576 
ANDREW POWERS. 
At the time when this affair took place, there were no 
natives residing near the sea ; Pntiki had been destroyed 
two years before by Te Rauparaha ; the men who seized 
the boat were Taupo natives, and immediately afterwards 
went up the river ; Powers accompanied Tapuae and his son 
Wetu, the black man going with another division of the 
party he saw no more of him, those with Wetu returned 
by Wanganui-a-te-ao and Rotoaira ; as they went up the 
river, the people of a pa they stopped at, gave Tapuae 
and Wetu a basket of human flesh, and were going to give 
some to Powers, but Tapuae told them not to do so, as 
foreigners did not eat that kind of food, and Tapuae said, 
neither would his son touch it ; he therefore returned the 
present ; the natives, astonished, enquired — what is he tapu, 
that he cannot eat human flesh ? No, replied his father, the 
smell of it always makes my son sick, (a convincing proof 
there were some at least whose feelings revolted at such 
unnatural food). 
On reaching Taupo, Te Wetu said he must take him to 
see the king; so they went to Waitaha-nui, and there placed 
him in the verandah of a house, in a little time a native 
brought a new floor mat, and spread it upon the ground, and 
bid him sit upon it ; shortly afterwards, they said, our king 
is coming, and a very stout majestic native made his appear- 
ance, who came and sat by his side on the mat ; this no 
doubt was Te Heuheu. 
The king spoke to him very kindly, and asked him if it was 
true that his men had killed and eaten his comrades ; Powers 
was afraid to reply, and therefore pretended not to under- 
stand what he said ; he then sent for a little slave boy who 
had lived a long time at Taranaki with some European, and 
asked him all the particulars, whether any provocation had 
been given by the Europeans, he was told no ; he then called 
for his jpatiti, hatchet, one of his wives went for it ; Powers said 
he trembled, and felt that his time was come ; he watched 
anxiously the woman as she went along a narrow alley in 
the pa, until she disappeared ; the king, jumped up, and 
went into the house, but soon came out again, clad in 
