Note 51 — Chapter XXIII
Reading edition
During ten years of travel among brown and yellow races of every hue, continually spending long days alone with my paint-box in most wild and remote places, I have always done so fearlessly, being convinced that among these people a white woman leads a charmed life. While revising these pages I have received awful proof to the contrary from the following paragraph in the ‘Times:’—
“An English Lady Murdered in New Zealand.—New Zealand newspapers to hand by the last mail contain details of the murder of Miss Mary Beatrice Dobie, daughter of the late Major H. M. Dobie, of the Madras Army, by a Maori at Taranaki, New Zealand, on the 25th of November. Miss Dobie, who was twenty-six years of age, formerly resided at Irthington, Cumberland, with her mother and sisters. At the time of the murder she was staying with her brother-in-law, Major Goring, and her mother. On the afternoon of the 25th of November, Miss Dobie had gone out for a walk towards Te Ngamu, and as she did not return a search-party was organised, and bonfires were lighted along the coast-line. The body was found forty yards off the main road. The throat was cut from ear to ear and life was extinct. Near the body was a bunch of wild-flowers, evidently gathered by the deceased. The ground showed traces of a desperate struggle, and the flax-bushes were bespattered with blood. The spot is a very lonely one, about a hundred yards from an uninhabited house at Te Ngamu. An inquest was held, at which evidence was given implicating a Maori named Tuhi, who subsequently confessed to the crime. Miss Dobie, who was well known in Auckland, had gone to the place where she lost her life for the purpose of sketching Ngamu Bay. She was an ardent admirer of New Zealand scenery, and many of her sketches have appeared in the ‘Graphic.’”
This sad story comes home to me the more vividly as this attractive and accomplished lady visited Fiji with an elder sister shortly after my departure. They were for some time guests of Sir Arthur Gordon at Nasova, whence they made expeditions to many parts of the group, and afterwards proceeded to New Zealand to join their relations.