88 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. IV. 
his full height, and addressed E Kai in slow speech, 
full of majesty and noble pride. He seemed to over- 
come, for the emergency, the diffidence of a youth to 
speak on important subjects, and assumed the air and 
manner of an old chief renowned in the council. 
" Why," said he, " have you taunted us with the 
** foul death of our great ancestor ? Why have you 
" made our hearts dark by speaking, that w^e should 
" remember the wrongs of our chief? If your creed be 
" one of love and peace, how can you be straight in 
" speaking words which are bitter to the hearts of our 
** people ? Listen ! you have spoken of the past, and 
" you know not what to-morrow will bring. Can you 
" tell when the cold north wind shall blow from the 
** mountain ? Can you see when the snows of Tonga 
" Riro shall sweep down hither from its white face, 
" or when the flooded river shall inundate the level 
*' lands with the water from the hills? You have made 
" a speech which is sore to our innermost entrails ; the 
" word is remembered by the children of Tauteka. 
" Enough has been spoken. I have done." 
No more songs were heard : they lay down in their 
places round the fire, wrapped in their blankets ; and 
they shouted no farewell to the inhabitants when we 
started in the morning. I afterwards heard this aflair 
discussed for days among the chiefs of Taupo ; and it 
was clear that, in case of another war-party coming 
from that place, sanguinary vengeance would be exacted 
for the heedless insult. It was to the probability of 
this that the young orator had referred, when he figur- 
atively described the sons of Heuheu as the cold north 
wind, and the snows and waters of the hills. 
From Pipiriki to Tata, a distance of 20 miles, the 
scenery assumes a new and magnificent character, the 
river flowing between cliffs 100 to 200 feet in height. 
