A little Affair of "Flotsam and Jetsam."--Rebellion crushed in
the Bud.--A Pakeha's House sacked.--Maori Law.--A Maori Lawsuit.
--Affair thrown into Chancery.
Pakehas, though precious in the good old times, would sometimes get
into awkward scrapes. Accidents, I have observed, will happen at the
best of times. Some time after the matters I have been recounting
happened, two of the pakehas, who were "knocking about" Mr. ----'s
premises, went fishing. One of them was a very respectable old
man-of-war's man, the other was the connoisseur of heads; who, I may as
well mention, was thought to be one of that class who never could
remember to a nicety how they had come into the country, or where they
came from.
It so happened that on their return, the little boat, not being well
fastened, went adrift in the night, and was cast on shore at about four
miles distance, in the dominions of a petty chief who was a sort of
vassal or retainer of ours. He did not belong to the tribe, and lived
on the land by the permission of our chief as a sort of tenant at will.
Of late an ill-feeling had grown up between him and the principal
chief. The vassal had in fact begun to show some airs of independence,
and had collected more men about him than our chief cared to see; but
up to this time there had been no regular outbreak between them:
possibly because the vassal had not yet sufficient force to declare
independence formally. Our chief was, however, watching for an excuse
to fall out with him before he should grow too strong. As soon as it
was heard where the boat was, the two men went for it as a matter of
course; little thinking that this encroaching vassal would have the
insolence to claim the right of "flotsam and jetsam," which belonged to
the principal chief, and which was always waived in favour of his
pakehas. On arrival, however, at this rebellious chief's dominions,
they were informed that it was his intention to stick to the boat until
he was paid a "stocking of gunpowder"--meaning a quantity as much as a
stocking would hold, which was the regular standard measure in those
days in that locality. A stocking of gunpowder! who ever heard of such
an awful imposition? The demand was enormous in value and rebellious in
principle. The thing must be put an end to at once. The principal chief
did not hesitate: rebellion must be crushed in the bud. He at once
mustered his whole force (he did not approve of "little wars"), and
sent them off under the command of the Relation Eater, who served an
ejectment in regular Maori form, by first plundering the village and
then burning it to ashes; also destroying the cultivation and
provisions, and forcing the vassal to decamp with all his people on
pain of instant massacre--a thing they did not lose a moment in doing;
and I don't think they either ate or slept till they had got fifty
miles off, where a tribe related to them received them and gave them a
welcome.
Well, about three months after this, about day-light in the morning, I
was aroused by a great uproar of men shouting, doors smashing, and
women screaming. Up I jumped, and pulling on a few clothes in less
time, I am sure, than ever I had done before my in life, out I ran, and
at once perceived that Mr. ----'s premises were being sacked by the
rebellious vassal, who had returned with about fifty men, and was
taking this means of revenging himself for the rough handling he had
received from our chief. Men were rushing in mad haste through the
smashed windows and doors, loaded with anything and everything they
could lay hands on. The chief was stamping against the door of a room
in which he was aware the most valuable goods were kept, and shouting
for help to break it open. A large canoe was floating close to the
house, and was being rapidly filled with plunder. I saw a fat old Maori
woman, who was washerwoman to the establishment, being dragged along
the ground by a huge fellow who was trying to tear from her grasp one
of my shirts, to which she clung with perfect desperation. I perceived
at a glance that the faithful old creature would probably save a
sleeve. A long line of similar articles, my property, which had graced
the _taiepa_ fence the night before, had disappeared.
The old man-of-war's man had placed his back exactly opposite to that
part of the fence where hung a certain striped cotton shirt and
well-scrubbed canvas trowsers, which _could_ belong to no one but
himself. He was "hitting out" lustily right and left. Mr. ---- had been
absent some days on a journey, and the head merchant, as we found after
all was over, was hiding under a bed. When the old sailor saw me, he
"sang out," in a voice clear as a bell, and calculated to be distinctly
heard above the din:--"Hit out, sir, if you please; let's make a fight
of it the best we can; our mob will be here in five minutes; Tahuna has
run to fetch them." While he thus gave both advice and information, he
also set a good example, having delivered just one thump per word, or
thereabouts. The odds were terrible, but the time was short that I was
required to fight; so I at once floored a native who was rushing by me.
He fell like a man shot, and I then perceived he was one of our own
people who had been employed about the place; so, to balance things, I
knocked down another, and then felt myself seized round the waist from
behind, by a fellow who seemed to be about as strong as a horse.
At this moment I cast an anxious glance around the field of battle. The
old Maori woman had, as I expected, saved a good half of my shirt; she
had got on the top of an outhouse, and was waving it in a "Sister Anne"
sort of manner, and calling to an imaginary friendly host which she
pretended to see advancing to the rescue. The old sailor had fallen
under, but not surrendered to, superior force. Three natives had got
him down; but it took all they could do to _keep_ him down: he was
evidently carrying out his original idea of making a fight of it, and
gaining time. The striped shirt and canvas trowsers still hung proudly
on the fence; none of his assailants could spare a second to pull them
down. I was kicking and flinging in the endeavour to extricate myself;
or, at least, to turn round, so as to carry out a "face to face"
policy: which it would be a grand mistake to suppose was not understood
long ago in the good old times.
I had nearly succeeded, and was thinking what particular form of
destruction I should shower on the foe, when a tremendous shout was
heard. It was "our mob" coming to the rescue; and, like heroes of old,
"sending their voice before them." In an instant both myself and the
gallant old tar were released; the enemy dashed on board their canoe,
and in another moment were off, darting away before a gale of wind and
a fair tide at a rate that put half a mile at least between them and us
before our protectors came up. "Load the gun!" cried the sailor--(there
was a nine-pound carronade on the cliff before the house, overlooking
the river). A cartridge was soon found, and a shot, and the gun loaded.
"Slew her a little," cried my now commander; "fetch a fire stick."
"Aye, aye, sir" (from self). "Wait a little; that will do--Fire!"--(in
a voice as if ordering the discharge of the whole broadside of a
three-decker). Bang! The elevation was perfectly correct. The shot
struck the water at exactly the right distance, and only a few feet to
one side. A very few feet more to the right and the shot would have
entered the stern of the canoe, and, as she was end on to us, would
have killed half the people in her. A miss, however, is as good as a
mile off. The canoe disappeared behind a point, and there we were with
an army of armed friends around us, who, by making great expedition,
had managed to come exactly in time to be too late.
This was a _taua muru_ (a robbing expedition) in revenge for the leader
having been cleaned out by our chief, which gave them the right to rob
any one connected with, related to, or under the protection of, our
chief aforesaid, provided always that they were able. We, on the other
hand, had the clear right to kill any of the robbers, which would then
have given them the right to kill us; but until we killed some of them,
it would not have been "correct" for them to have taken life, so they
managed the thing neatly, in order that they should have no occasion to
do so. The whole proceeding was unobjectionable in every respect, and
_tika_ (correct). Had we put in our nine-pound shot at the stern of
their canoe, it would have been correct also; but as we were not able,
we had no right whatever to complain.
The above is good law: and here I may as well inform the New Zealand
public that I am going to write the whole law of this land in a book,
which I shall call "_Ko nga ture_;" and as I intend it for the good of
both races, I shall mix the two languages up in such a way that neither
can understand; but this does not matter, as I shall add a "glossary,"
in Coptic, to make things clear.
Some time after this, a little incident worth noting happened at my
friend Mr. ----'s place. Our chief had, for some time back, a sort of
dispute with another magnate, who lived about ten miles off. I really
cannot say who was in the right: the arguments on both sides were so
nearly balanced, that I should not like to commit myself to a judgment
in the case. The question was at last brought to a fair hearing at my
friend's house. The arguments on both sides were very forcible; so much
so that in the course of the arbitration our chief and thirty of his
principal witnesses were shot dead in a heap before my friend's door,
and sixty others badly wounded, and my friend's house and store blown
up and burnt to ashes.
My friend was all but, or, indeed, quite ruined; but it would not have
been "correct" for him to complain--_his_ loss in goods being far
overbalanced by the loss of the tribe in men. He was, however, consoled
by hundreds of friends who came in large parties to condole and _tangi_
with him, and who, as was quite correct in such cases, shot and ate all
his stock, sheep, pigs, goats, ducks, geese, fowls, &c., all in high
compliment to himself: at which he felt proud, as a well conducted and
conditioned pakeha Maori (as he was) should do. He did not, however,
survive these honours long, poor fellow. He died; and, strange to say,
no one knew exactly what was the matter with him: some said it was the
climate, they thought.
After this, the land about which this little misunderstanding had
arisen, was, so to speak, "thrown into chancery," where it has now
remained about forty years. But I hear that proceedings are to commence
_de novo_ (no allusion to the "new system") next summer, or at farthest
the summer after; and as I witnessed the first proceedings, when the
case comes on again "may I be there to see."