CHAPTER IV.

Otago Witness, Issue 2387, 30 November 1899, Page 50 (Supplement)

CHAPTER IV.

Having successfully accomplished their mission of vengeance, the Taieri chiefs re-tm-ned to their homes, and lived in peace for a number of years. When, in the process ot time, Tv Iriroa became bowed with years, and the boys saved from the massacre at Rakiura had grown tall and comely youths, he thought much of Tukiauau,' and repented now that he had had any part in the massacre. He called aside Kape Tauakiwhiti and Tv Okioki, whose lives he had asked to be spared when the attack was made upon Tukiauau, and said to them : "Do you ever think of your ancestors, and how to avenge them? Will you not kindle a fire to their memory, and light the ovens on Moua Hill?"

Then Tv Okioki replied: "We are always thinking of our slain ancestors ; but what can we do? We are but two amongst many, and who will help us? Tv Iriroa will not send his young men, and the pa on Moua Hill is well defended."

Tv Iriroa replied : " Come to me and I will teach you how to avenge your people." For many days the young men went to the whare of the aged chief, and learned of him all the ancient Maori customs and the songs of their own people. He taught them all the history of the tribes with which they were connected, and fully instructed them how to do justice to the memory of their ancestors according to Maori custom. He told them the name of the principal chief of their people, and the place in the North Island where he was to be found.

Acting upon the advice of Tv Iriroa, the two young chiefs, for such they were by lineage, crossed the Taieri River. Tv Iriroa took affectionate farewell of them, and said : " 0 Kape Tauakiwhiti and Tv Okioki, you are going away to get your people to avenge the slaughter of Tukiauau. Tv Iriroa will pass to the reinga before you return. But the chiefs on Moua Hill are not old men yet. They are practised in the arts of Maori warfare, so be cautious. The rat cannot climb up the posts into the whata ; but no pa is secure enough to keep them out. Use the cunning of the rat, for Moua is crafty." * The two young men went away, and for days travelled along the coast. Everywhere the other Maoris received them hospitably, and gave them food and shelter. At length they came to the end of then* land journey, for the waters of the strait barred further progress. The chief who lived by the shore of the strait gave them kindly welcome when he learned that the friend of his youth, Tv Iriroa, had sent them. He placed a war canoe at their service, and had them conveyed across the strait. For some days more they journeyed till they came to toe pa of Tv Pare Taniwha, the principal chief of that part, and told him all the story, and how that Tv Iriroa had sent them to ask him to help them to kindle a fire for their ancestors. The young chiefs told Tv Pare Taniwha that there were about 5000 Ngati-

mamoe at Taieri. For a long time Tv Pare Taniwha kept silent ; but he knew that the Ngatimamoe at Taieri had lived in peace so long that they had forgotten the daring and the cunning of their ancestors. He therefore called all the fighting men of his tribes together, and held a council of war. They all agreed to go and avenge the slaughter of their kinsman, Tukiauau, and his people.

Tv Pare Taniwha selected 240 well-tried warriors, men who had never fled before an enemy, and whose spears knew the taste of blood. He commanded the war party himself, and saw that all the preparations were properly made. The great war canoes set forth upon the voyage over the treacherous sea ; but skilful hands were at the paddles, and the true descendants of the men from Hawaiki knew not fear. In due time they spied Moturata in the distance, and soon were within the shelter of the quiet waters ,of Taieri. On first landing, they learned that Tv Iriroa had died some time before, and that his son, who succeeded, had no communication with the other Taieri chiefs. The hapu at Taieri Moana, while giving the avengers of Tukiauau a friendly greeting, refused to help them. The war party learned that the pa on Moua Hill was strong and well-manned and guarded. There was no hope of ever being able to take it by assault, so the accustomed wiles of Maori warfare had to be resorted to.

The chiefs on Moua Hill saw the visitors passing to and fro in then* war canoes, and wondered what they were doing. No friendly messenger had been sent to them, and that circumstance boded no good. After waiting for several months, and reconnoitring the pa from various standpoints, the avengers saw that any attempted attack must fail. A high precipice, which no man could scale guarded the pa in front, and the palisading behind was high and strong. The great totara and matai trees that grew on the slope above the pa had been 3ut down, dragged by hundreds of men, and upended side by side in the deep trench dug to receive them. The forest had been all cut down for some distance behind and below the pa, so that the watchers could see the river and any approach by which an enemy could come.

With .characteristic cunning, Tv Pare Taniwha laid a deep scheme to circumvent the cunning of Moua, Tama Kaipapa, and Tv Hokairangi. He sent a messenger to tell them that he had come with his followers out of respect to their dead ancestors, and that they only meant to show that they had not forgotten the old customs. They would stay a long enough time to satisfy the gods, and then they would return to their own home, for they did not like the climate, which was too cold. But the wily chief had laid a deeper scheme than that. While the canoes were searching the river he spied an ideal spot for a stronghold — a high mound of considerable extent, with the river on one side and a chain of deep lagoons almost around it, which could easily be fortified, so that it would be pretty well nigh impregnable. They therefore resolved to build apa there. With great labour they dragged large trees from the noble forest that grew on the Otakia hillside, and built a very strong pa, securely guarded by a double palisade. The space between was used for a meeting place and for the men on guard, while the whares were within the central enclosure. They were three years making preparations, and when all was complete they laid in a great supply of food for a feast, to which they intended to invite their friends. For many months there were parties out catching eels and ducks and woodhens, which were baked in the ovens and afterwards smoked and dried before they were put into the kelp bags. After everything was ready, and a big stock of food prepared, Tv Pare Taniwha had double the required number of kelp-bags made. Half were filled with food and half filled with sand and rubbish, and the whole piled up inside the pa. He then sent messengers to Moua and his allied chiefs to come with their young men to a feast in memory of his ancestors. After feasting together, the messengers said, they would part in peace, and the ancestors of the young chiefs, Kape Tauakiwhiti and Tv Okioki, would rest in the reinga. They would hold a tangi for Tukiauau ; but the feast -would not be on the flesh of the slain, like the feasts of their ancestors. There was plenty of food. The ducks were ready, and the wekas were good, the eels were prepared, and the dried fern root was in heaps. There was food enough to feast for several days, and if their friends would come and help them to feast to the memory of the slain ones, Tv Pare Taniwha would go back to bis home and tell his people that justice had been done to the' mana of Tukiauau. There were to be speeches made, and the Taieri chiefs would have a chance to vindicate their slaughter of the slayer of Manawa.

Beguiled by the specious words of Tv Pare Taniwha, the Taieri chiefs agreed to be present at the feast ; but after the messengers went away the three chiefs talked the matter over, and still fearing some treachery on the part of Tv Pare Taniwha, they decided not to go themselves, but to send their representatives. Consequently, next morning early they sent a large number of their young men with presents to the chief at Otakia. When they arrived they were greeted with a warm welcome, and told to come and see the food for the feast. There in the outer court of the pa arranged in three heaps they saw great piles of kelpbags. Tv Pare Taniwha addressed the young men himself. " Go," he said, " and tell Moua and his friends that Tv Pare Taniwha is filled with sorrow because the renowned chiefs he invited to come to the great feast with which he is going to do justice to the memory of his ancestors have not come. Tell Moua and Tama Kaipapa and Tv Hokairangi that Tv Pare Taniwha is their friend, and that the gods will not be satisfied if only the young men come to the feast while the chiefs stay away. See, there is much food prepared, and after the feast has lasted for several days there will be plenty to give a rich present to my friends."

Impressed by his apparent earnestness, the young men returned and told their chiefs what they had seen, and gave them the present of choicest food Tv Pare Taniwha had sent, "prepared only as the descendants of the great chiefs knew how

to prepare it. Never before had the Ngatimamoe on Moua Hill tasted such delicious, preserved ducks, and wekas, and eels, and fern root. If they were undecided before the taste of the food settled the matter, and they sent back word that the chiefs and all the young men would go to the feast on the morrow. It was a lovely autumn morning, and long before the sun touched the top of Maungatua with a crown of glory, like the radiance of Atua when he descended from the clouds and walked upon the mountain top, all was astir in the pa on Moua Hill. When the ground lark chirped its greeting to the dawn the young men of Tv Pare Taniwha rose from their mats and kindled the ovens to prepare the feast. The smoke of the fires could be seen from Moua Hill; and the people there fancied they could smell the sweet savour of the food as it was being cooked in the ovens. Moua urged the women to cook the morning meal quickly, for the chiefs and the young men would not need much that morning before going to the great feast prepared by order of their friend at Otakia. Partaking of a hurried meal they got ready for the short journey to Otakia. When invited to a banquet it is the custom for the guests to go unarmed ; and the Taieri chiefs would not depart from recognised Maori custom. When they had all assembled outside their own pa Tv Hokairangi said : " You go Moua and Tama Kaipapa, and feast with Tv Pare Taniwha, and take the young men with you. I do not feel well to-day, and if I were not to eat Tv Pare Taniwha would think I am not friendly to him. I will stay at home with the old men and the women' and children. Tell that great chief that I am sick and cannot come."

So Moua and Tama Kaipapa set forth with their followers, while Tv Hokairangi stayed at home. When they reached the pa of their pretended friend he came but to greet them, and bade them -welcome to the feast. They went within the outer enclosure, the gate of which was left open, and there the banquet began in Maori fashion, with speech-making and recitals of the ancient songs. Tv Pare Taniwha and his young men were unarmed as required by Maori custom; and the visitors wondered at the smallness of the company, for the greater part of his followers were hiding in the whares in the inner enclosure fully armed and waiting for the arranged signal. Tv Pare Taniwha gloated over the feast, and talked and laughed like one whose joy was overflowing ; for he knew that he and his followers after they had eaten their fill would quench their thirst with the warm blood of their guests. After the principal speeches had been made and the first part of the feast was over, the visiting chiefs wanted to go home; but Tv Pare Taniwha said : " No, my friends ; the best of the feast is yet to come; the choicest food is in the meeting place before the whares. We will now go in and perform the last act of the feast to the honour of our ancestors and to satisfy the gods. Come Moua and Tama Kaipapa; the sun is hot outside, and we will get shelter from the heat by the side of the whares."

The cunning chief led the way, and their fears quite disarmed the others followed with their young men behind them, while those outside went swiftly and silently to where their weapons were hidden. When the visitors were all seated within the inner enclosure Tv Pare Taniwha stood before them and chanted one of the ancient songs recited at the burial of a chief, to the memory of Tukiauau. Come, O power! Come on sacredness! Come on the words Of the priests, chiefs of Tu. Lift me up by the power of Tv; The offering of the heavens is shaking - We give it to thee, O Tv! Make it common, 0 common! to eat food with Whiu, That his girdle may be put on, And leave the dead to die; And the living to live; To move, to grow; To wink at the earth; To wink at the sky!

Then changing the cadence he sang : Sons of the mighty! Sons of the strong I Behold ye then here The trophy of strength ; In my hand I do hold The crest of the dark-bosomed shag. Oh! Oh! Oh!

The last words rang out wild and fierce like the scream of the hoikoi as it swoops down upon the defenceless moa. This was the signal. The young men who were waiting armed with spears and meres and clubs re-echoed the cry, " Oh ! Oh ! Oh ! " and rushing out of the whares fell upon the defenceless visitors, while those outside rushed into the inner enclosure, and in a few minutes' time not one was left alive. With savage glee Tv Pare Taniwha drank the blood of Moua, the principal Taieri chief, as it flowed from the spear wound in his neck; while his followers glutted their vengeance in a like manner upon the humbler slain.

But the work cf vengeance was only half completed ; there were the people on Moua Hill yet to deal with, and the crafty chief, Tv Hokairangi, who thought to escape like the rat which deserts its companions. Leaving the slain where they had fallen, except the chiefs, Tv Pare Taniwha and his warriors set off in haste for Moua Hill, where the unsuspecting people were waiting for the return of their friends from the feast. Before the sun had made the mark of noon with the shadow from the high carved gate posts of the pa the ■ watchers on Moua Hill caught glimpses of dark forms amongst the trees by the river side ; for there the matai flung its strong limbs across till they met, leaving open pathways below, and shutting out the glare of the sun overhead. The watchers reported to Tv Hokairangi that the people were returning from the feast, and he felt glad, for dark bodings had troubled him. Well he knew that nothing but blood could wipe out blood in Maori vengeance; and he feared treachery from Tv Pare Taniwha. He sent the women again to look and try to discover if it really were their friends returning. They reported that they saw the young men where openings in the trees gave them glimpses of the path, carryine loads upon their backs. They took it to be

the food set apart for Tv Hokairangi, which the young men were bringing to him. But the food the leaders of the party carried tied up in mats and placed in flax baskets was still warm with the recentlyshed life-blood of Moua and Tama Kaipapa; for Tv Pare Taniwha meant to light the ovens on Moua Hill to feast on the slayers of Tukiauau, and so to satisfy the ancient custom.

Lulled into a false security by what the women reported, Tv Hokairangi gave instructions to them to light the ovens and prepare for the return of their friends. While the women were at the ovens outside the pa the others were sitting about inside quietly waiting, and anticipating a share of the great banquet. A cry from an old woman who saw the approaching foe, who had climbed the hill, and leaving the edge of the forest ran for the pa entrance, alarmed Tv Hokairangi. He ran outside to see what the cry meant, and instantly the truth was clear, for there he saw the northern chief at the head of his armed followers rushing upon the pa. Knowing that any attempt at defence was useless the chief, who was still in the prime of life and fleet of foot, fled along the crown of the ridge towards the river as fast as he could. The cry went up, "Tv Hokairangi is escaping. Give chase ! "

Tv Pare Taniwha told off two men to follow, one to keep on either hand to prevent him striking inland or to the river, while he himself made direct for the river to intercept Tv Hokairangi should he attempt escape in that direction. In a few moments' time the old men and women and children were slaughtered, and not one of the numerous hapu that had lived in peace for so long on Moua Hill was left except the chief Tv Hokairangi, who was pursued by relentless foes.

Tv Pare Taniwha soon reached the riverside, and ran along the shore, catching occasional glimpses of the fugitive and his two pursuers. The northern chief swam the river from point to point to avoid the bends and so to get well in front of the fugitive. The race wag a long one, and the way was rough. Fear gave the flying chief strength when his limbs were failing ; but the superior endurance of his pursuers was beginning to tell. Seeing all hope of outrunning them vain, he struck down the leading spur intending to take to the river there. Across the other side there was a deep, denselywooded gully, with precipitous sides, and plenty of hiding places, and to that haven of refuge he would fly. One of the pursuers, seeing his purpose, ran down the side of the ridge to force the fugitive on to the precipice

below or into the bush-on the left. Tv Pare Taniwha saw him coming, and crept down by the edge of the rocks, sometimes swimming and sometimes wading, still holding his well-tried spear firmly in his hand. Beset closely on either hand; the fugitive made one last rush for liberty, but the young man on his left closed upon him, cutting off the very way that led down the ridge to the river. Th 3 precipice offered the only vantage point, and seeing no other escape possible, Tv Hokairangi did not hesitate a moment.

On he ran with the avengers close behind him, and for a second paused on the brink of the precipice, steadying himself by the manuka tree which grew there. Taking a full breath he made a short run, and plunged over the cliff, trusting to the blue waters below to be more kindly to him than his fellow man. He took the leap with hope in his heart, but too late, for already the spear of Tv Pare Taniwha was poised in air, and as the falling body of the fugitive flashed past, the long cruel spear transfixed him. For a brief moment the water closed above him, but soon he rose to the surface and the water was tinged with blood. Tv Pare Taniwha seeing that the Taieri chief was mortally wounded, mocked him, and asked him how he liked his bath. Tv Hokairangi replied, " You have got me

at last, it is the will of the gods," and disappeared for ever.

The northern chief and his two young men returned leisurely to Moua Hill, and held a banquet of the slain. On the morrow they left in their war canoes and returned to their own people in the North Island.

Such was the vengeance the two young chiefs, Kape Tuakiwhiti and Tv Okioko, wreaked upon the slayers of their people. Even to this day the ovens may be seen on Moua Hill where the Taieri chiefs made a feast for their foes ; all except Tv Hokairangi, who was not dishonoured by giving his flesh to provide food for a cannibal hakari. The river he loved so well and over whose waters his canoe was wont to glide from the days of earliest childhood had taken him to her bosom, and firm clasped there his body lay while his spirit passed to the reinga. In the days that came, when there was peace amongst the shattered remnants. of the once powerful tribes that had their strongholds near the Taieri, those passing up and down the river in their canoes used to point out to their children Te R«renga 0 Tv Hokairangi, where the last of the great chiefs of the Ngatimamoe made a wild leap for life. Even to this day the pakehas call the place " The Maori Leap."

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