French.
Below is an excerpt from Chapter XXVIII of Hans Staden’s famous book:
. . . When they first bring home a captive the women and children set upon him and beat him. Then they decorate him with grey feathers and shave off his eyebrows, and dance around him, having first bound him securely so that he cannot escape. They give him a woman who attends to him and has intercourse with him. If the woman conceives, the child is maintained until it is fully grown. Then, when the mood seizes them, they kill and eat it.
. . .When all is ready they fix the day of his death and invite the savages from the neighbouring villages to be present. The drinking vessels are filled a few days in advance, and before the women make the drink, they bring forth the prisoner once or twice to the place where he is to die and dance round him. When the guests have assembled, the chief of the huts bids them welcome and desires that they shall help them to eat their enemy . . .
The Boyd Massacre
The story of the brigantine Boyd, is a horror story of early pioneering.
The ‘Boyd’ was a ship that had been contracted to carry convicts and free settlers from England to Port Jackson (now known as Sydney), Australia, in the year 1810. The colony had been formed 22 years ago, and it was a fairly straightforward process to transfer their human cargo. The route was well known, and the methods of shipping people on long sea voyages had been successful, without any undue number of deaths.
On its outward journey from the London Docks, the Boyd had successfully delivered its human cargo, who were safely secured below deck in irons. Each one of the prisoners had received a sentence from the Court ordering that they immediately be transported to Port Jackson in the British colony of Australia.
The ship, having been cleaned and reprovisioned, was now ready for its return journey. It was a 395-ton vessel which was 106 foot long with a 30-foot beam. On board was a total of 70 people, including some New Zealanders who were returning to their own country, and a son of one of the Maori chiefs of the Kaeo tribe, Whangaroa, who was called TeAara, or George in English. Other paying customers bound for England were listed as:
Catherine Bourke
Anne Glossop with her two-year-old child Betsy Broughton
Mordica Marks
Captain Burnsides
Ann Morley and her baby
James Moore
R. Wrather
John Budden
R & J Thomas
Thomas Martin
William Allen
William Mahoney
Dennis Desmond
John Petty
With everyone on board the Boyd set off on its long voyage back to England. From Port Jackson she sailed over the Tasman Sea, around the tip of New Zealand, then down the East coast before entering the harbour of Whangaroa. The Captain, John Thompson, had never been into this harbour before and didn’t know what to expect as only two other ships had previously entered this region. It was the Captain’s first visit to the Southern Ocean and his first encounter with the native Maori of New Zealand, whom he considered to be savages. Captain Thompson was hoping to use the young Maori boy to act as a negotiator when he reached Whangaroa, as he wished to obtain some kauri spars from the extensive stands of kauri timber which had been noted by Captain Cook during one of his earlier explorations. TeAara, who had asked to work his passage, was ordered to take his turn and work with the other sailors in helping to run the ship. However, he refused, stating that he was in ill health and that the son of a chief should not have to do such menial work. He was ordered in front of the Captain on a couple of occasions, who directed that he be flogged and that his food ration should be taken away. TeAara managed to conceal his resentment of the Captain, that is until they arrived at the
Rita Mae Brown
Bobby Brimmer
Stephen England
Christina G. Gaudet
Christopher Isherwood
Cathy Quinn
Holly Dae
Brian Costello
Stephen Arterburn, Nancy Rue
Rodney Smith