WHARE-KURA. 
177 
At first this temple Was a grand place of union for all the 
tribes, but afterwards it became the source of discord. The 
tribes which assembled in it quarrelled. Kauika broke the 
staff of Mai-i-rangi, and this became the signal of anarchy 
and confusion ; sorcery and witchcraft were then practised 
against each other, and at last they fought. 
He Taunaha ki Kauika. 
Ka mama Kauika tohunga, 
Ka mama Kauika wakarongo 
korero, 
Ka mama Kauika wakatama- 
tama, i roto i whare kura. 
A gift promised to Kauika. 
Easy was thy work, 0 Kauika, 
the priest. 
Easy was thy work, 0 Kauika, 
to listen to what was said. 
Easy was thy work, Kauika, 
grinning within the walls of 
Whare Kura. 
Waka-taupotiki set the building on fire, and a multitude 
perished in the flames. From that period it is said there has 
been no union amongst them — one tribe has ever since been 
opposed to another. 
Such are the disjointed parts of traditions relative to this 
remarkable temple. They are interesting, and excite our 
conjectures as to their origin, since they must have been 
founded on something which once existed, and are the more 
singular from referring to a building erected for worship, 
having never since had anything at all corresponding to it 
amongst them. The Christian natives compare it to Babel, 
and say it caused their dispersion, and the confusion of 
tongues, as well as the subsequent state of enmity they have 
lived in with each other; that at first it resembled Solomon's 
temple, where all the tribes met together; it does indeed 
seem to remind us of the separation of the ten from the other 
two, in the reign of Rehoboam, who, like Kauika, broke 
the staff of peace and unity, by his folly; supposing this 
people to be descended from any of those tribes, this is just 
such a tradition as might be handed down from so distant a 
period ; without letters, they could not be expected to preserve 
a fuller account. When Israel forsook the temple, which no 
longer continued to be a bond of union, then they worshipped 
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