302
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

Koroniti (Corinth), a few miles higher up.
I urged that we should push on; but they
pleaded that it would be a gross breach of
Maori etiquette to approach after dark a pa
where there was a war party, even though
that war party was a friendly one. There was
no getting over this; and I had ceased to
argue in the cause of the wounded, when
luckily a messenger arrived with a letter from
the chiefs of Koroniti, who had heard of our
being on our way up, urging that I should
come on at once and bring the doctor with
me, as some of the wounded were very very
bad. After some hesitation, and very great
reluctance, the chiefs consented to my
going, providing me with a most ample crew.
At Koroniti we found seven wounded men,
the majority of them very severely. Dr.
Fletcher dressed their wounds, and extracted
a ball from one of them, and I made arrange-
ments for their being started off to Wanga-
nui early on the following morning.

Friday, the 20th. - At this pa (Koroniti)
we met the chiefs Mete Kingi and Haimona,
who were on their way to Wanganui to
receive instructions as to their future pro-
ceedings, but who stayed here as soon as they
heard I was coming up. Last night I ad-
dressed the people in the runanga house, and
as at this pa all the leading surviving chiefs
who were engaged at the battle of Moutoa
were present, and gave me, in presence of
their people, the minutest details of the
fight, it may perhaps be well here to give an
account of the battle of Moutoa. Matene
and his followers, immediately on their arrival
on the Wanganui River, entered into nego-
tiation with the friendly natives for permis-
sion to pass down the river to attack the town
of Wanganui; but not only were all their
overtures indignantly rejected, but they were
told that their passage would be prevented,
no matter at what sacrifice of life. Matene
then said he would wait two months, if at
the expiration of that time the loyal natives
would give way. The latter, at length, sick
and wearied of these negotiations, on Friday
the 13th May sent a special messenger to
Matene and his fanatics proposing that they
should do battle on the following day at a
certain hour, on the island of Moutoa. The
challenge was at once accepted, it being
stipulated that neither party should attempt
to surprise the other, or in any way to violate
the conditions of the duel. The time fixed
was the break of day. The island of Moutoa,
almost midway in the river, may be 300 yards
long and some 20 wide, and about 12 or 15
feet above the level of the river; it is thinly
covered with manukau scrub and fern, but
presents certain irregularities of ground
which afford considerable shelter, and except
when there is a fresh in the river it is sur-
rounded by a bed of shingle. On the day of
the battle there was so little water in the
river that the friendly natives on the left
bank had not to wade probably more than
30 yards through water not more than a foot
or eighteen inches deep to get to the island.

The rebels located at Tawhitinui, nearly
opposite the north-eastern extremity of the
island, could only reach the island by canoes,
the river between it and the right bank being
both deep and rapid. The friendly natives
say that they mustered some 300 strong, and
that the rebels did not number more than
from 120 to 140, of whom not a few were
mere boys. Before daybreak, a party of the
loyals, headed by Hemi Napi, were on the
island, and posted themselves at the extremity
shortly followed by the remainder of their
force under Mete Kingi. The advance party
was formed of three companies, one, consist-
ing of Roman Catholics, and numbering ten
men, were led by Kereti; another, consisting
of nine men, was commanded by Hemi and
Riwai; and the third, numbering fifteen men,
was led by Aperaniko and Haimona. The
reserve companies were some distance in the
rear. Matene and his fanatics landed out of
seven canoes on the shingle spit without
opposition about 7 A.M. Their forces were
arranged in a similar way to that of the loyal
natives. Immediately after they were formed
they commenced their incantation, shouting
“ Hau, hau!”—Up, up! and using gestures
not unlike the passes made by mesmerists.
They laboured under the strange delusion
that while they themselves were invulnerable,
their opponents would be forced by their
incantations to approach close to them with-
out power to offer any resistance. For two
hours were these incantations kept up, the
advanced companies being not more than
twenty yards from each other. As soon as
the first shot was fired by one of the rebels
(Hoani Winihere, of Pipiriki) the opposing
forces slowly advanced till they were within
thirty feet of each other, when a volley was
exchanged. Several fell on both sides, and
amongst them the chief Kereti, whose loss
seems to have dispirited the loyal natives, for
they immediately commenced to retreat
slowly at first, but when after another volley
or two their two other leaders, Hemi and
Riwai, were killed, they fairly broke and
fled. The reserve, instead of coming to their
support, also fled, most of them recrossing
the river. The battle seemed at this moment
completely lost, and probably would not have
been retrieved had it not been for the Chief
Haimona Hiroti, who when he reached the
end of the island shouted “I will go no
further,” and immediately rallied some twenty
men just in time to pour a deadly volley into
the rebels, who were close upon them. After
this it seems to have been hand to hand
fight; but the rebels having lost several of
their leaders, and Mete Kingi with the
reserve having rejoined Haimona Hiroti, soon
broke and fled, being hotly pursued till they
reached the head of the island, when all who
survived (with the exception of a few who
escaped in a canoe) took to the river, and
were most of them shot down. Matene,
though he was badly wounded while swim-
ming, succeeded in gaining the bank, but was