844 
NIGHT SPEAKING. 
concluded, is generally answered by another, and thus the 
discussion is frequently kept up during the best part of the 
night. In the stillness of evening the orator is heard from 
one end of the pa to the other, and always has an attentive 
audience ; when numbers are congregated together, this often 
forms a very effective way of securing attention ; should the 
night be cold, the summons only is given outside, and all 
adjourn to the principal house, generally he whare puni , a 
hot-house. In former days a large hollow stone, or calabash, 
was filled with oil, in which were two wicks made of twisted 
flax, this formed the lamp, and often these koreros or 
councils lasted till daylight ; this was the general way of 
holding them. 
The whare runanga , or council chamber, was often a house 
built solely for the purpose. When the Nga ti rua nui began 
to be disaffected, they erected a very large building at 
Manawapou, a hundred and twenty feet long by thirty in 
width, with two doors and porches, this was called Tai poro 
he nui , or the ending of the matter ; here was the commence- 
ment of their league against land selling to the British 
Government ; afterwards similar buildings were erected in 
every place ; Wiremu Tako built a large one, in which every 
part had a symbolical meaning attached to it ; but the whare 
runanga of olden times were simply houses in which they 
met to work, and talk over the affairs of their tribe, when 
it was too rainy to work in their cultivations. 
HE PAPA, OR CARVED DISH. 
