Page:Tales-of-Banks-Peninsula Jacobson 2ed 1893 cropped.pdf/249

The Maoris had a pah here. Traces of their stone walls and huts are still to be seen, and greenstone to be found. The writer picked up a small chisel of this substance, and many handsome implements formed of it have been discovered from time to time. These Maoris, in fact all of them along this coast, were a wild race. Horrible stories are told of their cannabilism, and some of the white men earliest in the bays have witnessed their ungodly feasts. When the Maoris wanted to settle a quarrel they went about it in a quite business-like manner. Over they went to Wakamoa, the next bay towards the Heads, and after they had had enough and buried their dead, came home. The ridges, graves of many a stalwart warrior, are conspicuous yet. The natives living in Island Bay had a fine natural fortress, for it was almost impregnable. Thick heavy bush behind, steep walls on either side (for it is quite a stiff climb into the bay), and a beach on which it is comfortable to land only when the weather is fine. A slip while climbing the rocky sides would be dangerous. A story is told of a Maori woman who was collecting firewood on the spur. She tied a bundle to her back and commenced to descend; slipping, she rolled from the top to the bottom, and little life was left in her when she stopped rolling. The cheese from Mr. McPhail’s dairy, before the road was made, was carried down on men’s backs to the beech. However they did it is a puzzle, and a very few trips up and down would satisfy an ordinary Hercules. When climbing the side, and thinking of it, one fancies that it would have been a great temptation to let them roll in spite of all consequences. The bay, however, is little visited except by the cattle on the runs. There is a fine creek running down the valley, though on the tops of the spurs the land is very parched in summer.

About 1840 whaling stations were established all