Pukawa 5 December 1848 Friend, McLean Will you not consider one part of their maire trees[?]to be given from their land? [Following two sentences unclear, suggested translation] You are considering whether you have secured agreement over your land or objection, that is, over Rangitikei. But mine, those of mine I just live on, as to Mokau, he is for you to think about. Don't you and the Governor listen to the Maori who are insisting on giving over Rangitikei. Put those [thoughts] away so you and I do not get into trouble. My suggestion is this about Mokau, that he stays put peacefully. Be careful; don't make approaches over a call for land on Mokau's side. He is lamenting his land at Arapaowa, Mana, Porirua, Kapiti, Waikanae [and] the beach at Te Mahi [?] at Otaki. In all he has many lands. Consider in your mind that there are two lands from which that conflict arose - Port Nicholson and besides Port Nicholson there was Heretaunga. Now, that upset originated in the two of those lands. And it spread and has come to this. All the lands were given as payment for Te Rauparaha. These were the settlements for him to occupy - Manawatu and Rangitikei [and] they were also given to you, to the Pakeha, by the Maori. Just give [these thoughts] away about Mokau, so that the discussion amongst all of us does not go wrong - so I do not go wrong, so Potatau does not go wrong, so that the Governor does not oppose you and me. You should heed the statement that he is lamenting his villages - there are still two to be agreed for him. Soon that land will be argued over and he will rouse the Maori again. What I am pursuing, however, is the derogatory talk of those people, who say of me that 'I am bitten by the sandfly'; at Wanganui there is one saying of me 'just flesh', and that of Potatau is 'parrot perch'. Now these are the wrongs of those tribes, that there is no consideration from them and no goods in payment of that land have reached here. Give up on the main speaker of those tribes but be cautious in your talk. Don't listen to the talk of the Maori if they are opposing Mokau and my suggestions, when [they] say 'it is not right for those people to sort out my land'. In the past this land was his, today that land belongs to Mokau and Te Rauparaha. This is also my [view] that if he stayed by the beach, by the water, by the ocean, then that would be his. That river, Rangitikei, is mine, from Tongariro. Because of Waikato I went there to be close to some Pakeha food and clothes for myself, I did not [go] with the jealous desire to be close to the Governor and others and the Pakeha. That is all. From Te Heuheu Iwikau [Inscription at end] To McLean, at Wanganui or Ngamotu