Buller. — On some peculiar Maori "Remains. 151 



against the Hauhaus for the protection of Wanganui, it was 

 decided to bring this monument down the river to Putiki, and 

 erect it in the cemetery there in memory of those who had 

 been killed, for the bones of Te Mahutu had long since been 

 removed from Pipiriki to their final resting-place. This was 

 accordingly done, and, whilst the loyal Natives were erecting 

 their simple obelisk in the graveyard, Dr. Featherston, the 

 Superintendent of Wellington, was uncovering a handsome 

 marble monument in the Market Square at Wanganui, erected 

 by the province to the memory of these brave defenders. But, 

 owing to defective workmanship, in less than twenty years the 

 carved monument toppled over, and, being still more or less 

 tapu, was allowed to remain another ten years on the ground, 

 having become in time completely hidden from view by a 

 dense growth of vegetation. In order that it might be erected 

 as a tohu for his ancestress, Te Eiunga, Major Kemp presented 

 to me this interesting monument, and it was accordingly con- 

 veyed by train to Papaitonga. It is still in an excellent state 

 of preservation, and will, I trust, in its new location long 

 remain to interest the visitor, whilst it marks the scene of one 

 of the most cruel passages in Maori history. 



Having said so much about the institution of tapu, I will 

 ask your permission to quote here the evidence given by the 

 well-known chief Hohepa Tamamutu, of Taupo, iu the Native 

 Land Court at Cambridge, at the hearing of the Whakamaru 

 case, in 1883, because it is a very clear and authoritative 

 statement : — 



"The law of tapu is a universal custom among our race. 

 There are many kinds of tapu, and it belonged to the owners 

 of the land to decide the nature of the tapu they imposed 

 upon any land. It was the right of the relations of the dead, 

 being owners, to impose a tapu ; and theirs only. An at- 

 tempt by any others than the owners would be valueless. 



" I will give instances : Wharengaro was one of the prin- 

 cipal chiefs of Taupo. He died at Te Ariki, in the Arawa 

 country, and was interred in the middle of a plantation where 

 potatoes and kumaras had been grown. In fact, he was 

 buried just where he fell — in his blood as he was shot. Te 

 Hirapango was his companion, and shared his fate and his 

 grave ; but the tribe could not whakatapu the spot, because, 

 while the dead chiefs were Ngatituwharetoa, the land belonged 

 not to them but to the Tuhourangi. Had it been their own 

 land they could have proclaimed it tapu. Long after, when 

 the flesh was decayed, the bones were exhumed and removed 

 to Tongariro ; but the land was never tapu, and it is not so 

 now. 



" On the other hand, Te Heuheu (the elder) was buried by 

 .a landslip at Te Eapa, between Tokanu and Waihi. The 



