Chap. IV. SKIRMISH. 119 
retorted, asserting his own right to the tree from 
which the slahs hud heen cut. They both waxed wroth, 
running up and down in short parallel lines, brandish- 
ing their spears, and apparently trying who could talk 
most and quickest. He ngan^are ! he ngangare ! 
" a quarrel ! a quarrel !" was now shouted in both 
villages, and about 30 |)eople ran out from each side to 
see the sport. Tauranga soon challenged his opponent 
to drop his spear and wrestle, and the other accepted 
the offer and threw him after a short struggle. The 
spectators now rushed in on both sides : old women as 
well as men and boys seized the nearest offensive 
weapon ; tomahawks and cutlasses were brandished, 
and a general melee took place. The result was five 
or six broken heads in about two minutes ; and the 
wounded men pointed to their blood, and called for 
support from their respective friends. Many of the 
young men then threw away the sticks and clubs with 
which they had begun the affray, and ran to the pas 
for fire-arms. I stop}3ed a lad who was running to 
load one of my double-barrelled guns, not wishing to 
be implicated even by proxy ; and seeing several men 
who, armed with their own pieces, were hastening to 
the spot, too excited to listen to reason, I called to Mr. 
Niblett, and proceeded to take up my position in a deep 
narrow gully, to l^e out of the reach of stray shots. 
The affair would no doubt have ended fatally, and 
might have originated one of the endless feuds which 
exist even among the different families of the same 
tribe, had not an old chief, named Pehi, who has the 
highest authority at this end of the lake, hastened to 
restore peace. He ran down to the scene of conflict, 
armed with a rusty cavalry sabre, with the flat of which 
he administered sundry impressive admonitions to the 
heads of the most furious on both sides. He reproached 
