markable instance, perhaps, I could give, of the changes that have taken place in twenty years' time:—
"The ceremony at Te Awamutu was a pleasing contrast to the scene enacted within three miles of that spot during this very month one-and-twenty years ago. Early in April, when Cameron and Carey were out, word was brought that some three or four hundred Maoris were fortifying a position at Orakau. General Carey at once attacked them with 1200 men. They repelled several assaults, baffled the artillery fire with bundles of fern, compelled our people to proceed by sap, and annoyed them terribly during the process. Before the attack they had declared proudly that they would fight 'for ever, and ever, and ever.' Want of water, failing ammunition, a reinforcement of 400 British, and the slaughter wrought by shells and handgrenades at last making the position untenable, they marched out through a gap in the investing line left open for the artillery fire.
"'They were in a solid column,' wrote an eyewitness, 'the women, the children, and the great chiefs in the centre, and they marched out as cool and steady as if they were going to church.' A flanking fire galled them as they marched, a swamp lay between them and the Punui River, where was safety. They lost heavily, but many reserved the last of their ammunition for the swamp. They fought their way through with undaunted resolution, and brought away an unconquerable remnant. Half their number had fallen.
