14 Transactions.— Miscellaneous. 
men, a chief named Whatiua, got up and made an oration against Uenuku 
going at once by sea to fight, saying,—“ This is my opinion, first let the 
kumara and the karaka be ripe,* then do thou go by sea; but I and my 
party will go at once by land ; we (my party) will first engage the enemy, 
and break off the tips of the branchlets of (the revenge for) our sad loss ; to- 
morrow morning we will start.” They did so; and as they were leaving 
the pa, Uenuku called out to them,—* Listen, friends; this is my word to 
you, if you succeed in capturing Poumatangatanga,+ let her live, to become 
a wife for me.” So the war-party, 70 in number, left on their march. 
They went away inland up over the high hills and kept on until night-fall, 
when they halted and slept; { at break of day they recommenced their 
march, and again halted at night as before to sleep ; the third morning, at 
daybreak, they resumed their march, and kept on until they came within 
sight of Rangikapiti, when they again halted until it was dark. In the night 
they went stealthily forward and surrounded the big house of that place ; 
the people there kept watch also by night but badly. On there arrival there 
they found that the demon (atua) had joined with the people in the house, and 
that the priest (tohunga), whose name was Hapopo, was encouraging his 
people by his questioning the demon as to the expected war-party, and they 
on the outside overheard their conversation going on between them. Hapopo, 
the priest, said to the demon,—* Speak, tell me, is the war-party at hand ? 
for we are here dwelling in great fear, not daring to sleep soundly at night.” 
The demon, whose name was Te Kanawa, replied to him,—* No, there is no 
war-party near; nothing of the kind; let us dwell together quietly, even as 
the ancient ones are, there far off away up in the sky.’’§ Those were the 
words spoken by the demon through the medium, whose name was Kahurangi. 
Hapopo, however, again asked, stirring (him) up, saying,—* Tell me, sir, is 
not the war-party at hand?” When (he) again replied, «‘ Not a single bit 
of a war-party, respected sir; no fighting whatever, great sir, will come 
hither against you; rest quietly.”|| All this conversation between those 
* That is, in the autumn, when the sea would be calm. 
+ Tawheta’s daughter: a common practice. (See Vol. XTIL., Trans. N.Z. Inst.,” p. 40. 
{ War-parties by land generally went forth by untrodden paths, forming a trail of 
their own, and often a circuitous one; their object being always to reach the place they 
were going to attack without being perceived, or even suspected, and to carefully avoid 
treading on, or walking over, a kumara root ceremonially deposited in the common path. 
(See below, Art II., “Contributions towards a better Knowledge of the Maori Race,’ 
part IV., Kumara). 
§ As the gods were (according to the ancient Greek mythology) up on Olympus. 
|| Ihave studied to mark the great difference in the modes of address between the 
priest and the demon. (See, also, between Uenuku and his son Ruatapu, p. 18):—a 
matter much too little attended to in translations. ‘ 
