Hamilton. — Armour presented to Titore by William IV. 45 



as to the Jcahu-maitai " [suit of armour] " which was found by Dr. Pomare, 

 and who has given it to the Museum containing the curiosities at Wellington. 

 I am very glad that it has fallen to me to explain this, because I have seen 

 in the Dominion newspaper which says, ' This is a peace-offering by Tuwhare 

 to Te Anaua ' {i.e., to Hori Kingi). This is mere supposition, because 

 Tuwhare came from Nga Puhi, hence the people think he owned the armour 

 (that was the origin), and also because they heard that Hongi visited 

 England and brought back some armour. Thus it has been thought ever 

 since that it was Hongi's. I confirm the story of the peacemaking between 

 Tuwhare and Hori Kingi te Anaua in reference to Tokiwhati. It was at 

 the Kohimarama conference that the generosity of Nga Puhi was laid before 

 AVhanganui, which has lasted to this day. There was no armour with 

 Tuwhare when he was fighting Whanganui ; had there been, the fact would 

 not have been lost in the history of the old men of Whanganui ; there would 

 have been 'sayings' about it. As, for instance, .the news of Nga Puhi's 

 guns, which was handed down by the escapees from the Nga Puhi fights, 

 when our people of the South said, ' Let those pu (guns) come to their pu,^ 

 and then they sounded their pu-Jcaea (or trumpets).* When they saw 

 the real meaning of those pu, then did \Mianganui apply the words to the 

 koanga kaahu " [? armour], " and hence the origin of the story about 

 Tuwhare. 



" But let me return to my story. This property (the armour) belonged 

 to Te Heuheu the Great. The daughter of Te Anaua, Nga-weuweu, married 

 Aperahama Ruke, a chief of Taupo, and the property descended to them, 

 and was brought by them to Whanganui, and was left with Hori Kingi as 

 a valuable property for Whanganui. 



" Here is another reference to this matter. Hori Kingi te Anaua had 

 two wives, both chief tainesses, Te Ao-tarewa of Ngati Ruaka, and Te 

 Hukinga-huia of Ngati Ruru. In consequence of neither of them having 

 children, they prepared a wooden image as a baby. Then Te Aotaiewa 

 composed an oriori, or lullaby, beginning ' Taku tamaiti e, i puta nui ra 

 koe i te toi ki Hawaiki,' &c. (which maybe seen at length in Tu-wha-whakia's 

 narrative in your paper) " [vide Jour. Polynesian Soc. vol. xiv, p. 135]. " Te 

 Anaua and his brother Te Mawae had also a lullaby about their image, 

 part of which refers to the armour and to Te Heuheu : ' Kaore te whakama 

 ki te kore tamariki i a au,' &c." [I do not see the application, however. — 

 S. P. S.] 



■■ This is the continuation of the story. The armour descended to the 

 chief, and finally to me at Whanganui. I will now explain how this property 

 came to Titore. It was sent to Port Jackson and thence to Titore. The 

 fame of this armour was that bullets would not pierce it. It was then put 

 on by the old man " [? Te Anaua] " who then called on his son to shoot at 

 him ; and when the distance had been arranged, the son took his gun and 

 prepared to fire, but was very anxious about the result. So he said to his 

 father, ' Take off your garment {i.e., armour), and let me try it first, or put 

 it on a stump,' to which the old man consented. Then he fired at it, hitting 

 it on the forehead, and the bullet went through it. Said the son, ' If I 

 had Ustened to you, you would have been shot dead.' 



" If the helmet should be found, the hole in it will also be seen. One 

 of my old men has just returned to Whanganui, and he told me that he 



* They, in fact, understood the niodeiu word pu (gun) for the ancient word pu 

 (a trumpet). 



