Haszard. — Foot-tracks of Captain Cook. 31 



•on an altar, with the result that Tuterangianini was stricken 

 with boils, from which he never recovered. His tribe, Ngati- 

 tamatera, sent a war-party to attack Ngaiterangi, but finding 

 the latter too powerful they returned without effecting any- 

 thing. On reaching their own district they were taunted by 

 the women, so they set off to Mercury Bay and attacked their 

 own relatives, the unoffending Ngatihei, besieging them in the 

 great pa Wharekaho, on the north-west end of Buffalo Beach. 

 Being unable to take the place by assault, they cut off the 

 water-supply and sat down before the fortress, intending to 

 starve out the garrison. After several weeks (or months) had 

 passed, and the Ngatihei were famine-stricken, the fort was 

 caken by assault, and it is said a thousand of the unhappy 

 captives were taken to the little beach below Peneamine's 

 house and there slaughtered. A few escaped to the small 

 fort on Te Putaoparetauhinu (Cook's archway), from which 

 they could not be dislodged ; but this numerous people was 

 practically destroyed. Bahera and Erana Tanui, two women 

 of rank living at Whitianga, are representatives of Ngatihei. 



Tuterangianini 



Te Rohu (no issue). Wharerangi 



Haora Tupaea. 



Haora Tupaea is a chief of Ngatitamatera, now living at 

 Paeroa. He is about sixty-seven or seventy. The bodies of 

 the slain Ngatihei were not eaten by the victors on account of 

 their near relationship. Even at the present time the remains 

 of hundreds of skeletons may be seen at Wharekaho, where 

 the massacre occurred. 



" Te Bohu was also a famous warrior, for he led the Thames 

 tribes in an attack upon Ngaiterangi in 1828, taking Te Papa 

 Pa and killing Koraurau, the principal chief, with three 

 hundred of his people. 



" The late Mr. Gilbert Mair, while in charge of the mission 

 schooner ' Herald,' visited Te Papa and spent the night 

 there two days before it was attacked." 



Before leaving the bay Cook had the ship's name and the 

 date cut on one of the trees near the watering-place, and, after 

 displaying English colours, took formal possession of the land 

 for His Majesty King George III. I think this spot must 

 have been at one of the little rivulets which flow into the east 

 side of the Purangi near its mouth, but the marked tree 

 must long since have disappeared. 



Mercury Bay is an ideal place for any one who is fond of 

 boating and sketching to spend a summer holiday. It can be 

 reached twice a week from Auckland by steamer, and there is 



