304
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

prisoners, especially Te Raimona; when I
repeated that I had no power to comply with
their request, they went away saying, "We
will say no more about them, but will sur-
render all of them to you on Monday."

Monday 23rd. I started early this morn-
ing with a force of 130 armed men in six
large canoes. There was evidently a gloom
hanging over them-they paddled lustily
enough, but there was no singing, no chaffing,
none of that exuberant excitement which
usually prevails amongst Maoris congregated
in numbers, especially when engaged upon
an expedition attended with danger. Our
programme was first to proceed to the
appointed place of meeting with Pehi and
then to take the prisoners. On passing
Tawhitinui, where the chief Te Raimona
was, Hori Kingi, who was sitting behind me,
said, in a low tone of voice, almost in a whisper
"Petatone, my heart is very dark about my
children, especially about Te Raimona. This
is the first time I have passed this place
without calling; the hearts of all the chiefs
and their people are dark, very sad this
morning." Hori Kingi here paused and sobbed
bitterly, and then continued, "So sad are the
hearts of all of us about these prisoners that
many of our people prayed this morning
that they might be excused from joining this
expedition. These prisoners you have said
are the Queen's prisoners, and must be sur-
rendered to the Queen. We come with you
to take the prisoners, and we shall take and
surrender them into your hands. But still
our hearts are sad because of these prisoners.
They are our friends and nearest relatives;
but we shall take and give them up to you."

This is simply a precis of Hori Kingi's appeal.
To understand and appreciate its pathos every
word must have been heard and the speaker
seen. I replied that the Governor alone had
the power to pardon the prisoners; that my
duty was simply to insist upon their being
surrendered to me; that they had been taken
fighting against the Queen, and were rebels
liable to a severe punishment, but "Hori
Kingi, so fully do I recognise the services you
have rendered, and the reason why all your
hearts are dark, that I promise this if
you and the other chiefs will write to
Governor Grey explaining the services you
have rendered, how in your successful attempt
to protect your Pakeha friends, you have
fought against and killed your relatives and
friends, and how you have further shown your
loyalty by surrendering the prisoners, and
will then ask the Governor to grant a free
pardon to the prisoners, I will as strongly as
I can back your request, and I don't think
Governor Grey will refuse our united prayer,
and until Governor Grey's answer is received
I promise that the prisoners shall not be
removed from Wanganui, and that the
wounded amongst them shall be sent to the
hospital and treated as kindly as the friendly
ones."

The old chief's eyes glistened with delight;
he sprang up and hailed the five canoes in
advance to stop, and then as soon as they
were all close together, he did not repeat our
conversation, but simply gave them in a few
words the slightest possible hint of what had
taken place between us. But this was quite
sufficient; the gloom which had hung over
them instantly disappeared; a cry of joy
burst from the whole of them, and off they
started plying their paddles with tenfold
vigour, and there was no longer silence, but
the usual cries and songs resounded from
every canoe.

On arriving at Peterihama (Bethlehem)
Hori Kingi came up to me and said "You
must keep in the middle of us." Here we
found Pehi accompanied by no great number
of followers. The chief of the pa (Paroa) is
said to be loyal, and if I don't mistake is an
assessor, though his talk did not appear to me
to be very satisfactory. The korero began
by Pehi asking whether we intended to insult
him by not partaking of his hospitality. We
at once relieved his mind by assuring him
that we were quite ready (we saw a bullock
just killed before us) to do justice to anything
he might have prepared. In a very short
space of time we partook of a sumptuous
repast of stewed beef and potatoes.

After a tangi of no long duration
had been performed, Hori Kingi got up
and addressed the meeting. I ought
to mention that he and Pehi never
approached within ten yards of each other.
Hori's speech was simply one of salutation.
Pehi replied in a similar strain but deprecated
in the strongest possible terms the conduct
of Matene and his fanatics, whom he desig-
nated as "mad dogs." After he had sat
down, Hori Kingi said to me, "You must get
up and broach the subject of the prisoners,"
to whom neither he nor Pehi had made the
slightest allusion, though they were upper-
most in the thoughts of each. They both
knew it was delicate ground, and most diplo-
matically avoided treading upon it. I
reminded Pehi of the visit I had paid to him
and Hori Patene in September 1862 at Pipi-
riki; recalled the pledges they had then given
me that they would not allow the peace of the
Wanganui river to be disturbed; expressed
my regret that after what Hori Patene had
then said to me that he should have gone to
Tataramaika and there fallen, for that there
was no chief in whose word and good faith I
had ever reposed more implicit confidence;
admitted that Pehi had so far fulfilled his
promise to me that he had done his utmost
to dissuade Matene and his followers from
making their recent raid, but that I could
give him credit for nothing more; that he
had hitherto stood on "the outside," and
had rendered no active support to the Go-
vernment; that the time had now arrived
when he must declare himself; that it was
always better in time of war to have an open
enemy than a doubtful friend; that when the
house was set on fire, as the Wanganui River
had been by Matene and his "mad dogs" as
he (Pehi) had called them, the Governor