This picture, of a typical Maori funeral scene, may be said to bridge the years back to the famous battle of Orakau in 1864, for the mourner shown standing and holding a mere was Te Rohu, widow of Rewi Maniapoto, the leader of the Maori forces on that occasion. The photograph was taken at Waihi, Lake Taupo, in 1929, at the funeral of the late Mrs L. M. Grace (Te Kahui Te Heuheu), daughter of Horonuku Te Heuheu. The mere is the treasured Pahikaure, a source of tribal pride ever since its capture in war in Hawkes Bay generations ago. After the disastrous landslide which overwhelmed the village of Te Rapa (see article "Tauponui-a Tia," next column), the people dug down to find the body of their chief, Te Heuheu. The body of his senior wife was close by, the mere Pahikaure clasped to her breast. She had been overwhelmed in an attempt to preserve the tribal talisman. This beautiful patu-pounamu is of the variety of greenstone known as inanga, with an irregular silvery band across it supposed to resemble the glistening whitebait (inanga) in the water. There is a belief that when a member of the Te Heuheu family, or an important man of the tribe, is about to die, the mere Pahikaure will turn black, a portent of grief to come.

Taupo Times, Volume II, Issue 80, 29 July 1953, Page 1

This picture, of a typical Maori funeral scene, may be said to bridge the years back to the famous battle of Orakau in 1864, for the mourner shown standing and holding a mere was Te Rohu, widow of Rewi Maniapoto, the leader of the Maori forces on that occasion. The photograph was taken at Waihi, Lake Taupo, in 1929, at the funeral of the late Mrs L. M. Grace (Te Kahui Te Heuheu), daughter of Horonuku Te Heuheu. The mere is the treasured Pahikaure, a source of tribal pride ever since its capture in war in Hawkes Bay generations ago. After the disastrous landslide which overwhelmed the village of Te Rapa (see article "Taupo-nui-a Tia," next column), the people dug down to find the body of their chief, Te Heuheu. The body of his senior wife was close by, the mere Pahikaure clasped to her breast. She had been overwhelmed in an attempt to preserve the tribal talisman. This beautiful patu-pounamu is of the variety of greenstone known as inanga, with an irregular silvery band across it supposed to resemble the glistening whitebait (inanga) in the water. There is a belief that when a member of the Te Heuheu family, or an important man of the tribe, is about to die, the mere Pahikaure will turn black, a portent of grief to come.