Locke. — Historical Traditions of Taupo and East Coast Tribes. 455 



When Tarangakahutai, the chief of the pa, saw him and his party 

 coming, he called out " Where is Taraia ?" Taraia replied, " Here I am." 

 Tarangakahutai then shouted, " Stand forth that I may know you," which 

 Taraia did. His dress was a mat made of feathers. Tarangakahutai then 

 said, " I shall know you directly, your heart shall be my food." 



Taraia then took a stone, and repeating the tipihoumea (incantation), 

 threw it at Tarangakahutai, and it knocked his head-dress of feathers off. 

 They fell at Taraia's feet, who called out, " I know that it is I that shall eat 

 your heart presently." 



The fighting then commenced, and Kakai-te-hikuroa was driven back. 

 A woman named Hinepare, thinking her poople were defeated, took the 

 calabash in which the gods were kept and ascended a rock and broke the 

 calabash, crying out, — " Cursed be the mothers of these men, presently our 

 nakedness ivill he exposed to the enemy." Her brothers hearing the curse, the 

 crash of the calabash on the rock, and the lamentations of the women, ima- 

 gined that the head of a man had been broken. So Taraia rallied his 

 people again and returned to the fight, and many were killed. 



Here was killed Tarangakahutai and Eakaiweriweri and otbers of the 

 enemy, and Waikari and others of Kakai-te-hikuroa' s party. A dispute 

 arose over the body of Eakaiweriweri as to which family he belonged. 

 Taraia hearing of the dispute, arose and took two pieces oitoi-toi {Arundo 

 co?ispicna), and cast lots with the mii, saying, if of Eakaiweriweri go, if you 

 hold, you belong to this tribe. He cast it, and the mii held, he was there- 

 fore declared to be of the family of Eakai-te-hikuroa. The incantation used 

 was ; — " Unihia i te pu, unihia i te weri, unihia i takitaki, unihia i tamore i 

 Hawaild." This was the fourth death in payment of Tupurupuru. 



Eakai-te-hikuroa and party then moved on to Wakaari, Tauranga, and 

 Heipipi, near Tangoio. The chiefs of those pas were Tautu and Tunui. 

 While at AVakaari, there arrived from Heretaonga a man named Totara, 

 who boasted of the abundance and goodness of the food of his place. Tawao 

 said, on hearing of this, the Wanga-nui-o-roto (Napier Harbour, celebrated 

 for its shellfish), shall be the mara (garden) of Tawao. Taraia said the 

 Ngaruroro celebrated for kahawai shall be the ipu (calabash) of Taraia. 



The party then moved on to the mouth of the Ngaruroro and drove off 

 Hatupuna and his people, and the Awa-nui-a-rangi and Whatu-ma-moa. 

 Their principal pa was Otatara (Eedcliffe, near Taradale). Kahukura-nui, 

 father of Eakai-te-hikuroa, took to wife Tu-te-ihouga, chieffcainness of 

 Whatu-ma-moa, after he had returned from Motuo. Taraia and Porangahou 

 had avenged the death of her former husband who had been killed by the 

 people of that district. So we became amalgamated with that people in the 

 second generation, after the arrival of Takitimu from Hawaiki. 



