TRAILS ROUND TUTIRA LAKE 69 



base of this tongue of land was situated the Jcainga Te Tuahu, upon its 

 extremity was built the pa Te Rewa already described. 



About 100 yards farther up the peninsula are to be seen the remains 

 of a storehouse or whata, the land about it called Te Whare-o-Porua. 

 Proceeding along the margin of a deep bay the promontory Te Apu-te- 

 rangi is reached. Off the front of this peninsula exists, far beneath the 

 water, a cavern or deep chasm, into the proximity of which no canoe 

 would willingly venture. As my informant only knew of it to avoid, I 

 could but learn that even to pass over it inadvertently was in the 

 highest degree unlucky. On Te Apu-te-rangi are to be found the 

 usual indications of occupation, naturally steep banks artificially 

 straightened, level sites of former whare floors, and beds of kakahi shell, 

 intermixed with splintered cooking stones. 



To this day there flourishes on Te Apu-te-rangi a remarkably fine 

 cabbage-tree, nourished probably on the remains of the old kitchen 

 midden. The shore-line of the peninsula was particularly holy or tapu, 

 for there in bygone days was the sacred spot the titaahu where the 

 tohungas practised their religious rites. The track then passed over 

 the little flat Kaitaratahi, and 50 yards farther on over the larger marsh 

 Te Whatu-whewhe, where tradition avers that in ancient days a large 

 and valuable slab of greenstone was lost. 



Farther along the lake we reach the minute jut of land on which 

 the pa Oporae stood. It was sacked some five generations back by the 

 Mohaka chief, Popoia, one of whose wives had misconducted herself with 

 a stranger from Heretaunga. To rehabilitate the mana of Popoia two 

 taaas x or war-parties were sent forth from Mohaka. Arriving on the 



1 Manning, in his inimitable 'Old New Zealand,' thus describes the taua: "Now some- 

 thing moves in the border of the forest it is a mass of black heads. Now the men are plainly 

 visible. The whole taua has emerged upon the plain. . . . They are formed in a solid oblong 

 mass. The chief at the left of the column leads them on. The men are all equipped for 

 immediate action ; that is to say, quite naked except their arms and cartridge-boxes, which are 

 a warrior's clothes. . . . As I have said, the men are all stripped for action, but I also notice 

 that the appearance of nakedness is completely taken away by the tattooing, the colour of the 

 skin, and the arms and equipments. The men, in fact, look much better than when dressed in 

 their Maori clothing. Every man, almost without exception, is covered with tattooing from the 

 knees to the waist ; the face is also covered with dark spiral lines. Each man has round his 

 middle a belt, to which are fastened two cartridge-boxes, one behind and one before. Another 

 belt goes over the right shoulder and under the left arm, and from it hangs on the left side and 

 rather behind another cartridge-box, and under the waist-belt is thrust behind, at the small of 

 the back, the short-handled tomahawk for close fight and to finish the wounded. . . . On they 

 come, a set of tall, athletic, heavy-made men. . . . They are now half-way across the plain ; 

 they keep their formation, a solid oblong, admirably as they advance, but they do not keep 

 step : this causes a very singular appearance when distant. . . . This mass seems to progress 

 towards you with the creeping motion of some great reptile, and when coming down a sloping 

 ground this effect is quite remarkable." 



