3-021-258 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Ngatapa Pah, Poverty Bay, New Zealand, lately captured from the Maoris, 1869. '...the stronghold of the Hauhau, or fanatic rebel chief Te-Kooti,...was captured by the armed constabulary and native allies...Ngatapa Pah...on which the Hauhaus had fortified themselves, was a triangular slope with natural defences on two sides...The height is 700 ft. or 800 ft...they had constructed three deep ditches and high and thick earth walls...Te-Kooti had about 200 warriors to defend the Pah. The colonial forces were 240 English Constabulary, sixty Arawas, and 370 Ngatiporus, under their Chiefs Rapata and Hotene. Mr. Richmond, the Colonial Minister for Native Affairs, accompanied the expedition...information was received that the Hauhaus were escaping in the grey of the morning. The inner lines were immediately assaulted...the Hauhaus were so weak with constant watching and hard, scanty fare, that a large part of them were easily overtaken and killed. Few prisoners were taken except women and children. Indeed, quarter was neither expected nor offered...above 120 prisoners, in all, have been taken, of whom about twenty-five are men...only half-willing participators in Te-Kooti's fortunes. It is yet uncertain whether Te-Kooti himself is among the dead'. From "Illustrated London News", 1869.