90 THE MAORIE WAR. 



looking" the town is memorable as the site of the 

 flag'stafF^ the cutting* down of which by Heke was 

 one of the first incidents of the Maorie war. On 

 March llth^ 1845^ an attack was made upon the 

 place before da^^lig-ht, by three of the disaffected 

 chiefs. Kawiti with one division entered the town 

 from the southward by a pass between two hills, and 

 after a short conflict forced a party of marines and 

 seamen from H.M.S. Hazard to retire with the loss 

 of seven killed and many wounded. While this 

 work was g'oing- on, a small detachment of soldiers 

 occupjdng* a blockhouse on the flag-staff hill was 

 surprised by Heke and his party, who killed four 

 men, and drove away the remainder, and levelled 

 the flaofstaff to the gTound. The Eno-lish residents 



DO O 



took refug-e on board the shipping-, and two da^^s 

 afterwards the Maories sacked and burned the town 

 with the exception of the two churches, and a few 

 houses contig-uous to the property of the Roman 

 Catholic Mission. 



The g-reater part of the country about the town 

 is covered with fern and the mniiuka bush [LejJtos- 

 fcrmum scopariimi)^ — the latter a low shrub with 

 handsome white or pinkish flowers. In some of 

 the ravines two species of tree-ferns of the g-enus 

 Cyathea g-row luxuriantly in the moist clayey soil. 

 Every where one sees common Eng-lish weeds scat- 

 tered about, especially the sow^-thistle and common 

 dock, and a British land shell [Helix cellaria) has 

 even found its way to New Zealand and is to be met 

 with in some of the gardens. 



