War to the Knife 23
Sunrise all goldenly reluming a wonder-world! The calm waters of the
lake stretching beyond the limit of vision as they gazed upon the
sea-like expanse; the dread mountain kings crowned with eternal snow,
girt with fire, ringed with ice-fields, based on primeval forests!
Mortal man surely never looked upon so strange a scene--so crowded with
all the elements of beauty, terror, and sublimity.
"Well worth the voyage," thought Massinger--"the dissevering of
familiar ties and associations--but to have enjoyed this intoxicating
experience!" How poor, how narrow the life which contented his
compatriots!--which contented _him_ before the Great Disaster, when
his flight to this Ultima Thule appeared the welcome resort of a
man careless of the future, if only relief might be gained from the
intolerable anguish of the present.
Now how different were his feelings! The hard fare, the toilsome march,
the hourly novelty, the certainty of adventure, and the approach of
danger, seemed to have changed not only his habits of thought, but his
very nature. As he reflected upon the exhaustless field of enterprise
which seemed opening around him, he almost shouted aloud with the joy
of living and the anticipation of triumph.
Warwick had made an early visit to the potentate, who was, as he
well knew, monarch of all he surveyed in the region of Taupo Moano.
He had enlarged upon the rank and wealth of Massinger until a cloud
was cleared from the mind of the chief, not unreasonably disposed
to connect the arrival of an unknown pakeha with designs upon his
hereditary lands.
When assured that his visitor was only moved by curiosity to behold
the wonders of which all the world had heard, as well as to pay a
visit of ceremony to the great chief Te Heu Heu, he became mollified,
and expressed his desire to converse with the Rangatira Pakeha,
who had come across the sea to behold the great lake Taupo and the
wonder-mountains. Tongariro and Ruapehu.
At the hour of midday, therefore, Massinger, accompanied by Warwick and
Erena, presented himself before the chief, who, standing in front of a
_wharepuni_ of unusual size, with elaborate carvings upon its massive
doorposts, received him with perfect dignity and self-possession.
The remainder of the party had been left with the camp-stores and
belongings, it not having been thought necessary to include them in the
interview.
The chief relaxed his stern features as Erena approached, and said a
few words in his native tongue to her, which she answered with quiet
composure. He then turned to Warwick, who appeared anxious to explain
their position, and mentioned the name of Waka Nene, which produced a
distinct effect upon the chief's manner and demeanour.
"You are on the path to Rotomahana," said he. "It is a far journey to
see the boiling fountain and the white steps of Te Tarata."
Massinger, through the guide: "I have heard much of these strange
things. I have seen pictures of them. We have no hot lakes or burning
mountains in my country."
"Then you will see them and go away; you are a strange people. You do
not want to buy the land? No? I would sell you some if you would live
here."
It was explained to the chief that the pakeha desired land that would
grow corn. The land around Taupo was good to look at, but not for
farmers. He thought he would buy land near Auckland.
"Does the pakeha know that there is much talk of war in the land? The
Mata Kawana at Waitemata is deceived by bad men. He is paying Teira for
land which is not his to sell. If the Mata Kawana takes it by force,
there will be blood--much blood. Te Rangituke will not suffer the land
of his people to be taken. _Akore, akore!_"
"This pakeha does not come to fight; he wishes to live on land near the
Maoris. He will pay them money and buy the land."
"The pakeha is good; his word is strong. I should much like him to live
here. Let him ask Erena in marriage from her father, and his days will
be many."
"The pakeha does not desire to marry just at present, even if Erena
would accept him. His heart is in his own land. He wishes to see all
the country before he settles down."
"That is well. The bird flies all round before he perches. But if
the tribes dance the war-dance, on account of this trouble about the
Waitara, what will he do then? The first _taua_ of the Ngatiawa that he
meets will kill him."
"The pakeha is brave. He can shoot a man afar off. He will go back to
Waitemata or die. He has also a letter from Waka Nene."
"That is good for the Arawa and the Ngapuhi, but the Waikato will not
regard it. It may be that the white man's Atua will keep him from harm."
With which sentiment the audience terminated.
With the exception of the world-famed terraces, no spot on earth was
so rich in strange and wondrous surroundings as this great lake of
unfathomable depth, a thousand feet above the sea, sleeping amidst its
volcanic blocks of quartzose lava and huge masses of pumice-stone. To
the north-west they gazed at the wooded ridges of Rangitoto and Tuhua,
and, three thousand feet above the sea, the bare turreted pyramids
of Titerau, towering in pride, as might, on the castled Rhine, the
ruined fortress of a forgotten robber-baron. White pumice-stone cliffs
gleaming in the sun bordered the eastern shore. Behind the sombre
forest ranges, pyramidal monoliths, piercing the heavens at yet greater
altitudes, gave to this amazing landscape the fantastic aspect of a
dream-world.
"When shall we awaken?" said Massinger, as he and Erena, lingering
behind their guide as they strolled towards the camp, became conscious
that the day was declining. "This is the newest land of enchantment.
I feel like a lotus-eater, removed from the world of everyday life. I
could almost be tempted to cast in my lot with this careless-living
race, wandering here till life grew dim, and the distinctions between
what our fathers used to call right and wrong faded into uncertainty. I
can imagine some men doing it."
"But not you. Oh! do not talk in that reckless fashion. Another might
waste his life among these poor ignorant people; but you have a man's
work yet to do in the world--a name to make, a family to remember.
But"--as he smiled at her vehemence--"you are only joking; you are
laughing at the poor Maori girl, who thought for a moment that you were
in earnest. Let us walk faster; it will soon be dark, and we have some
distance still to go."
A change seemed suddenly to have come over the spirit of the girl. From
being carelessly playful in manner, as she had been in their rambles
all the day, she became silent and reserved till they reached the camp.
There she retired at once to where the other women had fixed their
quarters, merely remarking that they would have to leave early if they
hoped to reach the terraces.
The night was strangely, magically lovely. Massinger had no great
desire to sleep. He felt, indeed, that one might easily watch till
dawn amid this region of magic and sorcery. Brightly burned the stars
in the dark blue heavens. There was no moon, but the constellations,
to his excited fancy, seemed strangely lustrous and of intense, almost
unreal, brilliancy. Warwick and he stood near their camp fire, only
occasionally speaking, when all suddenly there arose a wild shout,
then a succession of cries, from the direction of Te Heu Heu's _pah_,
which pointed to some unusual occurrence. A wailing cry came, too, from
the natives of their own encampment, whom they observed to have left
their _whares_ and gathered in a group.
"What is the meaning of all this?" said Massinger, who had been gazing
over the lake, and listening to the low calls and whispering notes of
the water-fowl which sailed in flocks amid its sedges and reeds. "What
do they mean by that long-drawn sound? And now there is a shout--a sort
of herald's proclamation."
"You are right," said Warwick. "The Tohunga calls aloud, 'Behold the
sacred fire on Tongariro! The Atua commands war. Listen, O men of the
Arawa.
"'The pakeha desires to take the country of the _nga iwi_ (the tribes).
He will take the forests and the kumera plantations, the valleys and
the mountains, the rivers and the shores of the sea. The Maori canoe
will no longer be paddled on the broad bosom of the Waikato, on lakes
which have been our fathers since they came from Hawaiki. The steamboat
will drive away the Maori canoe; the sheep and cattle of the pakeha
will feed on our plantations; the white magistrates will put our young
men in prison; our old men will break stones for the pakeha roads. We
shall all be slaves, working for a pakeha conqueror.
"'Shall we be slaves, or shall we unite and march against the pakeha?'"
A thousand voices shouted till the echoes by the lake shore rang again
with cries as of one man--
"_Akore, akore, akore!_"
"If we are not willing to be slaves, shall the tribes, the Waikato
and the Ngatiawa, join together and drive the pakeha into the sea from
whence he came?"
Then one more deep-drawn shout of assent resounded through the still
night-air.
"You see what the feeling is," said Warwick, turning as he spoke. "Look
yonder, and behold the fire on Tongariro!"
Massinger swung round, and, to his great surprise, saw amidst a cloud
of steam, high up on the mountain, a red band of fire, which seemed
to encircle the upper portion of the cinder-cone which formed so
remarkable an addition to the summit. A fresh volume of steam rose
pillar-like from the crater, while from time to time angry bursts of
flame issued from the top and sides of the cone.
"A very grand sight," he said; "but what is there to create such a
disturbance? It is surely not an unusual occurrence in this land of
imprisoned fires? Is that the meaning of all this outcry?"
"That, and nothing else," replied the guide; "but it is by no means an
ordinary occurrence. It is now many years since such a thing has taken
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