Arizona republican., 1894-10-04
A GREAT INDIAN CHIEF.
Death of the Famous Napoleon of
 New Zealand.
Ills Life Career of Savage Warfare and Bloodshed-He Once Held British Army at
 Bay.

Rewi Maniapoto, whose death was recently reported, was almost the last of the great chiefs of the Maoris. He vas born in 1907, and was a warrior and leader in council among the Ngati- maniapotos from his youth, His earli- est years, says the Washington Gazette, were passed amid savage scenes of inter-tribal strife, ambuscades, fierce hand-to-hand battles, massacres and cannibal orgies Hougi, chief of the Great Northern tribe of Ngapuhl, visited London, was petted by Exeter Hall, patronized by George ", pre- sented with a suit of armor and a gilt crown, and loaded with gifts. At Botany Bay, on his way back, he con- ver5ed these into guns and powder, and on landing at the Bay of Islands pro- claimed himself the Napoleon of New Zealand, entered on a career of slaugh ter and rapine, and swept the country south of Auckland with fire and sword.
 His victorious march was stayed by the Wail1atos and Ngatimaniapotos, and the tide of conquest rolled back northward. IL was in these and sub- sequent inter-tribal wars that Rewi won his reputation as a fighting chief. When Sir George Grey, as governor of New Zealand, declared war against the Wail1atos in 1863, Rewi became one of the leading Maori generals. For two years the struggle ragged with va rying success against ten thousand British troops, supported by power fuI squadron, but step by step, and contesting every inch of ground, the Maoris were pressed back to Orakan, where Rewi made last heroic stand with three CT four hundred followers, the remnant of his tribe.
 He was besieged by fifteen hundred British troops for three days during which the garrison were without wa ter, and subsisted on raw potatoes and maize At length, after repeated as saults had been repulsed, the flying sap broke into the trenches, and a storm of canister and musketry swept the works Gen. Cameron, with sol dier's chivalrous admiration of the spirit and bravery of the enemy, of fered terms of equalization. Then slight, wiry figure, with a closely tat tooed face and fiery gleaming eyes, leapt on the breastworl1s, and flung back this stern defiance: Ka wha- whai matau, toma, ake, ake, ake!' We will fight on for ever and ever and ever.''
 The stronghold was carried with a rush, but Rewi and a few others es- capped. Realizing the hopelessness of the struggle, he successfully exerted his influence to bring about peace, and since that time he has been a con- sistent and loyal ally of the Europeans, and promoter of every movement for the welfare of his countrymen. To the last his affection for Sir George Grey was simple and touching. A few months ago, when he felt that his end was nigh, he expressed a desire that they should rest side by side in one grave, and only few months before his death a handsome monument, made in Auckland to the order, of Sir George Grey, was erected with much ceremo- ny near the old chiefs home at Kihi- l<ihi. It bears the following inscription: Tn memory of Rewi Maniapoto, the last great chief of Ngatimaniapoto, Ngatirankawa and Waikato."