This letter by my Great Grandfather David Harvey and is a family taonga (treasure/possession) over which I have no personal claim. John Calloway was the father of Tai Tai aka Elizabeth (David’s wife) and hence my Great Great Grandfather. I descend on a purely female line from John Calloway’s wife Huihana (Susannah) Hopa te Arawaere.

Opotiki

Feb 20th, 1887

My Dear Brother,

https://teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/16907/maori-canoes-at-aucklands-wharf

I don’t know how to begin to write you. When I was at home you were such a little chap and now I suppose I must consider you a man, and if you are not, I bet that you think you are. Do you cultivate a mustachio and walk the Dona (young women) home from Church? Maybe you have a weakness for both. Be careful in the latter business and ‘never marry a Wider’ as Old Waller advised his son Samuel ( read Pickwick Papers).

I was very glad to get your letter Jack. It wakened me up a bit. I was going to answer straight away but I put it off. Just like me with all my how-do-you-do correspondence. It is about six months since I last wrote home but I shall be extra good this time. I closed my last letter rather abruptly. I am glad that you made heads and tails of it. It was not

without some reason for that night on which I closed my letter the shaking was something cruel. The shocks were a deal heavier than on the night of the eruption. Everybody was walking about with their blankets wrapped round them, but when it became more quiet the people slept in watches. I for one, slept with my clothes and boots on and my eyes open. I promised myself that if I was not buried in the night I would make tracks in the morning, but when morning came only a few packed up their swags. Daylight always brought fresh confidence.

We used to laugh and joke and profess not to be able to sleep until we had a good shaking up. At the same time each one would soberly confess that the sensation was getting more horrible every day. Of an evening we would be standing about in groups half the night long. We were never in a hurry to go to bed, looking upon that place almost as a treacherous enemy. The conversation would generally fall into Eruptions. Then, perhaps when we were in the highest glee, there would come a tremendous rumbling and shaking, houses creaking, and everything turning upside down. We would look at each other but everyone would remain as silent as…