140 Transactions.— Miscellaneous. 
This question is supposed to be put by a young man before the battle 
begins to an old warrior, and half slightingly. After the battle is over, and the 
young fellow wounded, the veteran says to him, * Ah! You thought that 
what I had had so much of (my food) was a trifle, did you? What think 
you now? “He jests at scars that never felt a wound.”—Shakspeare. 
174. E! ko te matakahi maire ! 
Lo! the iron-wood wedge ! 
Used of a warrior. 
Meaning; He separates the enemy before him, as the wedge of the hard 
Maire wood (Santalum cunninghamii*) splits up a log. 
175. E tia! me te wheke e pupuru ana! : 
Though stabbed through (with my spear), he holds on (to it) like a 
cuttle-fish with its arms and suckers. 
Said by a warrior of his hand-spear in fight. 
Another saying of similar meaning :— 
176. Me te mea kei te paru e titi ana! 
As difficult to pull my spear back out of his body as if I had stuck 
it into sticky holding mud. 
177. Waiho i te toka tu moana ! 
Stand firm and compact as the surf-beaten rock in the ocean ! 
Used by a chief in battle. 
178. Waiho kia oroia, he whati toki nui. 
Just leave the big stone axe to be re-sharpened, its edge is merely 
chipped a bit. 
Meaning: Though some of the braves of our tribe are killed, the remnant, 
including the chief, will fight the more fiercely. 
179. Ekore e ngaro, he takere waka nui. 
The hull of a large canoe cannot be hidden. 
Meaning: Although we have lost many in battle, we shall not become 
extinct; our tribe is numerous. 
180. He puia taro nui, he ngata taniwha rau, ekore e ngaro. 
A cluster of flourishing Taro plants (Colocasia antiquorum), a hundred 
devouring slugs, or leeches, cannot be extirpated — It is diffi- 
cult to destroy them all. So with a large tribe. 
181. Kore te hoe, kore te taataa. " 
Alas! without paddles and baler ! 
A canoe in this state must be lost. Applied to a tribe in a helpless 
state. 
182. He pukepuke maunga, e pikitia e te tangata ; he pukepuke moana, e ekeina e 
te waka ; he pukepuke tangata, ekore e pikitia e te tangata. 
. " But, at the south parts of the North Island, Maire is the Maori name of the 
Olea cunninghamii, 
