MAORI MEAIORIES.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 June 1938, Page 3

MAORI MEAIORIES.

MAORI MARTYRS.

(Recorded by J.H.S. for “Times-Age.”)

The massacre at Te Toka recorded in a previous “Memory” did not end the

troubles of the “savage infidels.” .Te Heu Heu, his six wives and 54 of his tribe were buried alive in a land slide. This was looked upon by the Maori converts as Heaven’s judgment for that Chief's rejection of Christian principles.

He Heu Heu and his tribe lived at Te Rapa on the shore of Lake Taupo, in a valley among the mountains. The nearby hillside was covered with steam from the sulphurous boiling springs, which provided warmth, cooking, bathing and seclusion in the event of attack.

At midnight on May 7th, 1846. after heavy rain an immense slide of loose volcanic earth fell upon the sleeping Millage. All but one athletic youth were entombed fifty feet below. A Missionary was brought by canoe to read the burial service over the dead. He described the event as a direct blow from the hand of the Creator. The Maori converts at Waitotara, feeling that these punishments from God and themselves must have convinced the infidels and softened their hearts, again sent two Maori converts to Taupo in 1947 to bring into the fold Te Heu Heu’s successor and his followers. On the way out one them visited Te Reinga in his dream. There he consulted the spirit of a dead friend, and was told that within three days he would be a permanent resident. They were both sacrificed near Taupo to avenge the massacre at Te Toka, and to affirm the prediction of the great chief Te Heu Heu.

The Missionary report of 1953 assigns the title of martyrs to these two, Manihera and Kereopa.