12 Transactions.— Miscellaneous. 
10, The wounding, indeed, of the man who courageously enraged the demon ! 
11. Thy internal parts are all opened to view! 
12. Verily, just as the stirring up of the big fire burning in the court-yard of a pa! 
13. But, lo! thou and I together (are as one).* 
This done, Rongouaroa was taken into the pa; that he might be shown 
publicly to Tawheta and his party. Now Uenuku had returned to his 
oratory, keeping his son, Rongouaroa, out of sight, on one side behind his 
back; the visiting party (according to strict custom) being all within the big 
house, while the chief of the pa, Uenuku, was outside making his speech to 
them; moreover, they were tired with their paddling and wanted their 
morning’s meal; and thus Uenuku recommenced his address :—‘*‘ Come 
hither, come hither; thou art indeed Tawheta; yes, thou thyself (come at 
last to see me). Thou art indeed come hither from our children ; but are 
they living, or are they dead?{ On hearing this, Tawheta bounded out 
from within the house, and said, ‘« And who indeed is that demon from the 
sky who is able to kill our children?” Then it was that Uenuku said to 
Tawheta, ‘‘ Our children are slain, killed by thee! behold, here is the only sur- 
vivor!;” at the same time bringing forward Rongouaroa, and making him 
to stand in the open space before the door of the house, so that he might be 
fully seen by all those within it. On hearing those words of Uenuku, and 
seeing Rongouaroa, the whole party were seized with panic fear, and would 
have instantly fled, or have endeavoured to do so,—and at this time they 
could all have been very easily slain by Uenuku, but it was owing to his 
noble disposition that they were not. So he kept them until the food for 
* Of this charm, verses 4 and 13 are used to infuse hope and strength, and to assure 
the unity of the powerful and the weak. (See Paikea’s spell, (infra) v. 5.) v. 6 no doubt 
refers to the two female personages mentioned before in Uenuku’s spell, (supra,) vv. 8 
and 9—see note there ; v. 8 is a beautiful and strongly expressive metaphor tersely given 
in the original; v. 10 the ‘‘demon,”=atua, foe; vv. 11, 12, “ internal parts,”—i.e. inner 
parts of the head ; a severely fractured skull was common in the desperate hand-to-hand 
fights and massacres of old, where heavy clubs and stone axes were the weapons, and not 
unfrequently the sufferer recovered. (See Proverbs 155, 156, “Trans, N. Z. Inst.,” Vol. 
XIL., p. 137. 
+ There could be no fear, on the part of Uenuku, that Tawheta, or any of his party, 
would come out of the reception house while he was absent, as such would be against all 
custom, etc. 
t “Are they living, or are they dead?” Note here the last word! This Tawheta 
well understood, although he could only then have supposed that Uenuku entertained a 
suspicion of something evil,—as from a dream, warning, omen, etc.; for, according to 
correct Maori idiom and syntax, that saying of Uenuku should have been reversed (if 
spoken at all? )—“ are they dead, or are they living ?””—which would have had a very 
- different meaning, and Tawheta would have remained quietly in the house of reception. 
Hence, Tawheta broke the rules of etiquette, and bounded forth boldly to meet the implied 
and concealed charge against him, 
7 ee I ig i Waser cea neg ae Oe a ae eM een Ee RSAC a FR RE eT ee a iE Sores 
