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arrangements for their being started off to
Wanganui early on the following morning.

Friday, the 20th.—At this pa (Koroniti)
we met the chiefs Mete King 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. Last night I
addressed the people in the runanga house,
and at this pa all the leading surviving
chiefs who were engaged at the battle of
Moutoa were present, and gave me, in pre-
sence 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 negotiation with the friendly natives for
permission 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 negotia-
tions, 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 manu-
kau scrub and fern, but presents certain
irregularities of ground which afford con-
siderable shelter, and except when there is a
fresh in the river it is surrounded 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 at
which their foes were to land. They were
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, consist-
ing of nine men, was commanded by Hemi

and Riwai; and the third, numbering fifteen
men, was led by Aperiniko 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 labored under
the strange delusion that while they them-
selves were invulnerable, their opponents
would be forced by their incantations to ap-
proach close to them without power to offer
any resistance. For two hours were these
incantations kept up, the advanced com-
panies being not more than twenty yards
from each other. As soon as the first shot
was fired by one of the rebels (Hoani Wini-
here, 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 im-
mediately 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 Hai-
mona 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 a hand to hand
fight; but the rebels having lost several of
their leaders, and Mete Kingi with the re-
serve 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 almost immediately tomahawked by a
native policeman, Te Moro, who lost no time
in swimming after him. It is scarcely pos-
sible to state what the rebel loss was, but
forty dead bodies were found on the island,
and several more were seen to sink while
attempting to cross the river. Nearly all
the survivors are known to be wounded.
The friendly natives had twelve killed, and
from 25 to 30 wounded. Several spears and
other weapons of war were taken, and also
Pehi's King flag, which was found in a large
canoe, and on searching Matene's whare
the conquerors obtained a prize of ninety
sovereigns.

It is only fair to add that amongst the