Old New Zealand: A Tale of the Good Old Times: And a History of the War in the North against the Chief Heke, in the Year 1845Maning, Frederick Edward
History
Old New Zealand: A Tale of the Good Old Times: And a History of the War in the North against the Chief Heke, in the Year 1845
Maning, Frederick Edward
Māori (New Zealand people) -- Social life and customs; New Zealand -- Description and travel
As the soldiers chased Kawiti, the pa fired on them from the left, so
that they had Kawiti in front and the pa on the left, both firing,
and therefore lost many men; but having beaten Kawiti off, they
returned and took shelter in the Maori breastwork, and began again to
fire at the pa. So they fired, and the pa returned the fire, and the
main body of the soldiers who were at the front of the pa fired. Lead
whistled through the air in all directions, the whole country seemed
on fire, and brave men worked their work. Then Tupori, a chief who was
in the pa with Heke, saw that Kawiti had elevated his name, for he had
fought the soldiers hand to hand twice--once at Kororareka, and once
on this day; and seeing this, Tupori wished also to do something to
make his name heard; he therefore cried out for only twenty men to
follow him, and he would charge the soldiers. Then twenty men rushed
out of the pa with Tupori; they ran straight up the hill to the
breastwork, the soldiers firing on them all the time, but without
hitting one man. So Tupori and his twenty men came quite up to the
breastwork, and stood upon the top of the bank, and fired their
double-barrel guns in the soldiers' faces, and drove them out of the
breastwork. The soldiers retreated a short distance, and Tupori and
his people began collecting the bundles of cartridges which the
soldiers had left behind; and while they were doing this, the soldiers
suddenly came rushing upon them. Their charge was very grand, and
terrible to look at. They came rushing on in great anger, shouting and
_cursing_ at the Maori. So Tupori and his men ran away to the pa, and
as they ran the soldiers fired at their backs, and killed two men,
and wounded Tupori in the leg. The rest got safe into the pa, and took
Tupori and the two dead men along with them. Great is the courage of
Tupori! he has made his name heard as that of a _toa_. But it was not
right for the soldiers to curse the Maori, for up to this time nothing
wrong had been done on either side, and so the Maori were much
surprised to hear the soldiers cursing and swearing at them.
After this the soldiers fired at the pa all day, but only killed three
men, besides the two men killed in the charge of Tupori; these five
men were all killed belonging to the pa that day. When it was near
night, the soldiers went back to Walker's camp at Okaihau, taking with
them their wounded, and also two or three dead; but about ten dead
were left behind at Taumata Tutu, where they fell in the fight with
Kawiti.
So Heke remained in possession of the battle plain (_te papa_), and
his pa was not taken, and he buried the dead of the soldiers. But one
soldier who had been wounded, and left behind by the side of the lake,
was found next morning by two slaves, and they pretended they were
friends, and got his gun from him, and then they took him to the lake
and held his head under water till he was dead.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account