Page:Tales-of-Banks-Peninsula Jacobson 2ed 1893 cropped.pdf/157
to the head of this a block and haulyards were rigged up. One end was fastened to his heels, and, head downwards, he was run up and let go with a run, striking the ground with great force. Three times this was repeated; he was then hauled up clear of the ground and the veins of the neck opened, and the first to drink his blood was the widow of the murdered chief, Te Pahi. He was afterwards taken down, cooked, and eaten.
Shortly after this, Stewart interviewed Rauparaha about his cargo of flax, which was promised to him, but he was very insolent, and refused to give it to him. He was afterwards given one ton, and that was all the payment he ever got for his share in the bloody transaction. He loaded up with spars and sailed tor Sydney. The news of this horrible massacre had preceded him, and there was some talk of his being tried for his complicity in the affair; but, owing to the lax state of the laws in New South Wales in those days, it was allowed to blow over. Not caring to go back to New Zealand, Stewart cleared for a South American port, and was never afterwards heard of. It is supposed that the brig and all hands were lost. It is supposed by some that the discoverer of Stewart’s Island and the captain of the brig Elizabeth were one and the same person, but this is not so. The Captain Stewart, after whom the island was named, was a man very much respected, who gave up the sea and settled down in Poverty Bay, where he died in the year 1844.—Yours, etc.,
G.J.B.