CHAP. VIII.] NATIVE WARS. 133 



an act of treachery. A chief of the Waikato paid 

 a visit to a pa in Rotu-rua, where he had some 

 relations; an old man in that pa, who had quarrel- 

 led with one of the Waikato many years before, and 

 wished to involve his people in a war with them, 

 received the chief with great apparent friendship, 

 but told his son to kill him treacherously from 

 behind, when he was in the act of making the 

 customary salutation. The son did so, and a long 

 and bloody war was the consequence. 



The Rotu-rua are now the most belligerent tribe 

 in the island, and are at war with all their neigh- 

 bours. The cause of a long war between them 

 and the Nga-pui was an act similar to that above 

 related. A party of thirty Nga-pui came on a 

 visit to the island of Mokoia in the lake of Rotu- 

 rua ; they were hospitably received, but their doom 

 was already sealed. After feasting, the islanders 

 joined them in singing a war-song, it having been 

 previously arranged that at the second repetition of 

 the chorus they should kill all their guests : this 

 was done, and all the Nga-pui were butchered, with 

 the exception of two who escaped in a canoe. This 

 act of treachery was, however, severely punished : 

 E' Ongi came down from the Bay of Islands, 

 dragged his canoes overland into the lake of Rotu- 

 rua, killed a great number of the murderers, and 

 carried away about sixty of their children into 

 slavery. 



It is well known that the New Zealanders have 



