io 3 o AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



of his tribes-men, and the encroachment of the alien race upon the hitherto irresponsible 

 authority and privileges of the aboriginal chiefs. His growing disaffection was fomented 

 by some of the white settlers, a few of whom, being of other nationalities, pointed to 

 the British flag which had been erected on the hill of Maiki, overlooking Kororareka, 

 as the symbol of the new order of things and the sign that the mana (authority) had 

 departed from the chiefs. To the superstitious minds of Heke and his followers it was 

 invested with the significance of all that was distasteful to them, and they became 

 convinced that if it were only removed the good old days that they now so much 

 lamented would magically return. 



Early in July, 1844, a trivial circumstance precipitated the first overt act against 

 British authority. A Ngapuhi woman, married to a European resident at Kororareka 

 named Lord, cursed Heke and called him a pig. Heke forthwith collected a hundred 

 men, marched to the settlement, plundered Lord's house and carried off the woman to 

 his own place at Kaikohe. Lord offered a cask of tobacco for her return, and as ittu, 

 or payment, for her conduct. Heke promptly sent her back, but Lord declined to fulfill 

 his share of the transaction. The enraged chief again repaired to Kororareka at the 

 head of an armed force, spent Saturday and Sunday in pillaging several stores and 

 menacing the settlers, and on Monday morning, the 8th of July, mounted the hill and 

 cut down the obnoxious flag-staff, carrying away the signal-balls with him to Kaikohe. 

 The news of this act of open defiance was received in Auckland with dismay. There 

 were only a hundred or so of troops in the entire colony, not a single defensible position, 

 and a scarcity of munitions of war, while the primitive respect of the natives for the 

 power and determination of the white man had been rudely shaken by the immunity 

 enjoyed by the perpetrators of the " Wairau Massacre" in the preceding year. 



Governor Fitzroy saw clearly, however, that to hesitate or temporixe would be 

 suicidal, and therefore dispatched thirty men of the Ninety-sixth Regiment to Kororareka. 

 He also made application to Sir George Gipps (Governor of New South Wales) for 

 immediate re-inforcements. In prompt response to this urgent request, one hundred and 

 sixty men of the Ninety-ninth Regiment arrived from Sydney, and these, with a detach- 

 ment of fifty men of the Ninety-sixth Regiment from Auckland, and two light guns, 

 disembarked at Kororareka, the entire force being under the command of Lieutenant- 

 Colonel Hulme, of the Ninety-sixth. H.M.S. Hazard followed with the Governor and 

 fifty seamen and Marines under Commander Robertson. While preparations were being 

 made for the operations against the rebel chief, the Governor held several meetings with 

 the natives, and finding out that the customs duties were a cause of very general 

 dissatisfaction, took upon himself the responsibility of- closing the Custom House and 

 declaring Kororareka a free port. The troops had been moved to the mouth of the 

 Kerikeri River, and they were about to march inland to Kaikohe, when Mr. George 

 Clarke (Chief Protector of Aborigines) arrived from Waimate, bearing a message from 

 an assemblage of the principal Ngapuhi chiefs desiring that the troops should not be 

 landed at Kerikeri, acknowledging Heke's culpability and undertaking to be answerable 

 for his future good conduct. They also solicited the favour of a conference. The 

 Governor accepted the proffered compromise, and promptly met the friendly native chiefs at 

 Waimate. They repeated their assurances, agreed that the flag-staff should be replaced ; 



