Bulleb. — On some peculiar Maori Remains. 153 



did not go to fetch his body or look for it. The Ngatikikopiri 

 did go, but I heard that it was supposed the pigs had devoured 

 him, for he could not be found. . . I heard that Wahineiti 

 died at Tauranga a natural death. His body was brought back 

 to Patetere by the Ngatikea and the Arawa, and was deposited 

 at Omaruapu in a small wooden hut in which he was seated. 

 Then all Ngatiraukawa were summoned by messengers to 

 come and see him. They assembled, and when they saw him 

 they chanted a funeral dirge, to which Ngatikea and the 

 Arawa responded ; and then the Ngatiraukawa removed the 

 body to Maungaiti, resting at Tokoroa on the way. On the 

 birth of the child of Rangitaiki (the chief of Ngatikikopiri) it 

 was called ' Nga-wi-o-Tokoroa,' and Hape's child was named 

 Horohau, from the grass on which the corpse had lain and 

 the wind that blew over it as it rested there. The body was 

 then interred by the Ngatiraukawa at Maungaiti, because 

 that was his own special territory. His remains were sub- 

 sequently removed to Waotu when those of Hape were re- 

 moved from Mangatautari, for the chiefs of the Ngatikikopiri 

 decided that the two brothers should rest together." : 



Referring to this, Hitiri Paerata (the hero of Orakau), who 

 also gave evidence in the case, said, " Wahineiti was travel- 

 ling through and died, and was taken to his own place. It 

 was only the great people who were taken to the tribal 

 sepulchres. The common people were buried where they died 

 — anywhere." 



I offer no apology for giving you these long extracts, be- 

 cause this evidence has never been published, and appears to 

 me of considerable interest. I am of opinion that there would 

 be no surer way of compiling a true history of the Maori 

 people than by sifting and comparing the evidence recorded by 

 the Judges of the Native Land Courts all over the country 

 during the last thirty years. Of course much of it is unreliable 

 and worthless ; but that there are treasures of unspeakable 

 value to the future Maori historian scattered through these 

 countless volumes cannot for a moment be doubted. The real 

 information is to be found in the private note-books of the 

 Judges rather than in the minute-books of the Court, which 

 for the most part are mere records of proceedings, or, at best, 

 contain a mere outline of the evidence. For a period of six- 

 teen years an accomplished Maori scholar occupied the posi- 

 tion of Chief Judge of the Native Land Court, and I believe it 

 was always his desire that a systematic effort should be made 



* Wahineiti, the elder brother of Hape, died at Tauranga. He said 

 to Ngatikea, " Don't take me to Maungatautari, but to Tokoroa, that the 

 rushes of my land may grow over me ; that I may drink the dews of Toko- 

 roa." This occasioned the name of "Horohau." Therefore " Nga-wi-o- 

 Tokoroa " became a proverb. (Evidence of Aperahama Te Kume.) 



