14 Transactiom. — Miscellaneous . 



men, a chief named Whatiua, got up and made an oration against Uenulm 

 going at once by sea to fight, saying, — " This is my opinion, first let the 

 kiimara 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) om- sad loss ; to- 

 morrow morning we will start." They did so; and as they were leaving 

 the 2M, Uenuku called out to them, — " Listen, friends ; this is my word to 

 you, if you succeed in capturing Poumatangatanga,f 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 agam 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 Eangikapiti, 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 dwellmg 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 cahn. 

 t Tawheta's daughter : a common practice. (See Vol. XIII., " Trans. N.Z. Inst.," p. 40. 

 X 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 kuinara root ceremonially deposited in the common path. 

 (See below, Art 11., " Contributions towards a better Knowledge of the Maori Eace,' 

 part IV., Kumar a). 



§ As the gods were (according to the ancient Greek mythology) up on Olympus. 

 II I have studied to mark the great difference in the modes of address between the 

 priest and the demon. (See, also, between Uenuku and his son Euatapu, p. 18) : — a 

 matter much too little attended to in translations. 



