THE TRAIL TO THE RANGES 91 



working their plantations ; if, indeed, this was the case, the workings 

 spoken of must have been about the fertile edges of the lake. No man, 

 far less a soil- wise native, would have attempted to grow crops in the 

 vicinity of Orawaki. 



Passing over this hill the trail proceeded nearly due west along 

 the top of the narrow razor ridge Te Ropuhina. At the western ter- 

 mination of that ridge it descended in a northerly direction towards 

 the barren flats and low lands of Parae-o-weti, lands which lie between 

 the western heights of the northern portion of the "Sand-hills" and 

 the southern slopes of the isolated hill Pahangahanga, the "Dome." 

 Later, crossing a branch of the Papakiri, the track ran in a fairly direct 

 line from the foot of Pahangahanga, ascended the rising ground Taumata- 

 ia-te-hihe, and eventually reached the second crossing of the Papakiri. 

 This crossing has always been known in my time as the " Taipo " 

 goblin crossing, 1 a name probably given because of a totara block which 

 used to lie there hewn roughly to the similitude of a man's head. 



Proceeding, the track crossed the Tarawa-o-te-whenua slopes and 

 flats situate at the foot of the western termination of the " Burnt- 

 Blanket " range. Here the trail split, the western track rising gradually 

 until it reached the top of the hill Whakaihu-pakake. Descending 

 precipitously from this height it dropped into the narrow basin 

 Te-ipu-a-Te-Amohia, at whose northern extremity lay the "Pa Hill," 

 Kokopuru. It was on a neighbouring height, Matarangi, that a taua 

 of the Tuhoe was destroyed. 



Near the far-seen headland Puraho-tangihia, " Shepherds' View," 

 the Tuhoe or Urewera people had been met and defeated by the Ngati- 

 kahungunu, the tribe of which the Tutira people formed a sept. In 

 this battle the Tuhoe lost their chiefs Te Mokohaerewa and Te Kapua- 

 whakarito, whose bodies were carried off to Tangoio and there cooked 

 and eaten. "In order to avenge the insult the Tuhoe people de- 

 spatched a second war-party. It was their intention to destroy 

 Tohutohu and Meke, the Ngati - kahungunu leaders who had been 

 present at the skirmish of Puraho - tangihia." I have been fortunate 

 enough to obtain from Te Hata-Kani a pictorial representation of the 

 affair. 2 



1 A word, according to William's ' Maori Dictionary,' used by Maoris believing it English, 

 by Europeans believing it Maori, it being apparently neither. 



2 The old gentleman had amused himself one evening sketching on a torn bit of foolscap 

 the meeting of his people with the Tuhoe tribesmen ; afterwards on clean drawing-paper he 

 repeated the performance, which is here exactly reproduced. 



