Page:Tales-of-Banks-Peninsula Jacobson 2ed 1893 cropped.pdf/275

In the long gully that runs up to the reserve for half-castes, from the back of the former site of Joblin’s mill, now a part of Mr. Montgomery’s estate, in the Western Valley, Little River, there is a comfortable whâre of the old type in a very snug corner by the creek side, which the winds pass by and the morning sun shines on. Here with his son dwells Mr. Phillip Ryan, one of those Peninsula pioneers whose life has been one long struggle in the van of colonisation. He is a man of fine presence, and must have possessed great strength in his time. Even now, after a long and toilsome life that has nearly reached ninety years, he is full of intelligence, and by no means wanting in bodily as well as mental vigour. He lives up here in the hills with his son, who is a half-caste, Mr. Ryan having married a Maori many years ago, who was his good and faithful wife till death came. He was born in Ireland in 1802, and his father was in the Commissariat Department of the British army during the Peninsula war. To Lisbon he went with his mother very early in the nineteenth century, and his early years were passed in following the movements of the gallant men whom Wellesley eventually led to victory. It was only a month before Waterloo that he returned with his family to England.

His early life had given him a taste for wandering and adventure, and when peace came, he sought the sea, and made five voyages out of London. He was at the North Sea fishery, and there served in a vessel of which our well-known Hempleman was mate. He