Welch. — Waterloo of the Wailato. 117 



men had got to the bottom. The men were then, by means of notches cut 

 in the papa cliff, to get at least one man and a rope to the top ; then by 

 means of the ropes they all could get up more speedily, taking cover in the 

 little clump of trees until all were on the upper level ; then at a given signal 

 all were to run at best speed, and in the loosest possible order, to the rocks 

 at the end of the level. There for a moment they were to halt and get 

 together, and then charge with all their might on to the extreme end of the 

 enemy's line. 



While this operation was in progress, the right-hand 140 Ngatihaua ad- 

 vanced close to the waterfall, and kept up a hot fire on the angle formed 

 by the terrace and the gully. Te ^^^aharoa himself kept a little farther back, 

 on the slope of Pukekura Hill, until he saw the attack from the rocks on the 

 enemy's right taking effect. Then, shouting his battle-cry, he made the 

 signal to his twenty men on the extreme right of his allies, and charged 

 with the whole weight of his 140 men on the angle of the enemy's line, just 

 over the waterfall. At the same moment the twenty Ngatihaua on his ex- 

 trente right charged across the gully, and in the enthusiasm of the moment 

 and the natural love of a Maori for battle many of the Ngaiterangi allies 

 followed them. 



About forty of the left column of Ngatihaua had fallen in the 500-yards 

 race from the little clump of trees to the rocks, but the remaining hundred 

 now came storming furiously and irresistibly along the enemy's long line. 

 The determined charge of Te Waharoa, with his 140 men, on to the centre 

 of the enemy kept them pretty well employed until the cry arose among 

 the enemy that they were being cut off from their pa and their women by 

 the desperate charge of the Ngatihaua twenty on the extreme right (left) 

 of the enemy. This charge, too, was momentarily increasing in weight by 

 parties of Ngaiterangi crossing the gully. 



The left column of Ngatihaua from the rocks actually rolled up the enemy's 

 line until the two parties of Ngatihaua met at the angle. Then the united 

 columns, still holding the flank of the enemy, continued the charge, until 

 the cry arose among the enemy that they were being cut off from their pa ; 

 then the fight became a rout. 



The ten survivors of the right-flank Ngatihaua detachment stood as 

 rocks, back to back, amid the deluge of the retreating enemy, until the last 

 of these got within the pa. Ngatihaua and allies then immediately retired 

 out of " Brown Bess" range — for there were no 1,000-yards rifles in those 

 days. 



Ngatihaua lost altogether seventy men killed and ninety wounded. The 

 enemy lost 440 killed and about as many wounded. Those slightly wounded 

 escaped to the pa. The enemy, however, had still considerably over two 

 thousand men, and Te Waharoa could not implicitly depend on his allies. 

 The Ngatihaua dead were therefore carefully collected, and the bodies forth- 

 with cremated, in case they might fall into the hands of the enemy. When 

 the wTiter last saw the place, in 1880, a small flagstaff still marked the spot 

 where the bodies were burned. 



During the night after the battle negotiations were opened — -at- first 

 between Te Waharoa' s Ngaiterangi allies and the enemy in the pa. Next 

 day the matter was referred to Te Waharoa, and that wise and politic chief 

 readily agreed to cease hostilities, provided the Ngatimaru and Ngatipaoa 

 retired at once, " bag and baggage," from Waikato, and returned to their 

 own proper district. This they accordingly did, escorted by Te Waharoa's 

 Ngaiterangi allies and fifty Ngatihaua. 



