worn out with fatigue from 
 slaving all night through bush and swamp, they 
 lay down a little to recover themselves. As 
 soon as they heard the firing, up they rose w^ith 
 bounding hearts, and plunged into the swamp 
 as the only road to victory. They threw off
 
 36 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 their coats, peeled off their tunics, discarded 
 everything but their arms, and pressed on. It 
 was no use. It was here Lieutenant Brooks, 
 up to his waist in water, defended himself like 
 a Paladin with his sword, disabling many an 
 adversary until at length he was tomahawked 
 from behind. Captain Messenger, finding the 
 feat impossible, got together as many of his 
 men as he could, beat to his right, skirted the 
 swamp and rushed the Maori rifle-pits from the 
 rear, where the swamp was more passable, and 
 surprised the Maori who were looking to their 
 front, engaged with our men. Thus he carried 
 out his instructions and rejoined the main body, 
 which was in full retreat. 
 
 "In short, it was a disastrous defeat, and it 
 seems doubtful whether the 40th, which had in 
 the action the flower of its chivalry, will ever 
 get over it. The 65th Foot, under command 
 of Colonel Gold, marched at four o'clock in the 
 morning to cut off the retreat of the Maori on 
 the left. They found the Waingongora River, 
 from recent forest rains in the hills, flooded 
 bank high, and, as they had neither boats nor 
 means for constructing pontoons, they halted, 
 and sought to open communications with 
 Major Nelson by a mounted trooper, whose 
 horse swam the river. This delay did not
 
 SOLDIER'S ACCOUNT 37 
 
 seem of much Importance at the time. Neither 
 was It in reality of any great importance, as 
 It was well known to us that the Maori, if 
 defeated, would retire up the river to Puke- 
 Ranglora, rather than trust themselves in the 
 open ordinarily accessible to our troops. As a 
 matter of fact, Colonel Gold thought Major 
 Nelson had postponed the attack, as he ought to 
 have known by the flooded state of the Waitara 
 that the Walngongora, which served the same 
 watershed, must be impassable to our forces. 
 The general Impression In both camps was 
 that Major Nelson had neither expected nor 
 much desired Colonel Gold's co-operation. He 
 meant to score off his own bat, secure a C.B. 
 and a brevet lieutenant-colonelcy, terminate the 
 war to the glory of his own regiment, and 
 return in triumph to his own headquarters In 
 Melbourne." 
 
 This is the end of the soldier's story. I 
 gathered it from all branches of Her Majesty's 
 forces, naval, military, volunteers, and militia, 
 and from all ranks of officers and non-com- 
 missioned officers engaged In these operations 
 under the grade of field-officer. I have 
 narrated faithfully and without any Intentional 
 colouring exactly what I heard, and I knew the
 
 38 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 intimate thoughts of the soldiers. I belonged 
 to no corps in particular, never having been 
 a regimental officer, and the wounded of all 
 corps came equally under my care. If this 
 narrative should offend any one, I am sorry. It 
 is the truth as I saw it, and ought to be told.
 
 ENTRENCHED AT WAIREKA 
 
 39
 
 V 
 
 BEFORE proceeding, I ask myself again, 
 what is the object I have in view ? 
 Well, I wish to remind the New Zealander of 
 to-day, whether white or brown, that the Maori 
 of my time was a gentleman — a man of superior 
 talent and undoubted courage, who knew more 
 about strategy, fortifications, defence and 
 attack than our army had learned either at 
 Woolwich or in India. Also, I w^ould do 
 justice to the British soldier. 
 
 Soon after my arrival in New Plymouth, 
 a wing of the 12th regiment, under Major 
 Hutchins, disembarked in the roadstead. A 
 flying column, consisting of some companies of 
 the 1 2th and 40th, some Royal Engineers and 
 a few artillerymen, was despatched to encamp 
 on the Waireka, the land on which the first 
 engagement between the Maoris and Volun- 
 teers had been fought. I was put in medical 
 charge of the wing. General Pratt was now
 
 42 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 In command, and all dispositions were carried 
 out with the formality observed in a European 
 campaign. Although we were passing through 
 a peaceable, open, well-cultivated country, 
 skirmishers were thrown out, a rearguard 
 formed, our baggage waggons were protected 
 by outlying skirmishers, and we proceeded with 
 all possible caution, as though every hedge, 
 hillock, and break concealed a lurking enemy. 
 This had the worst possible effect on the 
 morale of our men, all new to the country. 
 
 Arrived at Waireka, we proceeded hastily to 
 entrench ourselves, as if danger was imminent. 
 Before nightfall the lines of our earthworks 
 had been drawn, mounds raised, trenches dug, 
 tents pitched, all within a fortified space. So 
 afraid of a surprise were we that, although we 
 had double pickets out, we had not dared to 
 encamp near either wood or water. In order 
 to secure water from a neighbouring stream, we 
 detached on each occasion an armed party of 
 thirty or forty men to cover the advance and 
 retreat of our water-carriers. Next day we 
 commenced sinking wells. We continued this 
 operation for days. The deeper we sank, the 
 drier the ground, and never once did we turn 
 up either gravel or stone. The soldiers began 
 to think that the devil was in the country.
 
 ENTRENCHED AT WAIREKA 43 
 
 They had never seen the like before. Finally 
 the Engineers declared the land waterless, and 
 the fatigue party broke off this work. Our 
 daily expeditions for water were in time ex- 
 tended to search for potatoes. Had it not 
 been for the frequent night-alarms, given by 
 the outlying sentries, followed by the cry, 
 " Man the defences," our lives would have 
 been pleasant enough. All this over-cautious 
 watchfulness had a depressing effect on our 
 men. 
 
 By degrees our pickets and scattered hand- 
 fuls of men went farther afield, until at length 
 many of us began to doubt the existence of any 
 enemy. I made one of these excursions with 
 two or three brother officers. We found on 
 this occasion the body of a farmer which had 
 been shoved into a drain. The settler had 
 been tomahawked in the head, legs, and arms. 
 This was evidently the work of the Ngati- 
 ruanui, who were bitterly savage against us. 
 The appearance of this unfortunate man, who 
 had evidently been surprised whilst examining 
 his homestead, gave me " quite a turn." 
 
 A few days after this some Maori appeared 
 in our immediate neighbourhood, and Major 
 Hutchins ordered a reconnaissance. About 
 1 50 of our men were thrown into skirmishing
 
 44 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 order, and instructed to feel their way under 
 cover of some gorse hedges, with the object of 
 getting between the enemy and some neigh- 
 bouring ridges of elevated land. 
 
 It was my duty to accompany the force, and 
 as the troops opened out from the centre and 
 extended to both sides, I found myself on the 
 most distant — the left flank of the line of skir- 
 mishers. 
 
 As soon as the Maori saw our object, they 
 opened fire. Our bugles sounded **Take cover." 
 Our men immediately fell flat, crept up any- 
 how to some gorse hedges, and fired blindly 
 through the fences at anything or nothing. As 
 I lay prone on the ground, clutching absolutely 
 — not figuratively — at the blades of grass, the 
 balls ripped up the sward around me. I first 
 drew in one leg, then another, then tucked in 
 my arm, anon tried to bury my head in my 
 shoulders, or my buttock in my back. It was 
 useless. There was no escape. My soul was 
 frozen within me. My orderly. Corporal 
 Prince, was lying beside me. I knew nothing 
 of his state of mind. The bugle sounded. 
 My heart stood still, then the blood bounded 
 back to my brain. 
 
 *^ What is it. Corporal.?" 
 
 '' Call for the medical officer, sir."
 
 ENTRENCHED AT WAIREKA 45 
 
 *' Malbrouk s'en va-t-en guerre." An electric 
 flash went through my brain. Have you the 
 courage to neglect your sacred duty ? look in 
 the face of your comrades with the brand of a 
 coward on your heart ? No. No. A thou- 
 sand times no. I arose, alert and smiling. 
 Corporal Prince and I marched with coolness 
 and dignity from one end of the line of skir- 
 mishers to the other, almost the only persons 
 exposed to the fire of the enemy. I looked 
 after the wounded without cover and under 
 fire. Now that I had something to do, my 
 fear was gone. The instinct of the doctor was 
 uppermost. The wounded on either side were 
 alike interesting to me. Apparently, if both 
 parties had been firing at me, it would not have 
 made much difference. Training is a wonder- 
 ful human moulder : I am certain martyrdom 
 is nothing to persons educated to look for it. 
 
 As soon as the strength of the Maori was 
 revealed, the retreat was sounded and our men 
 returned to camp. Very little mischief was 
 inflicted on either side. The range was too 
 long for Maori smooth-bores. They were 
 chiefly spent balls that frightened the wits out 
 of me. I happened to have been at a point 
 where the fire from two angles converged. 
 The trajectory of our rifles was probably too
 
 46 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 high to hurt any one, for the Maori were up to 
 their chins in rifle-pits. 
 
 This Httle affair left a bad impression on the 
 Maori. A reconnaissance en force seems a fine 
 military exhibition, when defined in words : 
 with the Maori the mere formal dignity of a 
 withdrawal amounts to nothing. A single 
 Maori as long as he was in view would feel 
 bound in honour to retire with formal dignity, 
 though pursued by a whole army. But ours 
 seemed the retreat of a powerful force. The 
 Maori concluded we were afraid. Had our 
 men on this occasion been pushed on, and 
 allowed to put their fortunes to the test of 
 battle, it is no exaggeration to say millions of 
 money would have been saved and thousands 
 of lives. 
 
 Major Hutchins dared not risk it. Had the 
 attack failed, he would have been cashiered. 
 Had it succeeded, he would have been tried 
 by court-martial and reprimanded. His in- 
 structions did not admit of an aggressive 
 movement. 
 
 About a week or ten days after this the 
 Maori, with their women, children, and baggage, 
 were seen pouring over a tortuous mountain 
 quite near us. Their formation was so ex- 
 tended that a company of our men could have
 
 ENTRENCHED AT WAIREKA 47 
 
 destroyed the whole lot. Before Major Hutch- 
 ins could move a finger, this incident had to be 
 reported in full to headquarters and then ex- 
 plained and the explanation elucidated. 
 
 About four o'clock in the day General Pratt 
 with an overpowering force arrived at our camp. 
 The Maori had concluded their march about 
 half-past one, and were out of sight over the 
 range of hills. I saw the general and staff on 
 their arrival. They cross-examined every one. 
 My own opinion is they did not believe a word 
 of Major Hutchins's narrative. Maori cross 
 that range of hills ! Where are they ? Why, 
 we were in town the whole time, and never 
 saw one of them ! The Taranaki volunteers 
 crowded our camp in numbers. Our mess 
 spent about a week's pay feeding them and 
 allaying their thirst. As they went away I 
 heard them say, "It is a wonder those soldiers 
 cannot fight. They are awfully decent fellows." 
 We all knew their opinion of us, but did not 
 care. Soldiers in any case are hospitable. 
 The rough aspect and cheery familiarity of 
 these volunteers more than compensated us. 
 General Pratt with his formidable force with- 
 drew in an hour or so, and we returned to our 
 usual avocations. 
 
 In a few days the Maori erected earthworks
 
 48 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 to our left front 800 yards distant, to our left 
 600 yards distant, and to our left rear about 
 500 yards. We took no notice of them. One 
 fine morning they opened fire simultaneously 
 from these works. We stood to arms, making 
 no reply except by occasional sharpshooters 
 from our flanking angles. The Maori fire had 
 no effect on us. As our right and right front 
 were open, we continued to draw water from the 
 neighbouring creek and armed parties foraged 
 for potatoes and vegetables coast-wise. We 
 had occasional skirmishes with the enemy, who 
 laid ambuscades for us ; but our modes were 
 too uniformly guarded to admit easily of sur- 
 prises. Once we surprised an ambuscade 
 consisting of about six or eight Maori. They 
 all got off, as usual ; but one poor fellow, as he 
 was vaulting over a gate 800 yards distant, was 
 caught by an Enfield bullet in an extraordinary 
 way. Our musketry Instructor, when running 
 full pelt, dropped on his knee, fixed his sight 
 at 800 yards, pulled the trigger, when down fell 
 the sable warrior. He was up again and 
 bundled off on one leg and two arms whilst you 
 could cry ** Jack Robinson," and left nothing 
 behind him except his mat. 
 
 The effect of this siege was to restrict our 
 liberty. We had double sentries on our inner
 
 ENTRENCHED AT WAIREKA 49 
 
 defences each night, and were constandy 
 aroused by the firing of our out-pickets. After 
 a little time every one got weary of the restraint. 
 Our men began to loaf around outside our 
 fortification, the Maori firing at them all the 
 time. One day whilst Major Hutchins was 
 walking about in a fit of affected abstraction, 
 a few of our men began to kick a football. 
 Presently a large portion of the garrison off" 
 duty joined in the sport. The Maori fired 
 volley after volley at our men, but as their 
 distance at this point was 800 yards, not a 
 single shot took effect. They soon left off 
 firing, and looked at us over their rifle-pits. 
 My own opinion is that, had not our men been 
 withdrawn by the sergeants to their evening 
 meal, the Maori would soon have joined In the 
 game. And certainly they would have been 
 made welcome. At this time there was no 
 animosity between us. A day or two later the 
 Maori deserted their position. We were free 
 of the whole country-side, and enjoyed our 
 liberty prodigiously,
 
 ATTACK ON A STOCKADE
 
 VI 
 
 SOON we were ordered to destroy our for- 
 tification and retire for the protection of 
 New Plymouth, which was never for a moment 
 in danger. All settlers were ordered within 
 the fortified lines of the town. The women 
 and children were sent to Nelson. Our soldiers 
 were harassed during the long winter nights 
 patrolling a circuit within which a hostile Maori 
 was never seen. My own experience was that 
 I, in company with three other officers, slept 
 every night about a quarter of a mile outside 
 our farthest pickets in a house belonging to 
 Major Atkinson, and we were never disturbed ; 
 but within the fortified area the alarms and 
 precautions were equally great. 
 
 As soon as everything was made snug against 
 the surprises of an enemy who was not such a 
 fool as to trust himself miles away from his 
 native forests and ravines, a great expedition 
 was organized against the Maori camped near 
 the Tataramika block on European land. 
 
 S3
 
 54 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 The Maori, when he goes on a warlike ex- 
 pedition, casts off all his European clothing. 
 The object is to keep it safe from brambles, 
 when crawling through the forest. Bare-footed 
 and bare-legged, he wears only a flax mat kept 
 by a band which crosses his chest. He carries 
 his double-barrelled gun in one hand, his ammu- 
 nition in a pouch across his shoulders. His 
 tomahawk he uses as a walking stick. He 
 either carries no food, or, if any, a little fer- 
 mented maize in a pocket of the mat. Thus 
 accoutred, he can do, marching with a loose 
 leg, about five miles an hour, and keep it up 
 on occasion for a long time. The soldier 
 on the Tataramika expedition carried three 
 days' provisions, a water-bottle in a country 
 where streams were our chief impediment, an 
 overcoat or blanket, or both, 120 rounds of 
 ammunition, a rifle and bayonet. As soon as 
 any expedition was over, the N.C. officers 
 checked off all these accoutrements, and if any 
 were missing surcharged the soldier even down 
 to a pair of worn-out socks if lost. 
 
 The weapon carried was a muzzle-loader, the 
 bullet a tight fit, so that much ramming was 
 often necessary. On the march the bayonet 
 when fixed, or when hanging on the hip, was 
 caught in everything. If the rifle was brought
 
 ATTACK ON A STOCKADE 55 
 
 to the shoulder, the trajectory of the bullet was 
 too high, failing accurate sighting and steady- 
 aim. If fired from the hip, the bullet generally 
 ploughed up the ground about fifteen or twenty 
 yards ahead. The soldier felt he was in a 
 strait waistcoat put up to be fired at by the 
 Maori. The great expedition appeared miles 
 long. Twenty-four bullocks dragging each a 
 sixty-eight pounder. We had two with us, and 
 were inordinately proud of them. In addition 
 we had three or four twenty-four pounders and 
 a couple of large mortars. We were quite sure 
 of teaching the Maori a lesson. Could we only 
 get to the Tataramika, the war would be over 
 in a month or two. 
 
 Well, we did get there. We covered each 
 flank of the advancing column with clouds of 
 skirmishers, and they did skirmish, too. I was 
 with them. I wore no Impediment but a small 
 Colt's revolver, and I often skirmished on my 
 head and back and hands and knees. As for 
 the progress of the soldier. It was what the 
 Scotch call "just redeeculous." 
 
 ** Spread yourselves out, men, spread your- 
 selves out," was the cheery order of the 
 officers, as they tumbled about like the rest. 
 It sounded well, and was heard occasionally 
 by the staff-officers ; but there was often no
 
 56 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 room on the cliffs and the breaks to spread in. 
 Thirty Maori could have surprised in many- 
 places any portion of the line, shot the bullocks, 
 crumpled up our arrangements, and laughed 
 at us. The Maori were, I think, in the 
 neighbouring scrub, smoking their pipes and 
 laughing at us. I do not in the least wonder 
 they did not fire. First, our men were like 
 a lot of children out blackberrying ; second, 
 the Maori had built three lovely pas, and 
 wanted us to have a look at them. They 
 knew how easily we were turned back, and 
 in my opinion, had our guns stuck, would have 
 joyously lent a hand under the protection of 
 a flag of truce to extricate our artillery. 
 
 They were just as anxious to see the big 
 guns in action as we were. The only differ- 
 ence was : we believed in the arms, the Maori 
 laughed at them. 
 
 Arrived at our goal, we found a lovely 
 plateau, with a fringe of forest lining its inland 
 margin. We pitched our tents with their 
 backs to the sea, hauled our guns to our front, 
 and despatched a large fatigue party to run 
 up light earthworks on our right and left. 
 The staff-officers galloped about, took hurried 
 sketches, measured distances, and consulted 
 together. It was much more interesting than
 
 ATTACK ON A STOCKADE 57 
 
 any review I had ever seen. There were 
 three stockades on the edge, as it were, of 
 a large oval dish. The only curious feature 
 was that from our position we could only see 
 the tops of forest trees. There were no bowls 
 or stems of trees visible. The foliage just 
 rocked and played in the light sea breeze. 
 
 The staff seemed puzzled which of the 
 three stockades to attack. There was not a 
 Maori to be seen. Finally it was decided to 
 attack the central stockade, and keep the 
 others under observation. The sixty-eights, 
 twenty-fours, and mortars opened fire. The 
 skirmishers on the right and left lay flat on 
 the ground. It was magnificent ; it was war 
 at last. An occasional Maori sharpshooter 
 picked off one of our men, otherwise there 
 was no reply from the pa. We hammered this 
 stockade for twenty-four hours. At length 
 the engineers, after an examination with their 
 binoculars, announced a practical breach. 
 There was a hush and a stir. The storming 
 party was told off. The distance was cer- 
 tainly not more than 400 yards. The word 
 was given. Suddenly there rose up from the 
 ground about 120 men. If you have ever 
 seen hounds, whilst still fresh, rush at a fox 
 near in sight, all in a cluster, straining against
 
 S8 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 each other for first place, such was the storm- 
 ing party. It was a mercy from heaven there 
 were no Maori in the pa. Children with arms 
 in their hands could have mown our men down 
 by dozens. Arrived at the stockade, though 
 unopposed, there was no one soldier could 
 get in for some time. The Maori had rifle- 
 pitted the earth in front of the palisade. The 
 rifle-pits had arched roofs of green timber 
 covered with soft earth and fern. On the 
 level of the plateau a sort of open wicker- 
 work window, from four to six inches deep, 
 lit up and ventilated the rifle-pits. The 
 Maori had stood inside the rifle-pits, poked 
 their fowling-pieces through the wicker win- 
 dow, and pulled the trigger without exposing 
 themselves. That was the reason why all our 
 wounded men were hit in the legs. From 
 these rifle-pits covered galleries led to the 
 rear, and were lost in the forests. 
 
 Not a single shell or roundshot had entered 
 these rifle-pits. The whole of our fire, so 
 far as the Maori were concerned, was merely 
 a pyrotechnic display. The stockade was 
 crescent-shaped, lost itself at each end in a 
 sharp declivity. It had been built of young 
 forest trees with the sap in them. They were 
 fixed upright in the ground, and branches were
 
 ATTACK ON A STOCKADE 59 
 
 lashed across with green flax. The space be- 
 tween the double row of cross saplings was 
 filled with loose earth. Our shot and shell 
 had passed clean through. The jagged, 
 shattered timber merely waggled about once 
 it was broken, held in position above and 
 below by green flax ties. Undefended, and 
 all as it was, none of our men succeeded in 
 getting either over or through the stockade 
 until the sappers came along with axes and 
 cut through the flax lashings. 
 
 The British soldier is not much of a fool. 
 He was strictly forbidden to stray from the 
 main body, and the storming party was re- 
 called without being allowed to explore the 
 pa. But the storming party had seen quite 
 enough, and graphically detailed their obser- 
 vations. Forthwith the commanders, staff- 
 officers, and engineers were looked on with 
 profound contempt. A panic seemed to have 
 seized the general. If the Maori have 
 deserted their works, when and why ? How 
 shall we ever get back to New Plymouth ? 
 There are defiles on the road where a few 
 hundred men could destroy a whole army. 
 
 On our retreat nearly the whole of the 
 force was thrown into skirmishing order to 
 protect our guns and baggage. We got back
 
 6o A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 to New Plymouth in safety, and hid ourselves 
 behind our stockades, which, by the way, were 
 so extended as to be nearly useless. A body 
 of irregular horsemen could certainly have 
 broken through them. 
 
 It was at Tataramika that I saw the follow- 
 ing illustration of the value of our small arms. 
 We had a handful of sailors from the Naval 
 Brigade along with us. They were armed 
 with Colt's naval revolvers and sabres. Sailors 
 ashore are the jolliest fighting men imaginable. 
 They, of course, expected to be joined in the 
 assault when the happy moment came, and 
 they set to work to prepare their implements 
 of war. At that time Colt's revolvers required 
 caps. The nipples for the caps were small 
 and fine. The sailor's thumbs and fingers 
 are coarse, the skin thick, and the sense of 
 touch blunted. This was the procedure. The 
 sailor sat on his hunkers, steadied the revolver 
 between his two big-toes, and then, with the 
 aid of two pins, one in each hand, put the 
 cap on each nipple. When I saw this, and 
 viewed the sailor's humorous contempt for the 
 size of the revolver bullet, I quite believed 
 what I had heard of the sailors who had helped 
 to storm Puketekaure under Commodore Sey- 
 mour.
 
 ATTACK ON A STOCKADE 6i 
 
 My Informant assured me the sailors first 
 emptied all the chambers of their revolvers, 
 then threw them away, and, yelling out 
 *' Board ! " drew their sabres and rushed at the 
 stockade.
 
 SIR DONALD McLEAN'S STORY
 
 VII 
 
 THE following narrative was related to me 
 by Sir Donald McLean, the greatest 
 Maori scholar of our time, with the single 
 exception of Judge Maning, the author of 
 Old New Zeala^id, who in curious lore was 
 probably Sir Donald's superior. In variety 
 of useful political knowledge and general 
 acquaintanceship with the outer life of the 
 various tribes. Sir Donald McLean was with- 
 out an equal. Donald was a Highlander, about 
 six feet two inches, with a broad, expansive 
 chest, a flat, strong forehead, a blue-grey, 
 open eye, a genial manner, and an affectionate 
 nature. All this was dominated by an am- 
 bitious temper, and the wonderful Scottish 
 talent for economy and reticence. 
 
 A chat with Sir Donald would convince 
 any one that he was a guileless character. 
 He was, too, in a sense. His influence with 
 the Maori was due to his imperturbability. 
 He could beat them at their own game of 
 
 65 F
 
 66 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 '' Taihoa " {le. '' Walt a bit "). Yet he was 
 a most touchy, irritable, excitable man. When 
 he had a little whisky in, and was at ease 
 with his company — which on such occasions 
 never included a Maori — Donald would jump 
 on the table and dance a Highland sword- 
 dance with blazing enthusiasm. 
 
 What a race these Scots are ! What a fine 
 fellow in his heart and brain was our Sir 
 Donald ! 
 
 In order to guarantee Sir Donald's story 
 of Waitini, I want you to see the Scotchman 
 at work. Donald McLean was Native Land 
 Purchase Commissioner. 
 
 Land for settlement was indispensable. 
 Often the Maori would not sell, yet if you 
 gave Sir Donald his own time and did not 
 interfere the land was always bought. 
 
 Donald seduced the Maori into talking 
 the proposal over — ^just a korero (debate). 
 He sent the chiefs some flour and sugar, 
 passed round the word among all the neigh- 
 bouring hapus (tribes) that at such a time 
 *' there would be a talk about the land." 
 
 Maori custom made it indispensable for a 
 great chief to entertain all guests. All the 
 Maori, no matter how distantly related, con- 
 gregated to hear the talk (korero). Some
 
 SIR DONALD McLEAN'S STORY 67 
 
 of them travelled hundreds of miles, and 
 came accompanied by their wives and children. 
 The great chiefs were thus eaten out of house 
 and home, and had no alternative but to sell 
 the land. There was one inveterately ob- 
 stinate chief who would do nothing. A great 
 korero was engineered against him. He was 
 the only rich man left. He could not get 
 out of the korero. His mana {i.e. prestige) 
 was at stake. Donald McLean had nothing 
 to do with engineering the korero. Oh dear, 
 no. Donald's 77tana was also at stake. This 
 Maori was not a Queen's native. He was 
 a turbulent outsider. Donald would have 
 nothing to say to him in the way of business. 
 The kaptcs crowded in from all sides. The 
 rich man had plenty ; he did not care. He 
 was a great chief; in any case he meant to 
 show his power. 
 
 After a little time the tempter said, "A 
 great chief like you ought not to be afraid of 
 a mere Queen's servant [cookie) like Donald 
 McLean. Let him be invited, that he may do 
 homage to our Tino Rangatira." Donald was 
 asked to the feast. Donald sat and smoked 
 and listened for three months. The Tino 
 Rangatira could not turn him away. Such a 
 course was against all rules. The others could
 
 68 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 not leave till Sir Donald left. It would be 
 underbred to do so ; besides, they were com- 
 fortable where they were. Not a word ever 
 came out of Donald's mouth about the land. 
 He narrated legends of the fallen greatness of 
 the various hapiis and tribes, and acquired an 
 intimate knowledge of the personal history of 
 every man of importance present. In an ordi- 
 nary conversation he would say, '' By the bye, 
 Piri Piri, do you remember when you were 
 crossing a branch of the Opotiki River in the 
 Whakatane district in the month of April, 
 '54 — I think it was on a Wednesday. When 
 cooling your foot (which you had struck against 
 a jagged stump of rata) in the mudhole, you 
 were bitten by a large crayfish, and thought 
 it was the ' Taniwha ' 1 " Now, Piri Piri, who 
 w^as an utter stranger to McLean, and had 
 travelled hundreds of miles to be present at 
 the Runanga, was duly impressed. In time, 
 many of the Maori from distant parts began 
 to think that McLean had the second sight. 
 (McLean had, of course, learned Piri Piri's 
 story from the Whakatane natives.) Before 
 such a power the influence of the Tino Ranga- 
 tira began to wane. In addition, his pro- 
 visions were beginning to run low. His 
 money was all gone, his credit was suffering.
 
 SIR DONALD McLEAN'S STORY 69 
 
 and yet there was no sign of movement from 
 McLean. The Maori have a great gift of 
 humour, which is not infrequently associated 
 with good sense. The Tino Rangatira came 
 to McLean and said, *' For God's sake, take 
 the land and go home." 
 
 Donald did take the land, and there was a 
 flourishing settlement on it within five years. 
 The Tino Rangatira had all his debts paid, 
 and the remainder of the land was doubled in 
 value by the nearer approach of civilization. 
 This chief proved a great friend of ours in the 
 troublous times, and, as he was a gentleman, a 
 strategist, a Maori, and a man of honour, held 
 McLean in the greatest esteem for ever after. 
 He knew that McLean had outwitted him by 
 his astuteness and business acumen, and as 
 there was no trick in the game, he bore 
 Donald no ill-will.
 
 WAITINI AND WIREMU KINGI 
 
 71
 
 
 
 
 jj^^i^i^ 
 
 
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 NGA WIREMU TAMIHANA 
 
 THE KING MAKER
 
 H 
 
 VIII 
 
 ERE is Donald McLean's story about 
 Waltini : — 
 
 There was much tribal jealousy between the Ngatiawa 
 and the Ngatimaniopoto, two neighbouring tribes. This 
 was before the natives acquired fire-arms. It was the 
 custom then to fight in phalanx, just as the Greeks did. 
 The two tribes were drawn up in battle array, distant from 
 each other about eight hundred yards. Neither was anxious 
 to begin the fight. They were too equally matched, and 
 embarrassing intermarriages had taken place during a long 
 peace. 
 
 Waitini was a Ngatiawa of the purest blood. With 
 great dignity he stepped out of his phalanx, and marched 
 half the distance towards the Ngatimaniopoto. There he 
 halted, sang his song, flourished his tomahawk, slapped his 
 buttock, and strutted defiantly about. 
 
 Three young Ngatimaniopoto chiefs rushed out from 
 their phalanx to capture Waitini. As they started abreast, 
 straining every nerve, Waitini sat down to pick a thorn out 
 of his foot. Waitini apparently saw nothing, and, as his 
 adversaries approached, a dreadful yell was sent up to 
 heaven by his tribe, who saw his danger. He moved not a 
 muscle. He was lost. An ominous silence fell upon his 
 people ; their hearts were bursting with alarm. The reck- 
 less Waitini continued to pick at the thorn ; his tomahawk 
 even was laid listlessly by his side. Waitini had calculated 
 
 73
 
 74 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 all the chances. It was a brave man's lure. The Ngati 
 maniopoto were of unequal speed. There was, however, 
 but little distance between them. The first was on Waitini 
 apparently before he woke up. He did wake up, however, 
 sprang like a panther half to one side, and then swung 
 round. His youthful adversary could not check his speed, 
 and, as he passed, Waitini buried his hatchet in the Ngati- 
 maniopoto's skull. 
 
 The second man was on him almost before he could 
 clear his axe. Waitini ran for his life at a right angle to 
 his adversaries' course. The two Ngatimaniopoto followed 
 him, the foremost making a bee-line, the next at an oblique 
 angle. W^aitini fell on his knee when he was all but caught. 
 The first pursuer stumbled over him, and met his death as 
 he fell. Waitini then rushed at the third adversary, whose 
 eye quailed for a moment in doubt. In the moment of 
 indecision he was slain. The two phalanxes then rushed 
 at each other in great fury. Waitini, with coolness, waited 
 for his men. The Ngatimaniopoto were beaten. There 
 was great slaughter, and the Ngatiawa became the 
 dominant tribe, and remained so until the downfall of 
 the King movement. 
 
 It is easy to understand the character and 
 position of a man Hke Waitini amongst such 
 a race. He was worthy of it all — genial, 
 kindly, unassuming, brave ; and what a hero 
 he looked ! He was six foot four, twenty-one 
 stone weight, without a particle of spare flesh 
 on him. I saw him naked. He had muscles 
 like iron bands, a head like a Roman emperor, 
 and a heart in loyalty and simplicity like a 
 child's.
 
 WAITINI AND WIREMU KINGI 75 
 
 When the great wave of enthusiasm for 
 national independence swept over Maoridom, 
 Waitini, with a chosen band of 140 men, went 
 down to Taranaki to fight for the cause. 
 
 Waitini Taiporutu was a sucking babe in 
 Wiremu Kingi's hands. Wiremu Kingi was 
 a diplomatist. He was amongst the Maori 
 a counsel chief; that is, a politician. Waitini 
 Taiporutu was a war chief, a soldier. 
 
 Wi Tamihana te Waharoa was a counsel 
 chief of the Ngatiawa, Waitini's tribe. Tami- 
 hana besought Waitini not to go to the 
 Taranaki war. ''You are a great warrior," 
 said he. *' We cannot spare you. The 
 trouble is coming home to us. I see it. You 
 are a great baby, too — guileless as an innocent 
 girl. You are my sister's son and the pride of 
 your race. Wiremu Kingi is a subtle, white 
 man's Maori, without any special sense of 
 honour. He will entrap you, and you will be 
 lost. You weaken our tribe by taking away 
 the pick of our young men ; and when it is 
 all over, the Ngatimaniopoto will turn and 
 rend us. The future of our race is in your 
 hands ; stand fast, and wait. In due time, I 
 will find you fighting enough." 
 
 In spite of it all, Waitini would go to the 
 war. The fever was in his blood.
 
 76 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 The Battle of Mahoetahi. 
 
 Mahoetahi lay about five or six miles to the 
 north of New Plymouth. It was a knoll with 
 sides sloping irregularly. Somewhat egg- 
 shaped, it was almost surrounded by a flax 
 and raupo swamp. It was easily approachable 
 on the north-east, where a dry ridge led from 
 the open plain right up to the brow of the 
 knoll. 
 
 When Waitini arrived at Waltara and joined 
 forces with Wiremu Kingi, he carried things 
 with a high hand. Haperona, a slave by 
 birth, was Wiremu Kingl's fighting chief, a 
 little, fiery man, with a jealous temper and 
 great military talent. On Waitinl's arrival, 
 Haperona was relegated to an insignificant 
 position. Wiremu Kingi was a man of imagi- 
 nation, with a practical turn for affairs. He 
 was not carried away by any Utopian idea of 
 Maori nationality. He had lived too long 
 among white men of high intellectual order 
 to deceive himself. He was at Waikanae the 
 personal friend of Archdeacon Hadfield, a 
 distinguished missioner, who had been edu- 
 cated at one of our great English universities. 
 Archdeacon Hadfield united to great enthu- 
 siasm for the Church scholarly attainments of
 
 WAITINI AND WIREMU KINGI 77 
 
 a high character. He was by nature meant 
 for a constitutional lawyer. Divine faith 
 turned him into an apostle. Wiremu Kingi 
 sat at his feet, and became an enthusiast for 
 the British Constitution. Wiremu was forced 
 into war by Governor Gore Brown's pragmatic 
 incapacity. 
 
 Kingi had sufficient intellectual power to 
 command a large following in the Parliament 
 of the Colony. Isaac Earle Featherston, 
 William Fox, William Fitzherbert, Arch- 
 deacon Hadfield, and Bishop Selwyn were 
 the advocates of his views. Wiremu had used 
 the wave of Maori enthusiasm to further his 
 purpose and secure allies in men and money, 
 but he had no intention of being swallowed 
 up In the King movement. Therefore Waitini 
 Taiporutu's arrival was to him by no means an 
 unmixed blessing. To make war for the de- 
 fence of his tribal land and constitutional 
 privileges as a British subject, with the whole 
 of Exeter Hall and half the New Zealand 
 Parliament at his back, was one thing ; to 
 declare openly for the Maori king another. 
 Wiremu Kingi dissembled. He said to 
 Waitini, '' Hitherto we have done nothing. 
 Now Indeed, with the chivalry of Walkato, 
 under the command of our greatest soldier, we
 
 78 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 can make a forward movement, and drive the 
 Pakeha into the sea." 
 
 Waitini, accompanied by Haperona, and a 
 few of his own tribe, scouted for a day or so. 
 Finally they agreed to establish a post at 
 Mahoetahi, on a part of the land in dispute, 
 and challenge General Pratt to a pitched 
 battle, beat him, and then by a forced march 
 along the sea-shore cut him from his communi- 
 cations with the sea. 
 
 For this purpose it was agreed that Waitini, 
 with his Waikato warriors, was to hold Mahoe- 
 tahi as a blind ; the soldiers, who had always 
 acted like fools, were to be drawn on to make 
 an attack on the front and sides of the knoll 
 through the swamp ; and that Haperona, with 
 800 armed men, was to cover, if necessary, 
 Waitini's retreat. On the morning of the 
 battle, Waitini in person made all the disposi- 
 tions. He planted Haperona, with his 800 
 men, in some scrub to the north-east of the 
 ridge which led up to Mahoetahi, where these 
 men lay absolutely hidden. He supported 
 them with 400 men under the personal com- 
 mand of Wiremu Kingi. These were hidden 
 in a wooded gulch, half a mile to the rear of 
 Haperona's position. Waitini was to stand 
 singly the assault. When he was surrounded
 
 HAPERONA
 
 WAITINI AND WIREMU KINGI 79 
 
 In the agony of the struggle, Haperona was to 
 extend his men fan-shaped to the right and 
 left, take our forces by surprise in the rear ; 
 then, at a given signal, Wiremu Kingi was 
 to move rapidly to his right front by the sea- 
 coast, and cut off General Pratt's retreat to 
 New Plymouth. 
 
 I have never been able to satisfy myself as 
 to the cause of the absolute failure of this 
 combined movement. Either Wiremu Kingi's 
 courage failed him at the supreme moment, 
 which is quite possible, as he was only a 
 counsel chief, or Haperona, out of pique, de- 
 termined to destroy Waitini, or there was 
 an agreement from the beginning between 
 Wiremu Kingi and Haperona to humble the 
 Waikato. From personal acquaintanceship 
 with Haperona, I am inclined to think that 
 he merely obeyed Wiremu Kingi's orders, 
 whatever they were. Haperona had military 
 genius and a profound contempt for the soldier. 
 His position was a perfectly safe one, practi- 
 cally chosen by himself. His chief also was 
 out of danger, his rear being covered with 
 capable scouts in touch with his fighting pas. 
 Whatever the cause, Waitini Talporutu was 
 not assisted in the hour of danger, and the 
 flower and chivalry of Waikato was left to 
 perish at Mahoetahi.
 
 GENERAL PRATT AT 
 MAHOETAHI
 
 IX 
 
 BEFORE describing the battle, I wish to 
 sketch for you the state of things in New 
 Plymouth. General Pratt had received a dis- 
 tinct challenge to fight the quarrel out signed 
 by Waitini, Wiremu Kingi, and Haperona. 
 One Maori name was as good to him as 
 another. The whole war was in his judgment 
 one vast nightmare. The General was a tall, 
 weakly old man, who suffered habitually from 
 diarrhoea. He sat his horse like a soldier, and 
 was above personal timidity. An austere 
 phlegm was the varnish with which nature con- 
 cealed a feeble and irresolute will. He was a 
 gentleman anxious to do his duty, but the mar- 
 row had long since gone out of his bones. He 
 was surrounded by an active, capable staff who 
 only worried him ; but in the end he did what- 
 ever he was told. He consented to accept the 
 challenge, and ordered the necessary prepara- 
 tions. The morning of the 6th November 
 (i860) was cool and a bit dark. The soldiers 
 
 83
 
 84 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 paraded in the main street of the town. It 
 looked an imposing force. The Taranaki 
 volunteers were intended to act as supports, 
 and space was left in the column for their com- 
 panies. When the force was ready to march, 
 as the space retained for Taranaki volunteers 
 was not nearly filled, there was much tittering 
 and ridicule amongst the soldiers. Colonel 
 Carey rode up to Major Atkinson, and said, — 
 
 '' Major, this is very bad. Where are your 
 men ? " 
 
 Major Atkinson was a stumpy little Devon- 
 shire man, with a long body, short legs, shaggy 
 eyebrows, and an eye betokening a highly 
 intellectual character. His brain was so hot 
 within his head that his coarse, short hair 
 always stood up. He was the gentlest of men 
 and the bravest of soldiers. In battle, or when 
 he was angry, Harry Atkinson's eye wore the 
 cold, fierce glitter of the wild boar. His eye 
 now shone with a fierce light, as he replied in 
 a hoarse trumpet voice that penetrated one's 
 bones, — 
 
 ''Colonel, let the column advance. My men 
 will fall in as we go, and, in any case, there 
 are enough volunteers present to storm the 
 position." 
 
 This savage answer electrified the listeners.
 
 GENERAL PRATT AT MAHOETAHI 85 
 
 I watched Colonel Carey's face. He was a 
 dibonnaire little man, as brave as a bantam 
 cock, shrewd as a court bailiff. He smiled 
 good-naturedly. Every one knew the serious 
 side of Major Atkinson's character. Colonel 
 Carey alone saw the grotesque. The news of 
 the Major's defiant air spread like wildfire 
 through the settlement. His men joined the 
 column in threes and fours as we marched 
 along, and soon the Major's complete com- 
 panies were in the ranks. 
 
 The interview with Major Atkinson was 
 reported to General Pratt, who smiled in grim 
 content. Great was his animosity against the 
 volunteers (though his was a kindly nature) 
 because the Taranaki Herald had held him 
 and his soldiers up to unmeasured contempt. 
 He felt that at last each was to occupy its 
 proper relative position in the public view, and 
 that this parade had drawn the sting of volun- 
 teer ridicule. 
 
 Arrived at Mahoetahi, the General saw 
 nothing but an insignificant hill surrounded 
 with an apparently dry swamp. There was 
 not a Maori to be seen, nor an earthwork 
 or stockade. The only sign of life was a thin 
 wreath of smoke ascending peaceably in the 
 morning air.
 
 86 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 The General chewed his grey moustache, 
 eased himself by sitting sideways in the saddle, 
 and said, — 
 
 '' Well, Carey, sold again ?" 
 
 Just as they were in doubt, Major Atkinson 
 fell out of the ranks, and, hot with seething 
 emotions, walked up to the General, and 
 said, — 
 
 ''General, my men were slow in parading. 
 This is our land. I claim for the Taranaki 
 volunteers the honour of the assault." 
 
 The General looked at Colonel Carey, who 
 said, — 
 
 '' Major, the dispositions for the attack are 
 not yet completed. In any case you and your 
 men are entitled to an honourable position in 
 the field. You shall hear from the General 
 later." 
 
 It was then decided that the assault should 
 be entrusted to a company of the 65th Foot, 
 and a company of the Taranaki volunteers 
 under the command of Major Atkinson. A 
 wiser decision could not have been arrived at. 
 Both of these forces knew the country well. 
 
 Instructions were given for the various com- 
 panies to deploy to the right and the left, 
 so as to surround Mahoetahi. Major Nelson 
 at Waitara had been warned by marching early
 
 GENERAL PRATT AT MAHOETAHI 87 
 
 to take it In the rear. The guns unllmbered 
 were brought into position, and commenced 
 firing. The 65th and Taranaki volunteers, 
 skirmishing around, soon found practical access 
 at the rear. With great fury they hurled them- 
 selves at the elevated ridge, where they were 
 met by Waitini in person leading his men. 
 
 Here a hand-to-hand conflict between the 
 tomahawk and the bayonet took place in the 
 open. Both the natives and the white men 
 were too eager to reload once the first volley 
 was fired. Waitini was both outnumbered and 
 overmatched in weapons. His men went down 
 in numbers, Waitini amongst the very first. 
 
 When the ridge was carried, the remainder of 
 Waitini's men took to the swamp, and in many 
 instances were hunted like rats in a water-hole. 
 Many of them got away into the high fern, 
 before our soldiers woke up to the realization 
 of the victory. 
 
 Haperona at Waitini's rear merely fired a 
 volley in the air and decamped. The bitter 
 story of Waitini's death was told with weeping 
 all over the Waikato, and the Waikatos swore 
 eternal vengeance for a near day. 
 
 The confusion amongst our men was great. 
 There were so few Maori to kill, and so many 
 anxious to kill them. This incident caught
 
 88 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 my eye. A noble-looking Maori, naked and 
 tattooed, stood up to his waist in swamp-water. 
 He was quite near, and flourished his toma- 
 hawk bravely. The Enfield rifle was a beast 
 of a weapon at a short range. The trajectory 
 was too high. In the haste and turmoil many 
 of our men fired at him, but missed. A hot- 
 headed Irishman, impatient of the delay, took a 
 running jump, and with fixed bayonet made a 
 rush at him. The Maori, as he saw his adver- 
 sary in the air, lightly stooped, and let his toma- 
 hawk swing to his wrist by its thong. The 
 bayonet passed over his head, and he caught 
 the soldier by the hips and waist, and gently 
 placed him under his foot in the water. There 
 was a furious shout from the bank, " He is 
 drowning Mick Ryan." 
 
 Two or three men lay on their stomachs, and 
 fired point-blank. As the gallant Maori top- 
 pled over, Mick came to the surface splutter- 
 ing, and bawled out, *' Bedad, I thought he 
 had smothered me entirely, entirely." 
 
 As soon as the battle was over, we gathered 
 together the Maori dead. Wounded Maori 
 there were none. None of the dead were 
 mutilated. To the number of fifty the Waikatos 
 got off through the swamp and fern. The 
 gallant dead were carted into New Plymouth
 
 GENERAL PRATT AT MAHOETAHI 89 
 
 on our gun-carriages. There they were all laid 
 out like pheasants after a battue. Descriptions 
 of their tattoos, with full details of their height 
 and figure, were taken down, and published in 
 the Maori language. There was to be no mis- 
 take about the announcement of the victory. 
 
 And a victory it was, though it brought us 
 much trouble, and finally led to the Waikato 
 war. The escaped Ngatiaua (Waikatos), after 
 the manner of their race, graphically told the 
 whole story on their return home. These are 
 the only particulars I have to add. 
 
 When Waitini's scouts ran in and said, ''The 
 soldiers are approaching," Waitini, with Maori 
 stolidity, replied, '' Waitini is at his breakfast. 
 When informed that the soldiers had arrived, 
 he said, '' Waitini is at his breakfast." When 
 assured the whole position was surrounded, he 
 rose, and quietly said, '' Waitini has finished his 
 breakfast." Then at the head of his men he 
 rushed to meet the storming party, which had 
 already touched the crown of the hill. 
 
 One word in extenuation of Wiremu Kingi's 
 desertion of his noble ally. 
 
 It is undoubtedly true that Major Nelson's 
 march from Waitara took Wiremu Kingi by 
 surprise, because it threatened his rear. It 
 had never been calculated by Waitini, when he
 
 90 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 made his dispositions, that so important a con- 
 centration could be effected. 
 
 It is difficult to acquit Wiremu Kingi, how- 
 ever, of a full knowledge of our resources, and 
 certain it is in my opinion that Wiremu Kingi 
 would never have deserted his own people as 
 he did the Waikatos. When the details of the 
 catastrophe were sifted at Ngaruawahia by 
 the King's Council, it was resolved, in the 
 interests of the Maori national movement, to 
 hush up the facts ; but the sting remained, and 
 had it not been for the necessity of combining 
 against the common (English) foe the treachery 
 would have been wiped out in blood.
 
 A MILITARY HOSPITAL 
 
 9»
 
 X 
 
 SHORTLY after the affair of Mahoetahi 
 I was moved up to Waitara, and placed in 
 charge of the field hospital there. My in- 
 timacy with the officers of the flying column, 
 under Major Hutchins, was thus broken off. 
 I found myself a stranger ; and, as I had no 
 regimental ties, I lived a good deal alone, and 
 mouched about amongst our outposts, making a 
 study of the British soldier. I found him to 
 be very much as circumstances made him. 
 The 65th man was a breezy, brawny giant, 
 who moved about in loose clothes, open, 
 chatty, and good-natured. He got blazing 
 drunk whenever the opportunity offered, took 
 his punishment next day as if it were a cup of 
 coffee, was a perfectly wholesome child of 
 nature, who laughed and shook hands with 
 every one he met. He was perfectly respect- 
 ful to his officer, saluted him reverently with a 
 twinkle in his eye, as though he would say, 
 '' How goes it, Charley ? " 
 
 93
 
 94 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 The 40th man was a perfect beauty. The 
 best set up soldier I had ever seen, clean and 
 smart, he was secretly bitterly discontented. 
 He had come from Melbourne, where he had 
 been the pride of the parks and the joy of 
 Collins Street. He was a citizen in his tastes, 
 
 hated the mud and rain of this d d country, 
 
 and daily longed for his discharge, so that he 
 might return to Melbourne. 
 
 The 1 2 th man was less showy than the 
 40th soldier and more contented. He was 
 a bit languid, and enjoyed the fresh air after 
 the enervating heat of Sydney. The sailors 
 were all alike, except that the detachment from 
 the Royal Colonial steam sloop-of-war Victoria, 
 which received a high colonial wage and was 
 never flogged, seemed to think little of itself, 
 and was good-naturedly tolerated by the Royal 
 Jack-tar, whose pay was very small, and dis- 
 cipline of a bitterly rigid character. When a 
 Jack was triced up to the triangle and received 
 four dozen, the colonial sailors seemed to hang 
 their heads, and the Jack-tars swelled with 
 natural pride. " That's how we do it in the 
 Royal Navy." " Poor miserable beggars ! 
 There is not an officer amongst you dare flog 
 a man, nor a sailor that is worth it." 
 
 The chief military duty at that time con-
 
 A MILITARY HOSPITAL 95 
 
 sisted of outpost work. I noticed that the men 
 of the 40th and 12th regiments came in jaded 
 and weary, whilst the soldiers of the 65th Foot 
 always turned up in the morning fresh and 
 rosy. I was much struck with this difference, 
 which was more marked in rough, wet weather. 
 The temperaments of the men accounted for 
 part of it ; but the difference was so glaring I 
 determined to inquire into the cause. 
 
 I asked a 65th man for an explanation. 
 He said, ** We are on duty to-night. The 
 weather is wet and cold. Come round to our 
 outposts after ' grand rounds ' and see for your- 
 self." 
 
 I did so. The outposts had been inspected, 
 all orders were given for the night. The 
 officer on duty had retired within the lines. I 
 crept up and was recognised by the men. A 
 soldier near me on sentry called out in a loud 
 drawling voice, " Tena koe ? " (Maori for 
 "How are you?"). Immediately long spun 
 out, ''Tena koutou?" ("How are you all .^ ") 
 was heard. 
 
 The soldier replied, " Tena koutou oeto " 
 ("God save you all"). 
 
 The Maori replied, " Kapai te Hickety 
 Fifth" (65th). "Good, it is the sixty-fifth 
 regiment."
 
 96 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 The soldier answered, *' Kapai te Maori " 
 ("Good, it is the Maori"). 
 
 The Maori said, '' Too wet and cold to- 
 night. Let us all go to sleep." 
 
 The soldier replied, ''All right." Certain it 
 is there was no firing. Each relied on the 
 other's honour. Had there been any change 
 of policy, the Maori would assuredly have 
 given full notice.
 
 PEACH-GROVES AND THISTLES 
 
 H
 
 XI 
 
 ON receipt of information that the Maori 
 had deserted their pa, and were digging 
 potatoes and collecting peaches in a small but 
 beautiful valley, we determined to surprise 
 them. In order to do so, we started off two 
 hours before the break of day, about i,ooo of 
 us, with as much clatter and noise as if we 
 were going to market. Having marched for 
 miles through tangled fern, we arrived at a 
 slope of ground fringed with forest. A halt 
 was called, and our guide and interpreter was 
 sent for. Colonel Carey questioned the in- 
 terpreter in my hearing. " Yes, there are the 
 peach-groves," he said. " But you told me 
 there was an open plain." " So there was. 
 Owing to neglect of the land since this war 
 broke out, this forest of thistles has grown up." 
 Colonel Carey looked incredulous — the 
 General weary and disgusted. Skirmishers 
 were thrown out, and ordered to enter this 
 cover. I rode a pony about fourteen hands
 
 100 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 three high. -It was my duty to accompany 
 the skirmishers, and I did not dismount. It 
 was with difficulty I forced my horse through 
 the thistles, such was the closeness and 
 strength of the growth. The horse's skin was 
 not pricked, because he had to do merely with 
 the stem. I got all the benefit of the thorns. 
 As I rode, the thistles were up to my shoulders. 
 They were ordinary Scotch thistles, acci- 
 dentally imported in grass-seed, flourishing in 
 a virgin soil. Who after this can wonder at 
 the success of Scotchmen in a new country ? 
 I am aware there are persons who, on perusal, 
 will consider this account of the growth of 
 thistles exaggerated. I have nothing to do 
 with such. It is my mission to tell the truth 
 as I saw it. 
 
 When the little battle was over — the Maori 
 were there — we had to tell off a large fatigue 
 party with bill-hooks to cut a road through the 
 thistles. The crop was as thick as wheat, 
 yielding forty bushels to the acre, and the 
 uncut sides offered a solid barrier to any 
 entrance except by force. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Wilson, a charming Church 
 of England missionary, accompanied us on the 
 expedition. He was a simple-minded, sincere, 
 delightful companion. He had been a chaplain
 
 PEACH-GROVES AND THISTLES loi 
 
 in H.M. Navy, and left the service to Chris- 
 tianize the Maori. We became great friends. 
 As it was reported we had killed and wounded 
 many of the Maori who were too proud to 
 desert their peach-groves without a fight, Mr. 
 Wilson decided to pay them a visit of con- 
 dolence. I volunteered to accompany him, to 
 look after the wounded. He said he would 
 first go alone, and then, if the Maori con- 
 sented, return for me. He did return. His 
 reception had been friendly ; but they denied 
 having any wounded, and added, if there were, 
 their own doctor was sufficient for their pur- 
 poses. Mr. Wilson was rather sad, foreseeing 
 that the war would end badly. We cut down 
 all the peach trees, dug up the potatoes, de- 
 vastated the country (as far as its nature would 
 permit), and returned to our camp at Waitara.
 
 MAORI SURPRISE ATTACKS
 
 XII 
 
 ON the 28th December another expedition 
 was organized. We marched In great 
 silence at two o'clock in the morning, and 
 arrived at Mate-RIko-RIko at dawn. 
 
 It was a lovely morning. The languid 
 summer air, moistened by evaporating dew, 
 soothed our weary limbs as we lay stretched 
 on the ground. I was on duty with the 
 advanced guard. I was a complete stranger 
 both to officers and men, and had not even 
 selected an orderly. With a few surgical 
 appliances in my haversack and some ship 
 biscuits in the pocket of my blue jumper, I 
 rested apart under the shelter of a clump of 
 fern. The men had stacked their arms, and 
 were lying about smoking. Their officers (I 
 think) had returned to their regimental head- 
 quarters for a hurried breakfast. I listened to 
 the conversation of the soldiers. 
 
 They were discussing the folly and absurdity 
 
 of the whole war, declaiming against the in- 
 
 105
 
 io6 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 justice which bound them to a service for a 
 shilling a day, subject to stoppages, whilst a 
 useless volunteer received half a crown a day 
 and full liberty to disobey orders if he liked. 
 Public opinion in the advance guard verged on 
 sedition, when suddenly, like a transformation 
 scene in a pantomime, the Maori were amongst 
 us. I was stricken with terror and dazed with 
 admiration. The Maori, with their tongues 
 out, eyes starting out of their heads, jumping 
 from side to side like panthers, flourishing 
 their tomahawks, shaking the feathers of their 
 talas in our very noses, presented a dreadful 
 spectacle. Our men rose in a panic, rushed 
 to their stacked arms, which were unloaded, 
 and clean bolted. A few men were wounded 
 at my feet. One in particular, shot in the 
 thigh and bleeding profusely, looked In my 
 face with the eye the sheep casts on the 
 butcher as the knife is descending. Great 
 God! what was I to do .'^ If I remained, I 
 would be tomahawked. Desert the wounded 
 man I could not. Suddenly I had an in- 
 spiration. 
 
 I jumped up from the side of the stricken 
 soldier, fired one barrel of my revolver at the 
 nearest Maori, and yelled out, ^'Tlpperary to 
 the rescue ! "
 
 MAORI SURPRISE ATTACKS 107 
 
 The running soldiers turned like a flock of 
 starlings. 
 
 '' Give them the point of the bayonet, boys ! " 
 I shouted. 
 
 The revulsion was Immediate. One great 
 yell, " Tipperary ! " went up to heaven. The 
 Maori disappeared like a bad dream, and I 
 made off with my wounded. 
 
 It Is true, so great for the moment was the 
 panic, I had to stop some of the retreating 
 men with my pistol, and force them to carry 
 off the wounded. For this little service I was 
 Introduced by a singularly gallant man, our 
 Chief Medical Officer, to the General for 
 notice In despatches. I was all dishevelled, 
 my hands and clothes stained in blood. The 
 General said : *' He is too young to mention 
 in despatches. At the least, he might have 
 washed his hands." 
 
 I was not such a fool as to expect to be 
 mentioned In despatches. The fact was, I 
 had rallied the men to save myself and the 
 wounded ; and as soon as I could, I got out 
 of danger. There was no particular bravery 
 in my conduct. You cannot praise a non- 
 combatant officer for rallying soldiers without 
 degrading combatant officers. In this case 
 there was no combatant officer present. Was
 
 io8 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 the General likely to confess such a breach of 
 discipline ? I held my tongue scrupulously, 
 and the whole incident was passed over as 
 though it had never happened. All the same, 
 the Chief Medical Officer came to me a few 
 days later, and said : — 
 
 '' You shall accompany the next assaulting 
 party. It is going to be a serious affair, and, 
 if you come out of it all right, ' you shall be 
 mentioned in despatches.' The General has 
 promised it." 
 
 I experienced a cold chill down my spinal 
 column. I thought, " Damn your de- 
 spatches ! " 
 
 I said, " Understand, I will do anything I 
 am ordered ; but, in my opinion, no glory is 
 worth a bullet wound." 
 
 He, who was covered with medals, and wore 
 the Victoria Cross, looked at me with scarcely 
 smothered contempt. He was never as 
 friendly afterwards. 
 
 The General changed his mind about the 
 assault. Perhaps, if it had come off, I would 
 not have been detailed for that duty. The 
 surprise at Mate-RIko-Riko, with other con- 
 siderations, changed the whole conduct of the 
 Taranaki war. The General made up his 
 mind to approach WIremu Kingi's fighting pa,
 
 MAORI SURPRISE ATTACKS 109 
 
 Puke-Rangiore, by sap. The occupation of 
 Mate-Riko-Riko left its front open to us. We 
 made clear our base of operations by making a 
 roadway one chain wide all the way to Wai- 
 tara. The lesson afforded by the evacuated 
 Tataramika pa, previously described, lived in 
 the General's mind. He decided no fighting 
 pa was practicable for a storming party. An 
 earthwork with flanking angles was thrown up. 
 Our ammunition and provisions were placed in 
 this under a strong guard. All the fern and 
 scrub near us was cleared away. Double 
 pickets were placed in various directions. 
 Double sentries patrolled all night. 
 
 We then advanced about 400 yards by sap, 
 rolling before us a huge gabion (wicker roller). 
 Then we erected another redoubt — an earth- 
 work with flanking angles. In this we en- 
 camped about 150 men. Double sentry duty 
 was enforced inside each of these works all 
 night. 
 
 We then pushed on our sap about 400 yards. 
 All this advancing was, of course, daily and 
 hourly resisted by the Maori. 
 
 Here we erected a large earthwork, without 
 flanking angles, to accommodate 300 men. It 
 was called No. 3 redoubt. The precautions at 
 this point were redoubled, because the ridge on
 
 no A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 which we were advancing fell away here to the 
 left, and was lost In a gentle slope about fifteen 
 yards distant from our fortification. There had 
 been some discussion about the wisdom of con- 
 struction without flanking angles, but, as the 
 force was so large and time an element of Im- 
 portance, It was determined to hurry on. It 
 was considered quite safe, as our men occupied 
 at this time the head of the sap each night. 
 
 From this point the sap proceeded more 
 slowly, as every Inch of the ground was dis- 
 puted by the Maori. We erected In time No. 
 4 redoubt, to contain 150 men ; and Nos. 5 and 
 6 redoubts, with flanking angles, containing 
 together about 600 men. 
 
 We were now about 250 yards from the 
 Puke-Ranglore pa, well within range of the 
 Maori rifie-plts, yet our precautions were such 
 that we scarcely ever had a man wounded. 
 
 Our safe and near approach aggravated the 
 Maori beyond endurance. Having received 
 reinforcements from Walkato, In the shape of 
 a body of men who came to seek utu 
 (revenge) for Waltlnl Talporutu's death, the 
 Maori determined to assume the offensive. 
 
 Our six redoubts were In exact line. All of 
 them were of the same width. Thus every 
 fianking angle within rifle range commanded
 
 MAORI SURPRISE ATTACKS in 
 
 the approach to its neighbour's side. There- 
 fore No. 3 redoubt, though unprovided with 
 flanking angles, had its approach on the sides 
 protected by Nos. 2 and 4 redoubts. Each 
 redoubt projected its earthen wall about five 
 feet above the level of the ground, and was 
 surrounded by a ditch about four feet deep 
 and proportionately wide. 
 
 The Maori picked a storming party of 130 
 men. They crept along one very dark night 
 till they came to No. 3 redoubt, where the land 
 sloped off to the left of our earthwork. Here 
 each Maori singly crept on his belly till he got 
 into the ditch, v/here in time the whole storm- 
 ing party lay breathlessly still. 
 
 Lieutenant Jackson of the 40th was the 
 officer on duty for the night. The sentry 
 reported that there was some scratching noise 
 going on in the ditch. Lieutenant Jackson got 
 on the top of the earthen wall and peered 
 over. He said to the sentry, — 
 
 ** There is nothing. It is all quiet. It is as 
 dark as pitch." 
 
 The sentry replied, " I did hear something, 
 sir." 
 
 Jackson said, '' Hold me hard by the legs ; I 
 will reach down and see. I do not want to 
 alarm the camp."
 
 112 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 As Jackson leant further over, an impatient 
 Maori shot him through the head. 
 
 The sentry roared out, '' Man the defences ! " 
 
 Immediately the Maori in the ditch swarmed 
 over. They had cut steps in the earthen wall 
 with their axes. Our men all slept in their 
 clothes, with their arms stacked hard by. The 
 Maori were met by the bayonet. One Maori, 
 as he was mounting the ditch, was run through 
 the body. He seized the soldier's rifle in both 
 hands. The soldier never thought of letting 
 go, and, as the Maori and soldier were thus 
 fixed, the Maori crept over their wounded 
 comrade's back. 
 
 In the meantime the assaulting party's allies 
 commenced a furious attack on the front, sides, 
 and rear of No. 6 redoubt. It was all futile. 
 The men from Nos. i, 4, and 5 redoubts 
 hurried up at the double, and took the Maori 
 on each flank. The affair was over in a few 
 moments, and, as usual, the Maori left very 
 few wounded or killed on the field. Of course, 
 the darkness of the night favoured the escape. 
 
 Indeed, in any case, live shells constantly 
 thrown into the ditch made the Maori position 
 at No. 3 untenable, and, as surprise was the 
 essence of the scheme, the storming party at 
 once gave up the enterprise. By this time all
 
 MAORI SURPRISE ATTACKS 113 
 
 the friendship between the races was over. 
 We were in the death-grips with each other. 
 The Maori knew our military customs per- 
 fectly. We had never once been caught 
 asleep, yet they backed their gallantry against 
 all our precautions, and expected to cut our 
 whole force in two in the middle of the night. 
 Not often was a braver military achievement 
 attempted. 
 
 Were I to try and describe to you the 
 agonizing shame the Maori experienced at this 
 defeat, I should suffer too much. Suffice it to 
 say, the wounded and dying could not lift up 
 their heads. They kept on declaring they 
 were cowards, slaves, and the sons of slaves. 
 The glory of their race was gone. Defeat, 
 disgraceful, overwhelming defeat. They 
 wanted no water nor care for their wounds. 
 They wished only for annihilation, and that 
 their people should not live to hear of their 
 feebleness in war. 
 
 Fine men, the odds were nothing to them. 
 Were they not the descendants of the greatest 
 warriors that ever trod the earth ? And these 
 soldiers. Alas ! alas ! Had they not been 
 skulking behind earthworks for nearly a year ? 
 Oh, shame ! shame ! This defeat hardened 
 into steel the whole Maori race. They deter- 
 
 I
 
 114 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 mined to die hard. But die they now knew 
 they must. Our attack, of course, proceeded 
 in the ordinary way. The big roller crept on 
 nearer and nearer the pa. Our men no longer 
 slept in the sap. Large patrols took their 
 place. The Maori at night tried to destroy 
 our works. The patrols fought them with 
 varying fortunes, and drove them off. 
 
 About this time Colonel Warre arrived from 
 India. The General took him out and showed 
 him the Maori position. 
 
 " What would you advise, Colonel ? " 
 
 *'Well, you see, I am accustomed to these 
 niggers. You perceive that little eminence to 
 the right rear ? Well, I would seize that, pour 
 in a flanking fire from that position, making a 
 detour to the left with a few companies of men, 
 and then storm the pa along that ridge on the 
 right front." 
 
 The General gazed at him, and turned nearly 
 green. 
 
 ** It is an excellent proposal, Colonel. You 
 shall see for yourself." 
 
 The General ordered 400 as handsome 
 soldiers as the eye ever rested upon to deploy 
 to the right and seize that little hill. The men 
 advanced gallantly, and then wavered : the 
 Maori, silent and deadly, were all lying ready
 
 MAORI SURPRISE ATTACKS 115 
 
 in their rifle-pits, each man armed with a 
 double-barrelled smooth-bore. They would 
 have reserved their fire till our men were 
 within forty yards, then delivered a volley at 
 the soldiers' legs, and, skipping out of their 
 rifle-pits, would have disappeared in the forest, 
 leaving a host of our men dead on the field. 
 *' What do you say now, Colonel ? " 
 The bugles sounded the recall, and we all 
 went back to our fortifications. The soldiers 
 knew the Maori far better than Colonel Warre 
 did, and their morale had been damaged by 
 melancholy experience. 
 
 Had the General insisted, the men would 
 have carried the position, but at what a loss ! 
 Colonel Warre's presence and contemptuous 
 manner were not acceptable to General Pratt. 
 He was sent to take command of the Auckland 
 district.
 
 GENERAL CAMERON 
 
 117
 
 XIII 
 
 JUST at this point, when we were on the 
 eve of rendering Wiremu Kingi's position 
 at Puke-Rangiore untenable, an armistice was 
 sought by Wiremu Tamihana, the King-maker. 
 The Maori had always got the better of us 
 in diplomacy, and there is little doubt we were 
 outwitted on this occasion. The capture of 
 an empty pa meant little to us, and that is 
 all the glory we could have achieved ; but 
 the moral effect on the King Movement might 
 have been immense. Nevertheless, our politi- 
 cal dissensions were so galling that the armi- 
 stice was granted. The fact was, most of our 
 South Island Parliamentary representatives, 
 who had suffered nothing, insisted that the war 
 should be prosecuted to the bitter end. In 
 this they were supported by the members from 
 Taranaki, because their homes were devastated 
 and their future gone. The rest of the North 
 Island representatives, supported largely by the 
 Province of Nelson, insisted on peace. 
 
 119
 
 I20 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 An armistice was the only possible com- 
 promise, and it was substantially agreed upon 
 as between independent nations. 
 
 General Cameron arrived about this time, 
 and the War Office poured in troops from 
 both India and England. The Maori foresaw 
 the consequences, and, notwithstanding the 
 arrival of Sir George Grey as Governor — or 
 rather, in consequence of it — both strained 
 every effort to make ready for the final 
 struggle. 
 
 General Cameron was in the prime of life. 
 He enjoyed high reputation, was an iron-grey 
 man, a rigid disciplinarian, reticent and austere. 
 His arrival was a surprise dramatically effected. 
 Arriving by steamer, he rode out to Waitara 
 from New Plymouth without giving any notice, 
 handed his authority to General Pratt, and 
 at once took command. I was in medical 
 charge of the field hospital at Waitara. 
 Dressed in a blue jumper, with a pair of brown 
 tweed trousers on tucked into digger's knee- 
 boots, I wore a forage cap with the Army 
 Medical Staff badge. As I was seeing my 
 patients in a large marquee tent, in stalked 
 this military figure. I saluted, and went on 
 dressing the men's wounds. 
 
 General Cameron stared at me and said, —
 
 GENERAL CAMERON 121 
 
 '' Are you a medical officer ? " 
 
 I said, ''Yes, General." 
 
 He replied, '' I could not have thought it." 
 
 *' Nevertheless, General, it is a fact." 
 
 Soon an order was issued for the removal 
 of the headquarters of the 65th Regiment to 
 Auckland. I accompanied it. One day I was 
 walking down Queen Street ; it came on to 
 rain, and I found myself sheltering under a 
 verandah with a gentleman in plain clothes, 
 whom I knew to be the General. I respected 
 his incognito, and engaged in a general con- 
 versation with him. He knew perfectly well 
 who I was. I avoided military subjects, and 
 discussed the social condition of the Colony. 
 
 He was clearly impressed. Every kind of 
 knowledge was important to him in his difficult 
 position. The shower lifted, and we parted, 
 exchanging the usual courtesies. 
 
 The General required just then a report on 
 the housing and sanitary condition of the 
 women and children of some Indian regiments 
 who had just arrived. I was selected for the 
 duty, and sent in a straightforward, business- 
 like report, urging various concessions outside 
 the prescribed line. This led to my being put 
 in medical charge of a flying column sent to 
 an entirely different part of the Colony, where
 
 122 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 the war had not as yet broken out. Thus I 
 missed seeing all the important military opera- 
 tions in the Waikato. 
 
 When, however, General Cameron moved 
 his headquarters to Wanganui, on the west 
 coast, I received orders to join that expedi- 
 tionary force. It were bootless to describe the 
 condition of things I found there, or the hard- 
 ships I underwent. Suffice it to say that the 
 persecutions of the soldier under the cumber- 
 some system in vogue surpassed anything I 
 had previous experience of. General Cameron 
 had loudly declared that New Zealand was the 
 grave of glory — he succeeded in making it an 
 abode of misery for the soldier. Such march- 
 ing, counter-marching, picketing, such a work 
 of double sentries, such an ado to prevent 
 surprises, would have taken the heart out of 
 any man. The great military strategy was to 
 march all night through slush and rain, in dark- 
 ness and confusion, and encamp at break of 
 day on some miserable flat reeking with swamp 
 water. How well do I remember an ass of 
 a Colonel commanding a wing of the 68th 
 Foot bawling out constantly, as we floundered 
 through the tangled roots and mud in the 
 darkness of the winter's night, " Keep your 
 fours, men ! " and the reply in a strident
 
 GENERAL CAMERON 123 
 
 voice, '^Ah, then, is it all fours you mean. 
 Colonel ? " 
 
 I have said enough. I went through months 
 of it, and had it not been for a sense of humour 
 stronor in me, I sometimes think I would have 
 died under the hardship.
 
 FROM CAMERON TO CHUTE
 
 XIV 
 
 NOTWITHSTANDING all our precau- 
 tions, a handful of gallant Maori worked 
 through our pickets at Nukumaru, and surprised 
 a body of men in the very heart of our en- 
 campment. Lieutenant Gudgeon, in his New 
 Zealand War, says a Maori was shot just 
 outside the General's tent. If so, that incident 
 was kept secret. I was encamped there at the 
 time with the 68th Foot, and beyond the fact 
 that there had been a surprise, I heard nothing. 
 After this incident our precautions seemed to 
 be redoubled. Dull care sat enthroned over 
 the whole force. The soldiers, though physi- 
 cally powerful and in excellent health, were 
 spiritless. There was nothing but drudgery ; 
 no fighting to stir the pulses of the men. We 
 marched past the Wereroa pa, leaving it on 
 our right. It was said to be impregnable. 
 Finally we encamped at the mouth of the 
 
 Patea River. Here we made asses of ourselves 
 
 127
 
 128 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 — marching about through high fern up to our 
 shoulders, and never moving except in over- 
 whelming numbers. 
 
 One fine day, with the sun shining gladly 
 overhead, we set out, a great force of us, 
 horse, foot, and artillery. Forming a half- 
 moon, with the cavalry skirmishing on the 
 right and left flanks, we advanced over an 
 open plain to Kakaramea. 
 
 The village of Kakaramea was situated on a 
 gentle hill sloping to the plain. A flax and 
 toi-toi swamp lay at the foot of Kakaramea, 
 and extended in depth about a mile to our 
 front as we advanced. The Maori, about 
 1 20 men, women, and boys, came out to meet 
 us under the protection of this cover. We 
 swooped down upon them. Their prospect 
 was hopeless ; we had them completely in our 
 power. This made no difference to the Maori. 
 He fought in the open, delivering his fire, 
 retired slowly loading in a dignified manner. 
 The women fought beside the men, the boys 
 in front of all. The dignity and martial bear- 
 ing of the Maori touched the hearts of our 
 soldiers. Very few of the Maori were killed, 
 and the wounded were handled with infinite 
 tenderness by our men. The majority of the 
 defenders of Kakaramea got aawy scatheless.
 
 FROM CAMERON TO CHUTE 129 
 
 and every one on our side was equally de- 
 lighted. The British soldier's heart was not 
 in the struggle. 
 
 I heard our men say, ** Begorra, it's a 
 murder to shoot them. Sure they are our 
 own people, with their potatoes, and fish, and 
 children. Who knows but that they are 
 Irishmen, with faces a little darkened by 
 the sun, who escaped during the persecutions 
 of Cromwell ? " 
 
 The wounded Maori and white men were 
 all collected together in the runanga-house at 
 the top of the hill in the village. They were 
 treated in turn by the surgeons of the force, 
 according to the gravity of their injuries, irre- 
 spective of rank or colour. When the wounded 
 were all seen to. General Cameron, a man of 
 the most humane disposition, visited the ru- 
 nanga-house, making affectionate inquiries and 
 giving expression to soothing words. I 
 happened to be present. When the General's 
 interpreter came opposite one Maori, I said, 
 ** General, that is a most extraordinary man. 
 He has received two gunshot wounds ; his 
 thigh has already been amputated, and his 
 arm is in danger ; he has had the bayonet 
 thrust into his body seven times, and received 
 four sabre wounds in the head. Look at him 
 
 K
 
 130 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 now, smoking his pipe as tranquilly as a baby- 
 sucking a bottle." 
 
 The interpreter interpreted all I had said to 
 the Maori. He nodded his head, and smiled 
 in a sweet and gentle manner. 
 
 The General's eyes moistened, and he be- 
 came a little pale. 
 
 " In the name of God," he exclaimed, '' why 
 did you resist our advance ? Could you not 
 see we were in overwhelming force ? " 
 
 The Maori replied, *' What would you have 
 us do ? This is our village, these are our 
 plantations. Men are not fit to live if not 
 brave enough to defend their own homes." 
 
 The General looked abashed. " At any 
 rate," he said, '' I am glad to see you are now 
 well treated. Have you any complaints to 
 make ? " 
 
 '' No. ... By the way, yes. Whilst I 
 was lying wounded on the ground, and after a 
 soldier had given me a drink, an officer came 
 up and sabred me." 
 
 ''That is not according to the usages of 
 war." 
 
 *' That is a slave's work." 
 
 The General turned purple and swore an 
 oath. ''I'll cashier him. Would you know 
 the man ? "
 
 FROM CAMERON TO CHUTE 131 
 
 *'Yes. I was a little flurried, but I would 
 know the man." 
 
 There was a great turmoil In the camp ; hot 
 and fevered Inquiries. Presently a colour- 
 sergeant marched In, holding a drummer-boy 
 by the ear. The boy was marched up oppo- 
 site the Maori, who continued to smoke and 
 gaze at him Intently, 
 
 '' Is that the officer ?" 
 
 ''Yes," said the Maori; "that Is he." 
 
 The Interpreter explained that the youth was 
 a drummer-boy, and his sword was only a toy. 
 
 " Do not say any more about It," quoth the 
 Maori. *' Boys must be boys. We train our 
 own sons the same way." It seems to be the 
 only fashion we have In common. 
 
 This Maori recovered, and was set free. He 
 went to war against us afresh on his return to 
 his people. He was taken prisoner In a sur- 
 prise effected by Colonel McDonnell, and when 
 I saw him he smiled on me, and we exchanged 
 confidences. 
 
 *' What ! " I said, '' In arms again ? " 
 
 '' Yes," he said. " What would you have a 
 man do ? He must stand by his own people." 
 
 Our whole force after this became listless. 
 An Idea prevailed that it was an unjust war, In 
 every way discreditable to us. The soldier no
 
 132 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 longer desired to kill the Maori, and disliked 
 more than ever being killed by him. In spite 
 of a most harassing discipline, it became in 
 some instances a task to muster the men for 
 picket duty. It is a fact that I often heard 
 commented on, that in one regiment it took 
 the non-commissioned officers twenty to thirty 
 minutes to muster a complement of fifty men 
 for outpost duty. The heart had gone out 
 of the enterprise, when unexpectedly General 
 Cameron gave up the command, and General 
 Chute succeeded him. 
 
 General Chute was considered one of the 
 best drills in Her Majesty's service. The 
 soldiers christened him the " Kerry Bull," not 
 merely from his resonant voice, which on 
 parade echoed from hill to hill, but on account 
 of his general appearance and roaming dispo- 
 sition. He was a short-legged man, with a 
 shaggy, square, masculine head and powerful 
 body. He walked deliberately, carrying his 
 head a little to either side, and no man could 
 precisely foretell his temper from day to day. 
 He was equally loved and feared by his own 
 regiment, but as he was not a scientific soldier, 
 and naturally of a retiring disposition, he was 
 little known to the army generally. 
 
 Owing to the weight of his body and short
 
 FROM CAMERON TO CHUTE 133 
 
 grip of his legs, he was a poor equestrian. 
 Consequently he rode a quiet old horse, whose 
 hair was left as long as possible, because the 
 General was equally short-tempered and good- 
 natured. When anything went wrong on 
 parade, the General swore awfully, and 
 hammered his old horse with a short hunting- 
 crop, — treatment which made the animal play 
 curious tricks. The whole spectacle was some- 
 thing to marvel at, but no one who looked at 
 the General's face could have the hardihood to 
 laugh and expect to survive. 
 
 When he took command, I saw at once he 
 was a character, and soon became convinced he 
 was as lonely as a moulting crow in the midst 
 of his predecessor's brilliant staff. I therefore 
 watched him closely. I was sufficiently known 
 and sufficiently insignificant to be able to do 
 this without attracting attention. The General, 
 however, by a curious intuitive power some 
 men possess, saw under my grave, respectful 
 demeanour a certain humorous sympathy with 
 his difficult position. He always had the habit 
 of walking about amongst the men. Alone, 
 and wearing a shabby undress uniform, whack- 
 ing his riding-boot with his hunting-crop, he 
 would turn up anywhere in the camp. 
 
 The men liked their rough, capable com-
 
 134 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 mander. In a few days they sang and 
 whistled and joked each other with all the 
 zest of a newly recovered gaiety, marching 
 light-heartedly with a swing in their gait. 
 
 I had previously resigned my commission, 
 with a view to settling in the Colony. On pro- 
 viding a substitute I was allowed to retire on 
 leave, so I saw no more of General Chute's 
 expedition. A field officer, however, of 
 Crimean experience, continued the observa- 
 tions I had always made, and this is the 
 narrative he told me about five months after- 
 wards : — 
 
 '' Soon after your departure we had a brush 
 with the enemy. The soldiers went into it with 
 heart, so we were successful everywhere. The 
 General walked about the camp, chatting with 
 the men. ' Jolly fine sport we have had this 
 morning, boys ; plenty of pigs and potatoes and 
 poultry after it.' We had captured an open 
 village, and were rejoicing over the enemy's 
 supplies. ' A good feed to-night — a short, tight 
 sleep — an early march in the morning — another 
 fight about the break of day. Donnybrook will 
 be nothing to it.' 
 
 "The men merely smiled, and rejoiced 
 openly when his back was turned. It was 
 decided to march round Mount Egmont. Dr.
 
 FROM CAMERON TO CHUTE 135 
 
 Featherston, Superintendent of the Province 
 of Wellington, arrived with 300 friendly- 
 natives. The General profoundly distrusted 
 friendly natives. 
 
 '' Isaac Earle Featherston was a stern, 
 strong, haughty man, with a genial nature 
 when not irritated. Proud and self-reliant, he 
 resented dictation of any kind. General Chute 
 and he jarred whenever they met. The 
 General ordered the natives to parade before 
 the break of day, make a detour through the 
 forest, and take a pa he was about to attack 
 in the rear. 
 
 *' Dr. Featherston said the Maori were 
 weary and footsore from constant marching ; 
 that to be hurried in this way was contrary to 
 their tribal custom ; that they were most useful 
 allies, but must be humoured a bit. 
 
 " General Chute lost his temper ; said, 
 ' Damn you and your allies! If they do not 
 march when I order them, I will fire into them. 
 I will have no mutiny in my camp, supported 
 by the civil authority.' 
 
 '' Chute marched off, and left Featherston in 
 a rage. Featherston sat down and smoked 
 cheroot after cheroot, saying nothing. This 
 was a bad sign. Featherston silent was a 
 dangerous man.
 
 136 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 " Now, there was an officer In camp, Deputy- 
 Commissary-General Strickland. The success 
 of this expedition was everything to him. It 
 meant promotion and a C.B. Strickland was 
 a man of great Eastern experience. He saw 
 what was going on, and said, ' This will never 
 do.' He called on Featherston, who sat 
 smoking in his tent, asked for something to 
 drink, and lit his pipe. Featherston knew him, 
 and liked Strickland's rugged humour. 
 
 *' Strickland at length said, ' The General 
 has sent me to ask you to supper.' 
 
 " Featherston exploded. 
 
 '"It Is like General Chute's damned inso- 
 lence ! As soon as the war is over, I will call 
 him out and shoot him. I wish to the Al- 
 mighty every soldier in the Colony was out of 
 it. Were It not for my duty to New Zealand, 
 I would fall upon General Chute's force this 
 night with my Maori and slaughter the whole 
 of his men.' 
 
 '' Strickland smoked on, and made no reply 
 until Featherston's volcanic eruption was over. 
 Then he said, — 
 
 " ' The General recognises the full force 01 
 what you have said. He will give you ample 
 satisfaction when the time comes. All the 
 same, there is no use in two men like you
 
 FROM CAMERON TO CHUTE 137 
 
 quarrelling now. The General knows that he 
 cannot get on without you. His temper is the 
 curse of his life, but he is a very good fellow, 
 and you will like him well when you know him 
 as I do. May I tell him you will come to 
 supper ?' 
 
 ** Featherston mused a bit, and said, — 
 
 '' ' I will think of it.' 
 
 *' Strickland then went to General Chute and 
 said, — 
 
 '' ' I have just been with Featherston. He 
 desires me to say he is coming to supper with 
 you.' 
 
 '''The devil he is ! ' 
 
 " ' Yes, General ; and, look here, you may 
 as well ask me too.' 
 
 " Chute did ask Strickland. Strickland at 
 the proper moment went over, and said, — 
 
 " * Featherston, the General is waiting sup- 
 per for you.' 
 
 "They all three supped together, rose from 
 table immense friends, and the friendship was 
 permanent." 
 
 I will now narrate precisely, and almost 
 word for word, the exact story I heard of the 
 attack on Otapawa from a field-officer of dis- 
 tinction who served there. This account was 
 verified in every detail by a private of the
 
 138 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 14th Foot, who was present and took part in 
 the attack. 
 
 When the 57th Foot were ordered to assault 
 Otapawa, which was a fortified, rifle-pitted pa, 
 they rushed forward with great gallantry, sup- 
 ported by the 14th Foot. The slope which 
 led to the pa had been scarped, and when the 
 men were within 150 yards of the stockade, 
 they met such a deadly volley that they 
 wavered. 
 
 General Chute rode up, whacking his old 
 horse with his riding-crop ; swore and blas- 
 phemed in an awful manner. At last he 
 became silent for a moment ; then he stood up 
 in his stirrups, and said, — 
 
 *' You do not know me, men. I am Billy 
 Chute. Do you think you are going to make 
 a laughing-stock of me at every club in Pall 
 Mall ? I swear by the living God I will leave 
 the bones of the whole army to bleach on the 
 sides of these mountains before I will ever 
 turn my back on any fortification I once 
 assault. Fifty-seventh, I will do worse than 
 that : I will disgrace you before the whole 
 army. Fourteenth, charge ! " 
 
 The 14th had a vile reputation for dis- 
 cipline ; but this regiment knew the " Kerry 
 Bull." They uttered one fearful yell, and
 
 FROM CAMERON TO CHUTE 139 
 
 sought to break past the 57th. The 57th 
 rushed headlong at the pa, and these two 
 regiments almost bayoneted each other in their 
 eagerness to get in first. The Maori broke in 
 terror at the fury of the assault, and never 
 again faced the bayonet. 
 
 The 14th Foot and the 57th were not 
 encamped near each other for some time after 
 this, and the officers and men of both regiments, 
 knowing the gravity of the position, kept 
 perfectly silent, never even discussing amongst 
 themselves this incident.
 
 ROPATA AND THE HAU-HAUS 
 
 14*
 
 XV 
 
 ON retiring from Her Majesty's service, I 
 was appointed to make an Inspection 
 of the Army Medical Department of the 
 Colonial forces. This brought me into close 
 contact with a new set of men. I shall not 
 enlarge upon my own adventures and hair- 
 breadth 'scapes. It Is sufficient to say that, 
 though insignificant, they were quite startling 
 enough for a man of my prudent turn of mind. 
 My object is to sketch a contrast. For this 
 purpose I need only confine myself to bare 
 narrative. 
 
 I arrived at Walapu, on the east coast of 
 the North Island, where Major Fraser was In 
 command of about a hundred Europeans and 
 as many friendly Maori as for the time cared 
 to join In the consumption of his supplies. 
 
 We marched In the dark, so as to arrive soon 
 after the break of day at the enemy's fortified 
 pa, Puke-Marlre. We found It perched on a 
 hill, skirted by forest on each side, open and 
 
 143
 
 144 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 easy of access in the front. Major Fraser took 
 up a position about 400 yards to the front of 
 the pa, and threw his handful of men out in 
 skirmishing order, giving instructions that no 
 man must venture beyond prescribed limits, 
 which were carefully pointed out. The Colo- 
 nial troops opened fire. The friendly Maori 
 sat down at a secure distance to watch events. 
 Major Fraser folded his arms and walked up 
 and down like the captain of a ship, occasion- 
 ally examining the position with his glasses. 
 
 One of our men had advanced too near the 
 pa on our right front. The Major sent a 
 corporal and two men to fetch him back. He 
 was marched back between sentries, and when 
 brought face to face with the Commanding 
 Officer, he commenced cursing and swearing in 
 the most voluble manner. Major Fraser dis- 
 missed the corporal and his guard, and took 
 no notice whatever of the prisoner. This made 
 the worthy Colonist more furious than ever. 
 He tore off his cartouche-box, hurled it on the 
 ground, rammed his bayonet up to the muzzle 
 of the rifle into the earth, danced upon his 
 forage-cap, called Major Fraser a white-livered 
 sneak, who, afraid to fight himself, would not 
 let any one else do it for him. 
 
 Major Fraser walked impassively up and
 
 ROPATA AND THE HAU-HAUS 145 
 
 down like a deaf-mute. The Colonist could 
 make nothing of this, so he presently took out 
 his pipe, lit it, sat down, and had a smoke. 
 
 I watched this man when the fun really 
 began. He snatched up his rifle, seized his 
 cartouche-box, and, forgetting both his forage- 
 cap and his anger, rushed with all speed lest 
 any other fellow should get into the pa before 
 him. 
 
 Well, all I can say is, the whole affair was 
 quite unlike anything I had ever seen before. 
 When the word was given, every man fought 
 for himself; and though they were all well 
 forward, there was little for the enemy to fire 
 at. My attention was diverted from the 
 advance of the Europeans by the arrival of our 
 allies, the Ngatiporou, under Major Ropata. 
 They advanced at full speed in a solid square, 
 w^th their bayonets aloft glittering in the sun. 
 They ran for hundreds of yards, without 
 breaking their formation, and then in a moment 
 scattered like a flock of birds. I was my own 
 master, so I pelted after them as fast as I could 
 run. They took to the forest on our left. 
 After a toilsome chase, I overtook them. 
 They were now established at the rear of the 
 enemy's position. 
 
 Here the Puke-Marire pa fell sheer to the 
 
 L
 
 146 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 river, and towered above us about thirty or 
 forty feet. The rock v^as of a soft sandstone 
 formation. As we stood at the foot of this 
 precipice we were safe from the Hau-Haus : 
 their fire passed over us. Major Ropata 
 instructed some of his men to climb the forest 
 trees, where, under the shelter of the spreading 
 branches, they acted as sharpshooters. The 
 rest of the force set to work with axes, and 
 cut zig-zag steps in the sandstone. As soon 
 as this was done, men mounted, and about 
 five feet six from the level of the pa, which was 
 built close to the precipice, they cut out a junk 
 lengthways, about eight or ten inches deep. 
 They worked upwards at this until they could 
 look over and fire straight into the enemy's 
 rifle-pits. A body of men now occupied this 
 vantage-ground. At the word of command 
 they all loaded. Then the right-hand man 
 sang out, *'Hi! Ha! Hau ! " At the final 
 word, '' Hau ! " each Ngatiporou placed his 
 rifle above his head, resting it on the bank 
 in front of him, and pulled the trigger. The 
 result was a uniform close volley. 
 
 This tactic was renewed again and again, till 
 invariably at the word ''Hau!" the hostile 
 Maori ducked his head, and disappeared in his 
 rifle-pit. At a given moment when the word
 
 ROPATA AND THE HAU-HAUS 147 
 
 "Hau!"was heard, the Ngatlporou diverged 
 their fire to the right and left, leaving a 
 V-shaped space secure in the middle. A small 
 Maori boy, furnished with a hawser, jumped on 
 to that area of safety, and, making weird move- 
 ments of defiance, cast the loop of the hawser 
 over a large post of the stockade, and then 
 jumped over the precipice, and was caught by 
 his waiting tribe. 
 
 A noble-looking antagonist, with shaggy 
 head and glittering eye, rose with an axe to cut 
 away the loop of this hawser. He was shot 
 dead by one of Ropata's men perched in an 
 adjacent tree. The bulk of Ropata's men at 
 the base of the precipice hauled on the hawser, 
 while the sharpshooters from the trees and the 
 men on the ledge poured in a deadly fire on 
 the enemy. Ropata now found a drain at the 
 right angle of our position of assault. It had 
 been cut to let the storm-water run freely off 
 the pa into the river. 
 
 Into this drain Ropata crept, till he got 
 inside the fortification. Here he seized his 
 nearest unsuspecting enemy by the feet, 
 dragged him out, and hurled him down to his 
 tribe, who danced a war- dance ; then at the 
 word of command scaled the precipice like 
 swarming bees, rushed through the breach
 
 148 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 where the beam had given way, and carried the 
 whole position on that side as the Europeans 
 entered on the other. Nearly all the enemy 
 got into the forest, as they knew well the 
 crucial moment for flight. Except for the 
 moral effect, the victory was of little value, for 
 the hostile Maori merely ran away to fight again. 
 
 In point of fact, the Maori war wore itself 
 out as the charm of the national and religious 
 sentiment became attenuated. No armies 
 could conquer such a people in such a country. 
 Food was all the time practically abundant, and 
 unless you exterminated the whole race, you 
 could not wipe out their feverish ambition and 
 restless, imaginative self-confidence. The 
 Maori never had any quarrel with the 
 Colonists, who in their hearts loved and re- 
 spected the fierce spirit of independence which 
 is the chief characteristic of this wonderful race. 
 
 It must ever remain a monument to the 
 wisdom and humanity of the Parliament of 
 New Zealand that it succeeded in securing 
 and maintaining the confidence of such a 
 people. 
 
 It must not be forofotten that there were two 
 epochs in the war — the National movement 
 under Wiremu Tamihana, the King-maker, 
 and the wave of religious enthusiasm called
 
 ROPATA AND THE HAU-HAUS 149 
 
 '* Hau-hauism " which followed it. The Im- 
 perial troops broke the back of the National 
 movement both in Taranaki and Waikato. The 
 Colonial troops with their Native allies saw the 
 religious fever flicker and die. The Maori 
 race remains, and competes in the field of 
 intellect and athletics to this day. 
 
 If the truth were known, the New Zea- 
 landers were more proud of their Maori con- 
 tingent in the late Jubilee procession in London 
 than of anything else, except their own Anglo- 
 Saxon blood. The New Zealanders hold they 
 are the first people who, neither conquerors of 
 nor conquered by a coloured race, have made 
 them friends and equals to the advantage of 
 all. 
 
 On leaving Waiapu, I went to Opotiki, 
 where Mr. Volckner had been murdered. 
 Here I fell in for the first time with Colonel 
 McDonnell in his new character of soldier and 
 Maori captain. I saw his contingent go into 
 action, and was much struck by the novelty of 
 the method. 
 
 Colonel McDonnell, armed with a breech- 
 loader, started out in a rough country at the 
 rate of about five miles an hour, personally to 
 engage the enemy. His Maori soldiers kept 
 up to him as well as they could in a long
 
 ISO A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 "gypsy streel." As soon as the engagement 
 commenced, nothing could restrain Colonel 
 McDonnell's zeal. He was at the head of 
 everything ; led in a series of personal en- 
 counters of which the battle consisted, and 
 seemed to carry a charmed life. The Native 
 chiefs on McDonnell's side vied with him in 
 personal gallantry, and the common men filled 
 up the space anyhow. 
 
 The singular good temper with which the 
 antagonists killed each other in this encounter 
 was the chief feature. If the wrong man hap- 
 pened to be shot by the wrong side, there was 
 not much fuss about it. It seemed to be all in 
 the day's work. 
 
 When the battle was over, there was dis- 
 cussion about tomahawking the wounded ; but 
 McDonnell put an end to all that by tapping 
 the butt of his breech-loader and looking 
 mighty dangerous. Our Maori soon dis- 
 covered that the wounded "Hau-haus" were 
 really their close relations, and took as much 
 care of them as if they were new playthings just 
 discovered by children. The wounded, with 
 the singular placidity of the race, took battle, 
 wounds, petting and all as if they had been 
 accustomed to it, and gave without stint valu- 
 able information as to the numbers and
 
 KEREOPA, WHO SWALLOWED VOLCKER S EVES
 
 ROPATA AND THE HAU-HAUS 151 
 
 disposition of the enemy. By chatting with 
 these men I got their account of the Volckner 
 incident. 
 
 The singular thing about a Maori is that he 
 always talks without bias, in a perfectly calm, 
 philosophic spirit. This arises from the fact 
 that his intellect is cultivated from childhood. 
 The life is in common, and the smallest bairn 
 has the right to enter into discussions touching 
 the affairs of his hapu, or tribe. 
 
 ** Why did you murder Volckner ? " 
 
 '* We executed him according to law. He 
 was fairly tried in our runanga-house, openly 
 confronted with his own letters giving informa- 
 tion to the soldiers, our enemies. He was one 
 of our people ; we had adopted him into our 
 tribe. He acknowledged the adoption, and 
 lived with us for many years. He was a 
 traitor, and we hanged him according to the 
 law of nations." 
 
 ** But Kereopa tore out the dead man's eyes, 
 and swallowed them ! " 
 
 ''There is nothing in that. There is no 
 difference between a dead man's and a dead 
 fish's eye. As Kereopa swallowed the right 
 eye, he said, ' This is the Queen.' Of the 
 left eye he said, * This is the Parliament.' It 
 was only a symbol."
 
 BEGUILING THE NGATIPUKEKA 
 
 153
 
 XVI 
 
 IT became necessary for me to reach 
 Tauranga, In order to return to Welling- 
 ton. I informed Colonel McDonnell of this 
 fact, and asked him for a horse and a guide. 
 He explained to me the journey had its 
 dangers, because the hostile Maori occupied 
 the country between Opotiki and Maketu. He 
 promised to send out spies and let me know 
 when the track might be reasonably considered 
 safe. I noticed that his spies were all women. 
 
 At one time he would say, *' If you start at 
 once, the road will be found comparatively safe." 
 In a quarter of an hour he would send word, 
 ** Emma has just come in, and reports an 
 ambush at the river mouth." Then in ten 
 minutes, *' Martha informs me that the Hau- 
 haus have retired to the forest." 
 
 My reply was always the same : " My dear 
 McDonnell, give the word, and I am off. I will 
 take whatever risk you consider reasonable." 
 
 At length a Maori boy appeared, leading a 
 
 iSS
 
 156 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 starved-looking wild horse. The horse had on 
 a halter-bridle and an old saddle with a stirrup 
 on one side and a piece of rope, as a substitute, 
 on the other. The boy was mounted bareback, 
 with a loop of rope round his horse's nose. 
 
 McDonnell said, '' Now, start at once, and 
 gallop along the sea beach ! Once you have 
 crossed the river, which is only five or six 
 miles distant, you may strike inland, and will 
 be comparatively safe." 
 
 Maori horses always travel with their heads 
 up in the air, and gallop recklessly as long as 
 they have a leg under them. Away we went, 
 the Maori boy leading. We very soon arrived 
 at the river, which at the mouth looked about 
 150 yards wide, and was in flood. The boy 
 dismounted and hunted up and down the river 
 for a canoe. After a time he returned and 
 said, "The canoe has been washed away. 
 The river is too high and broad for these 
 horses to carry us over. We must either 
 return or travel inland in search of a ford." 
 
 We travelled up the bank of the river for 
 miles. At length we saw a practical ford. We 
 were half-way across when Maori in numbers 
 came running towards us. 
 
 I cried out in a loud voice, according to 
 Maori custom, —
 
 BEGUILING THE NGATIPUKEKA 157 
 
 *' How are you ? How are you all ? It is a 
 great pleasure to see you ! " 
 
 This rather staggered the Ngatipukeka. I 
 had just dropped into their power. They had 
 not spoken to a white man since the death of 
 Volckner. I rode straight up, and shook hands 
 with many of them, then dismounted and 
 handed the halter of my horse to a youth who 
 stood near. The Maori looked much surprised, 
 and immediately assembled in numbers to 
 gratify their curiosity, and hear the news. I 
 wore a sword over my waterproof coat, and had 
 on a forage cap with V.R. on it in large gold 
 letters. As they evidently expected me to say 
 something, I looked wise and solemn, and told 
 them to collect all their people for a talk in the 
 afternoon. This quite satisfied them. I then 
 moved about amongst the people and made 
 friends. In particular, I sought to ingratiate 
 myself with the women, so as to extract from 
 their talk some inkling of the public feel- 
 ing. 
 
 Whilst walking about and chatting, I studied 
 with minute attention the facial expression 
 of each male adult Maori I came in contact 
 with. At length I picked out a man I con- 
 sidered trustworthy, and secretly handed him a 
 flask of spirits I carried in my breast pocket.
 
 158 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 This was a propitiatory offering, and he took 
 it as such. 
 
 About four o'clock in the afternoon a large 
 wood fire was lit. An old marquee tent, evi- 
 dently carried off from our men as the result 
 of some sudden surprise, was pitched to the 
 leeward of the fire. My place was allotted in 
 front of the tent door. The most important 
 chiefs were seated to my right and left, and the 
 tribe generally — men, women and children — 
 completed the circle. Dead silence prevailed. 
 It was clear I was expected to speak. I knew 
 better than that. I had often seen Donald 
 McLean at these runangas, and I knew that 
 a great chief must cultivate silence and imper- 
 turbability. It is the custom at these meetings 
 for the least important people to speak first. 
 My object was to gain time, study the attitude 
 and temper of the Ngatipukeka, and frame my 
 address to suit it. 
 
 Speeches were delivered for about an hour 
 and a half. The chief men both on my right 
 and left had spoken, and the temper of the tribe 
 had been played upon, according to the vary- 
 ing humour of the orators. 
 
 I rose, and said, — 
 
 ''Salutations to you, O Ngatipukeka! I 
 have come from Wellington. Governor Grey
 
 BEGUILING THE NGATIPUKEKA 159 
 
 is sad at the slaughter of his children of both 
 races. There has been enough fighting. Let 
 us have peace, and live in brotherly content- 
 ment. It has not been the custom of great 
 tribes to fight for ever. You have had satis- 
 faction ; we have had satisfaction. Let the 
 dead on each side rise up, and attest this truth. 
 I have spoken." 
 
 Complete silence followed. Then up rose a 
 chief, whose bitter hostility I had noted from 
 the beginning. 
 
 " What the Queen s officer says may be well. 
 But what about the Arawa ? They are now 
 all armed with rifles, well-fed and equipped. 
 The Europeans are their friends. The sea is 
 open to them for supplies. Once peace is 
 made, the soldiers will be withdrawn to Eng- 
 land. The Arawas w^ill fall upon us, and our 
 fate will be hard indeed. Already they have 
 driven off all our cattle. The soldiers guard 
 the Maketu River ; we cannot recover them. 
 What does the Pakeha say ? " 
 
 I arose, and, gazing around with sneering 
 lip and distended nostril, said, — 
 
 " Ah, great is the wisdom of the council- 
 chief ; far-reaching his guile ; deep as the 
 ocean his love for his people. Has he for- 
 gotten that the Arawas, even with the assist-
 
 i6o A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 ance of the soldiers, could not conquer the 
 Ngatipukeka ? Is he not aware that, in order 
 to steal cattle, the Arawa had to come like 
 thieves in the night — not like warriors in the 
 morning ? Once peace with the Europeans is 
 made, ask your war-chiefs whether the Arawa 
 will not fade away before your valour, as their 
 ancestors did. I have spoken. Yet great is 
 the Pakeha's admiration for the courage of 
 your tribe. Write now a letter challenging 
 the Arawa to meet you in combat. I will 
 deliver it in person. Send a detachment of your 
 men with me. Once landed on the opposite 
 bank of the river, I shall hurl defiance at the 
 Arawa in your name. Kati — enough." 
 
 I had outflanked the wily old devil, and he 
 knew it. Food was served ; wild pig, potatoes, 
 and tea, made of the leaf of the ti-tree. At 
 length numbers of us crowded into the tent, 
 and slept like herrings in a tin case. 
 
 About two o'clock there was an alarm. 
 First I felt my revolver, thinking my last hour 
 had come. Soon I perceived the tent was on 
 fire. The fire was extinguished, but the tent was 
 destroyed. We all lay down on the ground. 
 Soon it began to rain, and soaked us to the bone. 
 We arose in the morning, and I was summoned 
 by a council of chiefs to consider the terms of
 
 BEGUILING THE NGATIPUKEKA 161 
 
 the challenge to the Arawa. My enemy was 
 there. I knew by instinct he had drafted the 
 challenge. The pen used was a sharpened 
 stick. The ink had been made of moistened 
 powder. 
 
 I read the challenge with an air of much 
 scorn, laid it down, took it up again, carefully 
 studied every word of it, altering the ex- 
 pression of my countenance from scorn to 
 deep, unimpassioned thought. I knew I had 
 my antagonist in an agony of solicitude. I 
 had destroyed his wisdom last night. What 
 might I not do this morning? After much 
 anxious thought I said, '* It is good." I had 
 secured the friendship of the writer. My life 
 was safe. 
 
 I folded up the challenge, which was written 
 on a piece of cartridge-paper, in my pocket 
 case. The council broke up, and I retired 
 alone. On my way I met the Maori to whom 
 I had given my spirit-flask the day before. 
 He made a sign to me, and I accompanied 
 him into the scrub. Once there, he took from 
 under his mat my spirit-flask, and handed it 
 back to me. I said, — 
 
 " Keep it : it is for you." 
 
 He said, '' Unscrew the top." 
 
 I did so. The liquor had not been touched
 
 i62 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 I was amazed. Here was a man who had 
 not tasted liquor for years, and yet, out of 
 delicacy for my position, had resisted the temp- 
 tation during such a night. I said, — 
 
 ''Drink!" 
 
 He replied : '' No. You are a stranger 
 and a guest. No man would do such a thing." 
 
 I said : " It is yours, not mine. Drink." 
 
 He said : '' Drink first, then." 
 
 I did so, merely tasting it, then handed him 
 the flask. He emptied it at a draught. 
 
 " Keep the flask in memory of me." 
 
 He did so, and we parted. 
 
 Accompanied by an escort, I rode to the 
 Maketu River. There dismounting, I 
 
 approached the bank, and taking out a white 
 handkerchief waved it for some time. My 
 escort stood back under cover of some scrub. 
 Soon the Arawa sent over a canoe. On ar- 
 rival at the opposite shore, I handed the Arawa 
 the Ngatipukeka challenge. My escort came 
 forth and danced defiance on their bank. 
 The Arawa responded in kind. The incident 
 was over : I was safe.
 
 COUNCIL CHIEF OF THE NGATIPUKEKA
 
 SIR GEORGE GREY AND 
 GENERAL CHUTE 
 
 .63
 
 XVII 
 
 THE great difficulty experienced by General 
 Cameron in conducting the war consisted 
 in the intricate series of obstacles put in his way 
 by Governor Grey. Sir George Grey was 
 an extremely polished, gentlemanly, handsome 
 man, with a soft manner and a seething vol- 
 cano for a heart. He hated General Cameron, 
 with the cold, concentrated rage of a self- 
 devouring nature. I could tell you precisely 
 the why and wherefore, were I in a confidential 
 mood. I am only concerned now with my 
 final interview with General Chute. I met him 
 in Wellington. He came forward, and said, — 
 
 '' Well, how is your good lady ? " 
 
 (He was himself still a bachelor.) 
 
 ''Very well, indeed, thank you. General. By 
 the way, General, how did you get on with Sir 
 George Grey ? " 
 
 " I had no trouble with him whatever." 
 
 " How did you manage ? " 
 
 " Sir George always sent for me, and said, 
 
 165
 
 1 66 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 * You know, General, we must do so and so, 
 
 and so and so.' 
 
 '' I replied, ' Yes, Your Excellency.' 
 
 *' He invariably wound up by saying, * Now, 
 
 General, you thoroughly understand the policy 
 
 unfolded and the plan of campaign ? ' And I 
 
 replied, ' Yes, Your Excellency.' 
 
 '' As soon as I had gone away, I sat down 
 
 and wrote him the followinor letter : — 
 
 *' ' To His Excellency, 
 
 Sir George Grey, K.C.B., 
 
 Commander-in-Chief of Her Majesty's 
 Naval and Military Forces. 
 
 "'Sir,— 
 
 *' * I have the honour to inform you I am 
 troubled with a very bad memory, and I have 
 quite forgotten all you said to me, and will you 
 be good enough to put your instructions in 
 writing ? 
 
 *' ' I have, etc., 
 
 " 'Trevor Chute, 
 
 '' ' Major-General.' 
 
 " He never put anything in writing, and I 
 did whatever I liked ; and so, you see, I finished 
 the campaign in a few months."
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 167
 
 XVIII 
 
 THE New Zealand War lasted about ten 
 years. It might well have lasted another 
 seven, had it not been for the good sense of 
 the Maori. 
 
 What can a civilized nation do with a race 
 which considers the most extraordinary achieve- 
 ments easy and natural ? We had about one 
 hundred and twenty Maori imprisoned in a 
 hulk anchored miles out of Wellington Har- 
 bour. These were men Colonel McDonnell 
 had taken as prisoners. Amongst them was 
 the one-legged hero of Kakaramea, whose 
 story I told on a former occasion. One very 
 stormy night a strong nor'-wester was blowing. 
 The sea was washed into foam, and the waves 
 were breaking over the old hulk as she lay at 
 anchor. The military guard being for the 
 most part comfortably asleep, the Maori slid 
 one by one out of the porthole, and drifted 
 with the wind to Nghauranga, swimming a 
 
 distance of about four miles. 
 
 169
 
 170 A SKETCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR 
 
 Their chief was old and feeble, so their 
 strongest men took it in turns to support him 
 in the water. Some of their bravest were 
 worn out and drowned in this heroic service. 
 The whole of the prisoners, including the old 
 chief and the one-legged hero of Kakaramea, 
 with the exception of five who were drowned 
 in the struggle to save their chief, landed in 
 safety, and had so effectually disappeared by 
 daylight that we never saw any more of them. 
 
 The Maori were never conquered. They 
 might have been exterminated — conquered in 
 a military sense, no. They realized that a 
 Maori kingdom in which the White Man 
 should be subject to the Maori had become an 
 impossibility, and therefore ceased fighting. 
 
 As a race they had never despised or hated 
 the White Man. They determined as a piece 
 of statecraft to become one with the white 
 people, and they have succeeded in every par- 
 ticular. The Maori never faltered with his 
 self-respect. No single Maori ever betrayed 
 his race. 
 
 The Maori made the best of his position, 
 took all he could get, and yielded as little as 
 possible. For all practical purposes we are 
 one people and proud to remain so ; and cer- 
 tainly neither In intellect, physique, nor morals
 
 CONCLUSION 171 
 
 can the Maori well be considered our inferiors. 
 Unfortunately they are not our equals in sus- 
 tained industry. If they fail to correct that 
 deficiency, they must go under. We shall be 
 the first to mourn their fall. 
 
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 recommended from which to study the growth of the Empire and 
 the underlying principles which bind it into so pow^erful a nation." 
 
 The Story of India 
 
 The Morning Post says: "A sterling little book." 
 The Times says : " Will supply much new knowledge." 
 
 The Story of Australia 
 
 The Athenaeum says: "An excellent short history." 
 The Spectator says : " Reads like a delightful romance." 
 
 The Story of Canada 
 
 The Daily Chronicle says : "A well-told and s>Tnpathetic tale." 
 The Globe says: " This careful narrative should be placed in 
 the hands of all young people." 
 
 The Story of South Africa 
 
 The Church Times says: "A thrilling and impressive story." 
 The Critic says: "The best elementary primer of South 
 African history yet published." 
 
 New Zealand 
 
 The Spectator says : " Wonderfully well written." 
 
 The Daily News says : " A model of what such books should 
 
 be, so ingeniously are facts, figures, and story woven together. 
 
 A brilliant little essay." 
 
 The Story of the West Indies 
 
 The Athenseum says : " An admirable volume, readable from 
 the first line to the last, and perfectly accurate." 
 
 Literature says : " Just now the public will be glad to be able 
 to consult so convenient and useful a work as Mr. Kennedy's." 
 
 London : HORACE MARSHALL & SON
 
 Studies of the Mind and Art 
 of Robert Browning 
 
 By JAMES FOTHERINGHAM.- 
 
 Crown Svo, 570 pages. Price *]$. 6d. 
 
 Literature says : " It is sound, sympathetic, and readable." 
 
 The Bishop of Durham writes: "I read the first edition with very great 
 interest and profit, and have frequently [had the pleasure of recommending it to 
 friends as (in my opinion) the best introduction to the study of Browning." 
 
 -^ 
 
 Wordsworth's Prelude as a 
 of Education 
 
 Study 
 
 By JAMES FOTHERINGHAM. 
 
 Price One Shilling Net. 
 
 The Adventures of Ulysses 
 
 By CHARLES LAMB. 
 
 Edited by E. E. SPEIGHT, B.A. With an Introduction by Sir 
 GEORGE BIRDWOOD, K.C.I.E., LL.D. 
 
 Illustrated from Ancient Greek Pictures. 
 Price Tenpence net. 
 
 -^ 
 
 Stories from the Northern 
 
 Sagas 
 
 Edited by E. E. SPEIGHT and A. F. MAJOR. With an Intro- 
 duction by Prof. F. YORK POWELL, M.A. 
 Price One Shilling net. 
 
 -^ 
 
 The Life of Sir Stamford 
 Raffles 
 
 Founder of Singapore and of the Zoo 
 By DEMETRIUS C. BOULGER. 
 
 Cheap Edition. With many Illustrations. 
 
 London : HORACE MARSHALL & SON
 
 UCSB LIBRARY