item details
W Hawkins; engraver (printmaker); 1847
Overview
TE AWAITAIA AND TE MOANAROA:
WAINGAROA.
TE Awaitaia, baptized Wiremu Nera (William Naylor) is the principal chief of the Ngatimahanga's, one of the numerous tribes generally known as the Waikato. He resides at the picturesque little harbour of Waingaroa, on the west coast, at the foot of the mountainous cape, designated on the charts as "Woody Head"
From the present mild and quiet demeanour of this chief, it would hardly be imagined that his name as a warrior, once struck terror into the breasts of his enemies. In conjunction with Te Wherowhero, he was actively engaged in the long and sanguinary conflicts, which were carried on for many years between Waikato and Taranaki, and which terminated in the destruction and captivity of the tribes of the latter district. So highly was the prowess of this chief esteemed by Te Wherowhero, that on Awaitaia's embracing Christianity, he exclaimed, in the figurative language common to the New Zealanders, "I have lost my right arm."
Fifteen years ago, he led the expedition against the Taranakians, and which effected the bold destruction of the great Pah "Pukerangiora," in which one thousand eight hundred natives were assembled during the siege.
His countenance exhibits a shade of melancholy, which at once awakens the interest of the beholder, and unless in moments of unusual excitement, when the kindling of his eye betrays the latent embers of a daring spirit, there is nothing in his appearance calculated to point out a man whose name was a very terror to his foes.
He has proved himself the invariable friend of the Colonist, and since the disturbances in the north, has offered his services to the Government to defend the Capital with the power of his tribe.
The other portrait is that of Te Moanaroa, or Tepene (Stephen), likewise a Chief of Waingaroa: he is an intelligent and enlighted man, and a friend of the Europeans.
Text for plate 5: The New Zealanders illustrated / by George French Angas. -- London: Thomas M'Lean, 1847 (RB001054)