16 7 Transactions.— Miscellaneous. 
had ever been taken great care of by the grandson* of Tumatauenga, 
Uenuku. The war expedition paddled away until they came to Matikotai 
and Porangahau, where was Tawheta’s fort, or war pa; there, at Uenuku’s 
command, all the canoes anchored just outside the swell of the waves, each 
being provided with stone anchors and long ropes for that purpose ; this 
done they paddled in towards the shore. Then it was that Tawheta and 
his people, who were there assembled in great numbers, rushed down to 
meet Uenuku’s party, and even waded out into the sea to fight them, and 
to oppose their landing! when Putuakiterangi, one of Tawheta’s braves, 
was seized by Uenuku’s party, dragged into the canoe and carried off! 
Uenuku giving the order to draw all the canoes outside by their long ropes. 
There, according to custom, they killed their /irst prisoner, eut him open, 
and tore out his heart; { then they made a sacred fire by friction, and when 
it was fully blazing they roasted the heart on the fire, and when it was 
cooked, they covered over both the heart and the sacred fire with the two 
garments already mentioned,—Te Rangituitui and Te Rangikahupapa. 
Then it was that Uenuku, standing up in his canoe, called on the mist from 
the summits of (the mountain) Tirikawa, saying, ‘‘ Attend! fall down and 
encompass; fall down and cover up!’”? When, lo! it suddenly became 
very dark indeed, and the stars were seen in the sky. Uenuku and his 
people listened, and lo! Tawheta and his people were heard fighting 
among themselves in the darkness, and killing each other! the curses 
and the groans were heard, also the hollow blows on each other’s heads 
from their clubs; not one of them, however, was struck by Uenuku’s 
party, who were still in their canoes; they did it all themselves. After 
* The word mokopuna may mean, great great grandson, etc., or lineal descendant. 
t A very similar proceeding to the first sacrifice, mentioned in the beginning of this 
story, only with different ceremonies. This custom was of universal application among 
the New Zealanders; hence, in war, it was of great importance (on either side) to seize 
the first prisoner for this purpose. Uenuku seems to have laid his plan well, by anchoring 
his canoes in the way he did, to bring the desired end so readily to pass. The-student of 
Ancient History will know how extensively this custom was practised, both in the Old 
World and New (Mexico); the two things seem generally to have gone together,—the 
bloody offering (or the life), and the offering by fire ; blood being, at all times and in every 
zone, supposed to be fitted to appease the gods! Sir Walter Scott has well worked upon 
this ancient belief in his poem of “The Lady of the Lake,” Canto V.,—the combat between 
FitzJames and Roderick Dhu,— 
“ Which spills the foremost foeman’s life, 
That party conquers in the strife.” 
It is even said, that the Highlanders under Montrose were so deeply imbued with this 
notion, that, on the morning of the battle of Tippermoor, they murdered a defenceless 
herdsman, whom they found in the fields, merely to secure an advantage of so much con- 
sequence to their party. 
