TRAILS ROUND TUTIRA LAKE 83 



his calculations : " Katahi, ka rua, ka torn" a free translation of 

 which might run : " One, awaia ! Two, a very tree ! ! Three, a sapling 

 totara ! ! ! " and so on. Now human leg - bones in those days were 

 useful to others than their proper owners. Te Hiku-o-Tera perhaps may 

 have been aware that his were dangerously valuable, he may have 

 been unduly sensitive. At any rate, as ill-luck would have it, he 

 woke during the operation, and, furious at the insult as he considered 

 it, accused Te Otua of measuring his understandings with a view to 

 converting them into bird-spears, for the longer the bone the more 

 highly was it prized for this purpose. In high dudgeon he left the 

 pa, and returning, reported the incident to his chief, Te Whatu-i-Apiti. 

 In those times an insult to an individual was an insult to his tribe. 

 A war party accordingly was collected its leader, however, being 

 warned by Te Whatu-i-Apiti that his red-haired son Whakatau, whom 

 he had never seen, was on no account to be hurt. 



The taua made its approach by way of the beach, between which 

 and the pa lay a broad lagoon, at that season covered with multi- 

 tudes of duck. Less wary and wakeful, however, than the geese of 

 the Capitoline, they were circumvented by the following stratagem : 

 Each warrior provided himself with plumes pua kakaho of the tall 

 graceful toe-toe grass (Arundo conspicua), and thus camouflaged crept 

 after midnight quietly round the lagoon, crossed the stretch of water 

 sometimes, it is said, actually touching the unsuspicious duck and 

 established himself beneath the outworks of the pa. There the re- 

 assembled warriors awaited the earliest dawn " Kia kitea nga turi" 

 " until it was light enough to see a man's knees." 



Just before daybreak a woman from the pa, happening to go out, 

 saw the taua just below. She gave the warning by exclaiming : " Ko 

 te whakaariki!" "hostile raiders!" Te Otua was the first man up 

 after the warning. Snatching his bundle of pointed manuka spears, he 

 rushed along, biting the material with which they were bound. Kunning 

 thus he stepped on the spot where the refuse flax of the village was 

 deposited. It was about a couple of feet thick with the butts of 

 the great blades, and as Te Otua rushed forward his feet slid on the 

 slippery surface and he landed fairly in the middle of the enemy. 

 The gigantic Te Hiku-o-Tera, whose hip-bones had been so rudely 

 measured, was foremost in the attacking party. Recognising Te 

 Otua in the scuffle, he exclaimed : "Koiatenei!" ".This is he!". At 



