CHAP. XVII.] E' ONGI. 251 



was as good a hero as many who have appeared on 

 the modern stage, and had perhaps more just pre- 

 tensions to natural talent : and as it is not probable 

 that he will be honoured with a column as a sign of 

 public gratitude for his butcheries, we may as well, 

 in honour of his memory, transcribe from the report 

 of an eye-witness, the missionary Stack, the follow- 

 ing particulars of the death and funeral rites of this 

 warrior : 



" Patuone," he says, " who has just returned 

 from Wan gar oa, called this evening. I asked about 

 E' Ongi. He told me several things, all of which 

 I felt interested in listening to, as connected with 

 the end of this extraordinary chief. I perceived 

 that Patuone spoke of him in the most affectionate 



i 



manner. 





" When he and his party arrived at Pinia, where 

 E' Ongi was, they found him so emaciated, that they 

 were much affected. They all, as is usual, wept 

 together ; after which they informed him that they 

 feared he would soon die: to which he replied in 

 the negative, saying he never was in better spirits. 

 After waiting sufficiently long with him to pay him 

 proper respects, they were about to return, when he 

 was taken suddenly ill, on which they determined 

 to wait the result. Perceiving, by his inward 

 sinking, that he was going, he said to his friends 

 ' I shall die now shortly, but not to-day/ He 

 called for his gunpowder ; and when it was brought 

 to him he said ' Ka ora koutou.' ' You will be 



