MAMAKU. 
i>56 
war, went to the house of an out-settler, and struck at him 
behind the neck with a tomahawk ; the wound was not 
very severe, the man being tall, his young assailant could not 
reach him. He went into his house, and the miscreants 
were on the point of fleeing, when they beheld their intended 
victim running away, having escaped from a back window, 
no sooner did he abandon his helpless family, than the 
fellows began to assault the house, his poor wife put her 
two eldest children out of the back window first, and then 
the others, following them herself the last, and leading one 
of the youngest by the hand ; the miscreants immediately 
they saw her, split her skull with the wood axe, and that of 
her child as well, they then ran after the others ; the eldest 
boy and girl each carried a baby, they struck the poor boy 
down ; he had succeeded in concealing himself, but when 
he heard his mother’s cries, he ran to her aid ; the babe he 
carried, rolled into the fern, and as it was growing dark, 
escaped observation ; they next cleft the skull of the eldest 
daughter, she fell with an infant she carried belonging to a 
relative, which being under her escaped, another poor girl 
was likewise killed, two of the young children ran into a 
swamp, and concealing themselves amongst the flags were not 
observed ; the natives plundered the house, and set it on fire. 
In order to involve the Mission natives (who were always 
well disposed towards the Europeans) in a quarrel, and to 
make the latter think they had committed this murder, the 
perpetrators dropped different articles taken from the house 
along the road leading to their pa, and then fled up the river. 
natives present deplored the accident, and said that, according to their law, 
the house would have been forfeited to him, and as they were of his party, it 
would have been their duty to have seen it given up to him, as every one pre- 
sent was affected by his blood being shed. In the same way, even if a canoe 
should be dashed on shore in a storm, and the owner’s life endangered, he 
thereby acquires a title to the spot he is thrown on. When blood is shed, it 
is the duty of every one related to the person who has suffered to seek for re- 
venge. It does not matter whether it be the individual who drew it or any one 
else belonging to his tribe ; but blood must be shed as an atonement for blood 
This was one of the most fertile causes of war in former days. There were no 
cities of refuge for the manslayer to flee to for safety, and his act endangered the 
lives of every one in his tribe. 
