A voyage around the world : New Zealand

Front matter

it Ht

AVOYAGE ROUND

THE WORLD EE

Contents

CHAPTER VIIL e CHAPTER IX. | i

B NORTHWARD .¢ oe 4 Gl UU, ‘ ‘ nie e CHAPTER X, :

we “THE NATIONAL RIVER . « +» -0 «6 e

Chapter I

THE MACQUARIE, faa\F ever the searchers after Captain Grant were 4 tempted to despair, surely it was at this = moment when all their hopes were destroyed ata blow. Towards what quarter of the world should they direct their endeavours? How were they to explore -w countries ? The Duncan was no longer available, even an immediate return to their own land out of the question. Thus the enterprise of these rous Scots had failed. Failed! a despairing word finds no echo ina brave soul; and yet under the ated blows of adverse fate, Glenarvan himself was pelled to Meee oe his inability to EEGSEORLY his

2 The Macquarie. — ag eye ne ne re meer re EE CTT unfortunate crew who had perished. The daughter a was merged in the friend, and she now took upon her ss to console Lady Glenarvan, who till now had been her faithful comforter! She was the first to speak of “ returning to Scotland. John Mangles was filled with admitation at seeing her so courageous and so resigned. He wanted to say a word further in the captain’s inte- ‘est, but Mary stopped him with a glance, and aftervards said to him, : .

“No, Mr. John, we must think of those who ventured their lives. Lord Glenarvan must return to Europe!” |

“You are right, Miss Mary,” answered John Mangles, “he must. Besides, the English authorities _ must be informed of sthe fate of the Duncan. But do not despair. Rather than abandon our search, I will resume it alone! I will either find Captain Grant OF perish in the attempt!”

It was a serious undertaking to which John Mangles bound himself; Mary accepted it, and gave her hand to the young captain, as if to ratify the treaty. On Joh Mangles’ side it was a life’s devotion, on Mary’ S, une dying gratitude. ;

During that day, their departure was finall arranged; they resolved to reach Melbourne withou delay. Next day John went to inquire about the ships — ready to sail. He expected to find frequent —<—— cation between Eden and Victoria, |

Thre e€ 0

He was disappointed ; ; ships were scarce.

the

Peninsular and

* points aa England.

Under these circumstances what was to be done? | Waiting for a ship might be a tedious affair, for Twofold Bay is not much frequented. Numbers of ships ass By without touching.

_ The geographer had visited Twofold Bay on his a own account, and was aware that there were no means of transport for Sydney or Melbourne.

— But of the three vessels anchored in ie roadstead,

BP egumncnts he merenally induleed in. Lie confined himsclf to the bare proposition, adding that the voyage te New Zealand was only five or six days—the distance, epct being only about a thousand miles.

8 By a singular coincidence Auckland is situated on the _self-same parallel—the thirty-seventh—which the explorers had perseveringly followed since they left the coast of Araucania. Pagancl might fairly have used this as an argument in favour of his scheme ; in fact, it wa: a natural opportunity of visiting the shores of New Zealand.

But Paganel did not lay stress on this argument. After two mistakes, he probably hesitated to attempt a third interpretation of the document. Besides, what | could be made of it? It said positively that a “ continent ” had served as a refuge for Captain Grant, not ai island. Now, New Zealand was nothing but an island. This seemed decisive. Whether for this reason, or for some other, Pagane] did not connect any idea of furthe easy to take ne. of it.

Jenn Mangles ae rages proposal.

visit the ship mentioned by the geographer. ~ Glenar van, the Major, Paganel, Robert, and Mangles hin self, took a boat, and a few strokes brought the:

various ports ” of Australia and New Zealand. captain, or rather the “ master” received his visit gruffly enough. They perceived that they had to do % with a man of no education, and whose manners were pein no degree superior to those of the five sailors of his crew. With a coarse, red face, thick hands, and a broken nose, blind of an eye, and his lips stained with person. But they had no choice, and for so short ~ avoyage it was not necessary to be very particular.

_ “What do you want?” asked Will Halley, when the ‘strangers stepped on the poop of his ship.

> answered John Maneles.

“The captain,’

“Tam the captain,” said Halley. ‘ What else do you want?”

“The Macquarie is loading for Auckland, I believe ? ”

“Yes. What else?”

“ What does she carry ?”

“Everything saleable and purchaseable. What else? ”

“When does she sail ? ”

- “To-morrow at the mid-day tide. What else?” “Does she take passengers ? ”

a “That depends on who the passengers are, and __whether they are satisfied with the ship’s mess.” | © They would bring their own provisions.”

«What else?” 2 What else? ”

“© Yes. How many are there?”

“ Nine; two of them are ladies.”

“ T have no cabins.”

é The Macquarie.

“We will manage with such space as may be left — at their disposal.”’

« What else? ””

“Do you agree?” said John Mangles, who was not in the least put out by the captain’s peculiaritics.

“We'll sce,” said the master of the Macquarie.

Will Halley took two or three turns on the poop, making it resound with his iron-heeled boots, and then he turned abruptly to John Mangles.

“What would you pay?” said he.

‘© What do you ask?” replied John.

“Fifty pounds.”

Glenarvan looked consent.

“Very good! Fifty pounds,” replied John Manegles,

“ But passage only,” added Halley.

“Yes, passage only.”

“Food extra:7?

SExtracZ

“ Agreed. And now,” said Will, putting out his hand, “ what about the deposit money ?”

“Here is half of the passage-money, twenty-five pounds,” said Mangles, counting out the sum to the master who pocketed it without a word.

« All aboard to-morrow,” said he, “before noon Whether or no, I weigh anchor.”

“ We will be punctual.”

This said, G'enarvan, the Major, Robert, Paganel, and John Mangles left the ship, Halley not so much as touching the oilskin that adorned his red locks.

“What a brute!” exclaimed John. :

The Macquarie. 5

—

“ He will do,” answered Paganel. “ He is a regular sea-wolf.”

“ A downright bear!” added the Major.

*‘T fancy,” said John Mangles, “ that the said bear has dealt in human fiesh in his time.”

“What matter?” answered Glenarvan, “as long as he commands the Macquarie, and the Macquarie goes to New Zealand. From Twofold Bay to Auckland we shall not see much of him; after Auckland we shall see him no more.”

Lady Helena and Mary Grant were delighted to near that their departure was arranged for to-morrow. Glenarvan warned them that the Macquarie was inferior incomfort to the Duncan. But after what they had gone through, they were indifferent to trifling annoyances. M. Olbinett was requested to look after the commissariat. The poor man, since the loss of the Duncan, had often lamented the fate of the unfortunate Mrs, Olbinett, who had remained on board, and of course had fallen a victim with the rest of the crew to the ferocity of the convicts. Still, he fulfilled his duties as steward with unflageing zeal, and the provisions consisted of choice stores which did not generally figure in the dietary scale of the brig. In a few hours his arrangements were complete.

While these preparations were going on, the Major went to cash some drafts Glenarvan had on the Union Bank of Melbourne. He did not like to go unprovided with gold, nor yet without arms and ammunition ; therefore he restocked his arsenal. As to Paganel, he a : The Macquarie.

a re ee provided himself with an excellent map of New Zealand, published by Johnston of Edinburgh.

Mulrady was ‘going on nicely. He felt very little pain from the wound that so nearly cost him his life. Some hours at sea would complete his cure. He looked on the Pacific breezes as a panacea for his ills.

Wilson was told off to arrange the accommodation on board the Macquarie. Under his busy brush and broom things soon changed their aspect.

Will Halley shrugged his shoulders, and let the sailor have his way. Glenarvan and his party gave him no concern. He neither knew, nor cared to know, their names. His new freight represented fifty pounds, and he rated it far below the two hundred tons of cured hides, which were stowed away in his hold. Skins first, men after. He was a merchant. As to his sailor qualification, he was said to be skilful enough in navigating these seas, whose reefs make them very dangcrous.

As the day drew to a close, Glenarvan had a desire to go again to the point on the coast cut by the 37th parallel. Two motives prompted him. He wanted to examine once more the presumed scene of the wreck. Ayrton had certainly been quartermaster on the Britannia, and the Britannia might have been lost on this part of the Australian coast ; on the east coast if not on the west. It would not do to leave without thorough investigation a locality which they were never to revisit.

‘ wl Nee

Se ee ee eee

_And then, failing the Britannia, the Duncan certainly fell into the hands of the convicts. Perhaps there had been a fight? There might yet be found on the coast traces of a struggle, a last resistance. If the crew perished among the waves, the waves probably threw some bodies on the shore.

Glenarvan, accompanied by his faithful John, went to carry out the final search. The landlord of the Victoria Hotel lent them two horses, and they set out on the northern road that skirts Twofold Bay.

It was a melancholy journey. Glenarvan and

Captain John trotted along without speaking, but they understood each other. The same thoughts, the same anguish harrowed both their hearts. They looked at the sea-worn rocks ; they needed no words of question or answer. John’s well-tried zcal and intelligence were a guarantee that every point was scrupulously examined, the least likely places, as well as the sloping beaches and sandy plains where even the slight tides of the Pacific might have thrown some fragments of wreck.

But no indication was seen that could suggest further scarch in that quarter—all trace of the wreck escaped them still.

As to the Duncan, no trace either. All that part of Australia, bordering the ocean, was desert.

Still John Mangles discovered on the skirts of the shore evident traces of camping, remains of fires recently kindled under solitary Myall-trees. Had a tribe of wandering blacks passed that way lately? No, for Glenarvan saw a token which furnished incontestable

‘The M acquarte. 9 yy

10 The Macquarte.

proof that the convicts had frequented that part of the coast.

This token was a grey and yellow garment worn and patched, an ill-omened rag thrown down at the foot of atree. It bore the convict’s original number at the Perth Penitentiary. The felon was not there, but his filthy garments betrayed his passage. This livery of crime, after having clothed some miscreant, was now decaying on this desert shore.

“You see, John,” said Glenarvan, “the convicts got as far as nere! and our poor comrades of the Duncan—— ¢ ”

“Yes,” said John, in a low voice, “they never ‘anded, they perished ! ”

“Those wretches?” cried Glenarvan. “If ever 3)

they fall into my hands I will avenge my crew

Grief had hardened Glenarvan’s features. For some ininutes he gazed at the expanse before him, as if taking a last look of some ship disappearing in the distance. Then his eyes became dim; he recovered himself in a moment, and without a word or a look, set off at a gallop towards Eden.

One formality remained to be gone through: the declaration to the police of what had occurred.

It was made the same evening before Mr. Thomas Banks. The magistrate could scarcely conceal his satisfaction as he took down the statement. He was enraptured at the departure of Ben Joyce and his gang, The whole city sympathized in this feeling. Australia was rid of the convicts, at the cast of a new crime, it is a

The Macquarie. 1I true; but still they were gone. This important newe was immediately telegraphed to the authorities of Mel bourne and Sydney.

After making the declaration, Gienarvan returned to the Victoria Hotel. The wanderers passed their last evening sadly enough. Their thoughts recalled ail the misfortunes they had encountered in this country. They remembered how full of well-warranted hope they had been at Cape Bernouilli, and how cruelly disappointed at Twofold Bay !

Paganel was full of feverish agitation. John Mangles, who had watched him since the affair at Snowy River, felt that the geographer was hesitating whether to speak or not to speak. A thousand times he had pressed him with questions, and failed in obtaining an answer.

But that evening, John, in lighting him to his room, asked him why he was so nervous.

“ Friend John,” said Paganel, evasively, “ I am not more nervous to-night than I always am.”

“Mr. Pavanel,” answered John, “you have a secret that chokes yoi:.”’

“Well!” cried the geographer, gesticulating, “what can I do? It is stronger than I!”

“ What is stronger ?”’

“My joy, on the one hand, my despair on the other.”

“You rejoice and despair at the same time!” ~ Yes; at the idea of visiting New Zealand.”

Why! have you any trace?” asked John, eagerly,

-“ Have you recovered the lost tracks? ”

es fs he Macquarie. =:

‘ee No, friend John. No one returns from New Zealand; but still——you know human nature. All. we want to nourish hope is breath. My device is, ‘Spire, spero,’ and it is the best motto in the

Chapter II. A Word About The Country They Werf¥ To Visit

Next day, the 27th of January, the passengers of the Macquarie were installed on board the brig. Will [lalley had not offered his cabin to his lady passengers. This omission was the less to be deplored, for the den was worthy of the bear.

At half-past twelve the anchor was weighed, having been loosed from its holding-ground with some difliculty. A moderate breeze was blowing from the south-west. The sails were gradually unfurled; the five hands made slow work. Wilson offered to assist the crew ; but Halley begged him to be quiet and not to interfere with what did not concern him. He was accustomed to manage his own aflairs, and required neither assistance nor advice.

This was aimed at John Mangles, who had smiled at the clumsiness of some manceuvre. John took the hint, but mentally resolved that he would. nevertheless hold himself in realiness in case the incapacity of the crew should endanger the safety of the vessel,

14 A Word alout the Country

However, in time, the sails were adjusted by the five sauors, aided by the stimulus of the captain’s oaths The Macguarie stood out to sea on the larboard tack, under all ber lower sails, topsails, top-gallants, crossjack, and jib. By and by, the other sails were hoisted. But in spite of this additional canvas the brig made very little way. Her rounded bow, the width of her hold, and her heavy stern, made her a bad sailer, the perfect type of a wooden shoe.

They had to make the best of it. Happily, five days, or, at most, six, would take them to Auckland, no matter how bad a sailer the Macquarie was. |

At seven o’clock in the evening the Australian coast and the lighthouse of the port of Eden had faded out of sight. The ship laboured on the lumpy sea, and rolled heavily in the trough of the waves. The: passeneers below suflcred a good deal from this motion. But it was impossible to stay on deck, as it rained violently. Thus they were condemned to close imprisonment.

Each one of them was Jost in his own reflections. Words were few. Now and then Lady Helena and Miss Grant exchanged a few syllables. Glenarvan was restIess; he went in and out, while the Major was impassible. John Mangles, followed by Robert, went on the poop from time to time, to look at the weather. Pavanel sat in his corner, muttering vague and inco- _ herent words.

W hat was the worthy geographer thinking of? Of New Zealand, the country to which destiny was leading

— a ee re re es ee 8 ee him. He went mentally over all its history; he called to mind the scenes of the past in that ill-omened country.

But in all that history was there a fact, was there a solitary incident that could justify the discoverers of these islands in considering them as “a continent.” Could a modern geographer or a sailor concede to them such a designation. Paganel was always revolving the meaning of the document. He was possessed with the idea; it became his ruling thought. After Patagonia, after Australia, his imagination, allured by a name, flew to New Zealand. But in that direction one point, and only one, stood in his way.

“ Contin—contin,’ he repeated, “that must mean nontinent |” |

And then he resumed his mental retrospect of the navigators who made known to us these two great islands of the Southern Sea.

It was on the 13th of December, 1642, that the Dutch navigator Tasman, after discovering Van Diemen’s Land, sighted the unknown shores of New Zealand. He coasted along for several days, and on the 17th of December his ships penetrated into a large bay, which terminated in a narrow strait, separating . the two islands.

The northern island was called by the natives Ika-na-Mani, a word which signifies the fish of Mani. The southern island was called Tavai-Pouna-Mou, “the whale that yields the greenstone.”

Abel Tasman sent bis boats on shore, and they returned accompanied by two canoes and a noisy come pany of natives. These savages were of middle height, of brown or yellow complexion, angular bones, harsh voices, and black hair, which was dressed in the Japanese manner, and surmounted by a tall white feather.

This first interview between Europeans and aborigines scemed to promise amicable and lasting intercourse. But the next day, when one of Tasman’s boats was looking for an anchorage nearer to the land, seven canoes, manned by a great number of natives, attacked them fiercely. The boat capsized and filled. The quartermaster in command was instantly struck with a badly-sharpened spear, and fell into the sea. Of his six companions four were killed; the other two and the quartermaster were able to swim to the ships, and were picked up and recovered.

After this sad occurrence Tasman set sail, confining his revenge to giving the natives a few musket-shots, which probably did not reach them. He left this bay —which still bears the name of Massacre Bay—followed the western coast, and on the 5th of January, anchored near the northernmost point. Here the violence of the

surf, as well as the unfriendly attitude of the natives, prevented his obtaining water, and he finally quitted these shores, giving them the name of Staten-land, or the Land of the States, in honour of the States.~ General. ~The Dutch navigator concluded that these islands were adjacent to the islands of the same name on the eee ia - me east of Terra dei Fuego, at the southern point of the American continent. He thought he had found “the Great Southern Continent.”

«“ But,” said Paganel to himself, “what a seventeenth century sailor might call a ‘continent’? would never stand for one with a nineteenth century man. No such mistake can be supposed! No! there is something here which baffles me.”

During more than a century, Tasman’s discovery was forgotten, and New Zealand seemed to have dropped out of existence, when a French navigator, Surville, renewed acquaintance with it in latitude 35° 37’. At first he had no reason to complain of the natives; but he experienced gales of extreme violence, and on one occasion a great storm, during which the sloop containing the sick of the expedition was driven on shore at Refuge Bay. There a chief named Nagui-Noui received the Frenchmen with great cordiality, and tended them i his own hut. Everything went on satisfactorily until one of Surville’s boats was stolen. Surville complained in vain, and thought proper to punish the theft by burning the whole village—a terrible and unjust revenge, which was not without its effect in the bloody reprisals which ensued at no distant date.

On the 6th of October, 1769, the illustrious Captain Cook appeared on these shores, He anchored in Taiarva Bay with his ship, the Endeavour, and tried to win the natives by good usage. But to treat people well, you must first catch them. Cook did not hesitate to take two or three prisoners, and force his benefac-

N, Z 2

= tions on them. These prisoners, loaded with presents and caresses, were then sent back to the shore. In a little while several natives, stimulated by the story of their fellows, came on board voluntarily, and traded with the Europeans. Some days after, Cook steered to Hawkes’ Bay, a vast hollow in the eastern coast of the northern island, and here he found himself met by warlike, noisy, aggressive natives. They became se troublesome, that it was necessary to quiet them by a broadside from the ship.

The 20th October the Endeavour anchored in Tokomalon Bay, and found a peacefully-disposed village of two hundred souls, The botanists of the expedition made explorations, and the natives took them on shore in their own cances. Cook visited two villages fortified with palisades, parapets, and double ditches, which displayed considerable knowledge of the art of war. The principal of these forts was situated on a rock which at high water was an island; indeed, more than an island, for the waves not. only surrounded it, but they roared through a natural arch sixty fect high, on the top of which stood this inaccessible ‘‘ Pah.”

On the 31st of March, Cook, who during five months had amassed an ample harvest of curiosities, plants, ethnological and ethnographical notes, gave his name to the strait which separates the two islands, and left New Zealand. He was destined to revisit it in his later voyages.

Not long after—that is, in the year 1773—the great circumnavigator reappeared at Hawkes’ Bay, and wit-

(8 Saee ee nessed scenes of cannibalism, which, however, must be attributed to his own officers. They had found on the shore the mutilated remains of a young savage, took them on board, ‘‘ cooked them,” and set them before the natives, who fell too with voracious greed. It was a hideous frolic, to make themselves cannibal-cooks !

Cook on his third voyage paid another visit to these shores, for which he had a particular fancy, and of which he was bent on completing the hydrographic survey. He left them for the last time on the 25th of lebruary, 1777.

In 1791, Vancouver lay for twenty days in Sombre Bay, without any valuable result to natural or geographical science. D’Entrecasteaux, in 1793, surveyed 25 miles of coast of the northern part of [ka-na-Mant. The merchant-captains Hausen and Dalrymple, followed by Baden, Richardson and Moody, made flying visits ; and Jr. Savage, during a five weeks’ stay, collected some interesting particulars on the manners and customs of the New Zealanders.

In the same year, 1809, the nephew of the chicf Rangihou, the intelligent Doua-Tara, embarked on the ship Argo, which lay at anchor in the Bay of Islands, and was under the command of Captain Baden.

Perhaps some Maori Homer may write an epic on the adventures of Doua-Tara. They were fertile in disaster, injustice, and ill-usage. Breaches of faith, sequestration, blows and wounds were the wages he received for his faithful services. What an idea he must have formed of the races who cal] themselr's civilized! They took him to London. They made him a common sailor, and the butt of the whole crew. But for the Rev. Mr. Marsden he would have died from ill-usage. The missionary took a lively interest in the young savage, in whom he discerned a sound judgment and a brave heart, wonderfully blended witn yventleness, grace, and affability. Marsden procured for him some sacks of wheat and implements of agriculture for his own country. He was robbed of it all, He was the victim of successive misfortunes and sufferings till the year 1814, when we find him once more settled in the land of his ancestors. He was beginning to reap the benefit of his experience when he was cut off by death in the twenty-eighth year of his age, just as he was preparing to regenerate his blood-stained country. His loss undoubtedly postponed the triumph of civilization by many years |

Till 1816, New Zcaland was abandoned. At that date Thompson, in 1817 Lidiard, in 1819 Marsden, travelled over different parts of these islands, and in 1820 Richard Cruise, 2 captain of the 84th (Foot) made a stay of ten months, with valuable results to science, as to the manners of the aborigines.

In 1824, Duperrey, commander of the Coquille, lay in the Bay of Islands for fifteen days, and had only praise to express his opinion of the natives.

After him, in 1827, the English whaler Mercury had to defend herself from pillage aud murder. The same year Captain Dillon was most hospitably received on two o¢casions,

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In March, 1827, the commander of the Astrolabe, the illustrious Dumont D’Urville, passed several nights safely, though unarmed, in the midst of the natives, interchanging presents and songs, and sleeping in the native huts; he also carried on without molestation his interesting survey operations, which have been so valuable to the Marine Department.

Quite otherwise it fared with the English brig Hawes, commanded by John James, which in the following year touched at the Bay of Islands, and then proceeded to the Kast Cape, where they had a great deal to suffer from the treachery of a chief named Enararo. Some of the ship’s company suffered a fearful death.

From these contradictory occurrences, these alternations of gentleness and barbarity, it must be supposed that too often the crueltics of the New Zealanders were only reprisals. Good or bad _treatment depended on good or bad captains. There were some few unprovoked attacks on the part of the natives, but in the great majority of cases they were acts of retaliation, provoked by Europeans, and unfortunately the chastisement fell on those who did not deserve it.

After D’Urville, the ethnography of New Zealand was completed by a bold explorer who twenty times went round the world, a nomad, a scientific Bohemian, named Earle. He visited the unknown portions of these islands without any danger to himself on the part of the natives, thouvh he was witness of many

_ a

——e ne oe ene ce ee ee cannibal entertainments. The New Zealanders ate one another with revolting relish.

Captain Laplace, in 1831, found a similar state of things during his stay at the Bay of Islands. The native wars had acquired a new element, for the savages had learnt to use fire-arms, and handled them with wonderful precision. By this means, the formerly flourishing and populous Jands of [ka-na-Mani had been transformed into dreary solitudes. Whole tribes had disappeared like flocks of sheep, roasted and caten.

The missionaries exerted themselves vainly to overcome these sanguinary tendencies. Since 1808, the Church Missionary Society had been sending its ablest agents to the principal points in the Southern island. But the barbarism of the New Zealanders obliged them to suspend the Mission. It was not till 1814, that Mr. Marsden, the protector of Doua-Tara, and Messrs. Hall and King landed in the Bay of Islands, and bought from the chiefs a tract of country containing two hundred acres for twelve iron axes; and this became the nucleus of the Anglican Socicty.

At first they had great difficulties. But at length the natives began to respect the blameless lives of the missionaries. They accepted their care and_ their doctrines. Some naturally ferocious characters became soltencd, and a feeling of gratitude was aroused in these untutored minds. On one occasion, in the year 18 24, the New Zealanders even acted as protectors to the missionaries against some infuriated sailors who were insulting them and threatening further ill-usage.

Thus, as time went on, the missions prospered, notwithstanding the intrusion of convicts who had escaped from Port Jackson, and who demoralised the native population. In 1831, the ‘‘ Evangelical Missionary Journal ” mentioned two considerable mission-stations, one situated at Kidi-Kidi, on the banks of a stream running into the sea at the Bay of Islands, the other at Pai-hia on the bank of the Kawa-Kawa river. The Christian natives had made the roads under the direction of the missionaries, cut tracks through immense forests, and bridged the torrents. Each missionary went in turn to preach the religion of civilization to the remoter tribes, building chapels of rushes or bark, schools for the native children, and on the roof of these unpretending erections was displayed the mission flag, inscribed with a cross, and the words “Rongo Pai,” that is, “ The Gospel,” in New Zealand language.