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 — John Shaqi
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
So the guns fired away, and after a few days the fence was completely
down in many places, for the shot came like a shower of hail; but not
many were killed in the pa, for they had plenty of houses under ground
which the shot could not reach; but they were out of all patience, by
reason of the pot guns (mortars). These guns had shot which were
hollow exactly like a calabash, and they were full of gunpowder, and
they came tumbling into the pa, one after another, and they would
hardly be on the ground before they would burst with a great noise;
and no sooner would one burst than another would burst; and so they
came one after another so fast that the people in the pa could get no
rest, and were getting quite deaf. These guns, however, never killed
any one. They are a very vexatious invention for making people deaf,
and preventing them from getting any sleep. One good thing about them
is, that, whenever one of the shots does not burst, a considerable
number of charges of powder for a musket can be got out of it; and
whenever one dropped close to any of the men in the pa, he would pull
out the _wicki_ (fuse), and then get out the powder. A good deal of
powder was procured in this way.
The pot guns are to make people deaf, and keep them from sleeping; the
rockets are to kill people and burn their houses. A rocket knocked off
the head of a woman in the pa, but did not hurt a child she had on her
back at the time. Another took off the head of a young man of the
Kapotai; another took out the stomach of a slave called Hi; he
belonged to the Wharepapa chief of the Ihutai. This slave lived till
night, crying for some one to shoot him, and then died. One man was
killed by a cannon ball which came through the fence and knocked his
leg off as easily as if it had been a boiled potato. The man was a
warrior of the Ngati Kahununu, from the south; when he saw his leg was
off above the knee, he cried out, "Look here, the iron has run away
with my leg; what playful creatures these cannon balls are!" When he
said this, he fell back and died, smiling, as brave warriors do.
There was not many killed in the pa, for the people kept under ground;
neither did the soldiers lose many men, for they kept at a distance,
and let the big guns and rockets do all the work. One evening a strong
party rushed out of the pa and attacked Walker's men, and a pretty
smart fight ensued. Now, this party were for the most part of the
Kapotai tribe, who had killed Hauraki at Waikare, and among Walker's
men were several young men, cousins of Hauraki, who had come to seek
revenge; and these young men fought with great spirit, and one of them
killed Ripiro, a Kapotai, and took his name.[43] Some others of the
Kapotai were killed, and others wounded, but none of Walker's men were
killed, and only a few wounded. Amongst the wounded, however, was that
brave warrior Wi Repa, who had three fingers of his left hand shot
off, being the second time he had been wounded during the war.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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