Patuone

Te Ao Hou, September 1965, Page 36

Patuone This Maori tribute to Patuone and his brother Tamati Waka Nene is from C. O. Davis' The Life and Times of Patuone' (1876). ‘Patuone and Waka Nene were great in counsel and great in fight… they gave good advice to their tribes and to the Ngapuhi nation generally. Patuone was present at many Maori fights north and south, east and west. Often he acted as a peacemaker, because it was his custom to prevent bloodshed. In the early times, Patuone and Waka befriended Europeans who visited New Zealand in ships. … All the world knows that these men were true in action and speech. In their death, the Maoris say that great trees, giving shade to many, have been uprooted; but the Maori proverb is. ‘When one great chief dies, another great chief lives’, and a second proverb is ‘The sun goes down when its course is run’… Patuone reached the end of his journey, and lay down to die. Waka Nene did the same. They have gone to be greeted by generations that went before… Their good sayings and good deeds will be long remembered.