G.—l

8

The speech-making was now commenced by Hone te One welcoming his guests. He was replied to by Te Ngakau; one or two others spoke upon each side in the same strain. Te Tapibana now got up as Tawhiao's spokesman. After the usual words of welcome, he said : I will take the words of Potatau, the only man of this country. I only know New Zealand as the country, and Potatau as the man of it; there are no other chiefs. Potatau is gone, but Tawhiao is left; he is now the man. " E hoa ma whakaronga mai kite kupu a Potatau ki a au, rere, aku Pakeha arohaina, aku Eangatira tiakima, nanaau i atawhai, tikina Houhia kite rongo." Friends, hearken to what Potatau said to me —namely, Love my Europeans, take care of my chiefs who brought me up, go and make peace. (Potatau said this to Tapihana at the commencement of hostilities in Taranaki.) After dwelling on these words, the speaker brought in what Tawhiao said to him, namely, " Eopia nga iwi c ma c mate nei ki tenei motu, ropia ki to aroaro " (Cover up the two people (races) who are suffering in this country; cover them up before you, i.e. make peace. Friends I did not comply with either of these commands, but I have discovered since the last two years that I made a mistake ; all I have to say is, " Kati te nekeneke, kaua c whakaroaina, haere, kawea au ki Whaingaroa, maua ko to Tamaiti, heoi ano taku kupu whatia. Ehoa ma whatia kati te nekenake, kei tupono kite raruraru. Kia rongo koutou kua kore au ki ena hanga, heoi ano taku ko nga kupu nei no Potatou raua ko Tawhiao, koia tenei ta tatou huarahi. E Whia haere mai whakatika kawea maua ki Whaingaroa Kati te nekeneke. Ka whakatakariri au, whatia, whatia, ite mea c vvhiti ana te ra, hoinai aku pakeha." Do not put off, do not delay ; come, convey me to Eaglan, myself and your son, i.e. Tawhiao. All I have to say is, Break it off. Friends, do not put off, lest some trouble arise to prevent it. Listen, I have nothing further to do with those things ; all I mean to follow are the commands of Potatau and Tawhiao ; let that be our road. Tawhia (Takerei), come, take us to "Whaingaroa, do not put off. lam angry at the delay ; break it off, break it off, while the sun is shining ; give me my Pakehas. Te Ngakau and Takerei both replied, the former consenting, the latter evading the question. Takerei is apparently very jealous because Tawhiao confides so much to Tapihana. I have always understood that the Waikato chiefs were jealous of Tapihana even during Potatau's lifetime ; did they not threaten once to kill Tapihana if he presented himself at Ngarauawahia ? He did go there with William Thompson, and defied them all; they did not raise a hand to him. Tawhiao during the whole week never spoke publicly once; in fact, there was no other occasion where speeches were made except those of welcome. Prayers, on this kind of occasions, are said about six times a day. I furnish the hymns and chants, also the genealogical chant respecting Maui, the authors of which are Tawhiao and M'anuwhiri, and Te Tapihana of that forwarded in my last report, which is now repeated in its proper place; besides these chants there are four prayers said, two by the men, and two by the women, somewhat similar to those in vogue under the Hau Hau religion. A new feature of the Tariao faith is an address, a kind of sermon, which is delivered at certain services by one or other of the Tariao. I heard two of these addresses, one by Te Ngakau, which was apparently founded on the first chapter of Genesis : the speaker compared the Tariao religion to the creation of the world, saying that five days out of the six had passed over; there still remained one day, after which would come the day of rest —Te ra Okioki. The other was given by Tapihana, his text was from St. John's gospel; this speaker alluded to the words of Potatau (already mentioned), pointing out to his listeners how they hacj erred in not carrying them out, urging upon them to renounce their past life, and commence a new one while there was yet time. Both these speakers quoted verses from the Bible in support of their addresses. On the following morning we all accompanied Tawhiao, to the Te Patupo settlement at Te Kakawa, ■where all the Natives residing on the Aotea Harbour had assembled to receive us. Upon arrival here the same performance of prayers took place, of a much shorter form, without any addresses at all. Upon the next morning we started for Motakotako, Tawhiao, myself, and about fifty others on horseback ; Takerei, Tapihana, and the rest via canoe for Eaoraokouere, on road to Te Makaka. Tawhiao's following now numbered some 150, having been augmented by all the Aotea Hau Haus. The party of horse remained three or four hours at Motakotako, after which we proceeded to Te Makaka ; this was on Thursday, February the 3rd. On the following day Tawhiao, Hone te One, Te Eata, and myself returned to Motakotako ; we had not been there long before Tapihana and about thirty others came up. While here Tawhiao took me into an outhouse, told me that he had forwarded a letter to you asking you to meet him, not at TeKuiti or Hikurangi.but Tatahi, which 1 took to mean either Alexandra or Kopua: the invitation, he said, had been forwarded through Te Wheoro. He told me I was not to mention anything that passed between him and I to any one but yourself, and that he had left instructions at Hikurangi to forward a messenger to him if an answer came for him; his words being " Send a messenger to convey any letters that may come for me during my absence to Kawhia, and if I am not there to follow me." He also told me that his intention was to have gone to Eaglan, but that he was very angry with Tawhia, and intended to return to Kawhia, from whence he should send him and his nuinga bade to the interior, and come back himself to Motakotako accompanied by Te Ngakau and Te Tapihana, and that he was going to leave his things with the storekeeper; that he would not be absent many days. As soon as he made up his mind to come back, he would send for me to bring him to Eaglan ; that it was all through Tawhia that he did not accompany me on this occasion; that both he and Tapihana were very much annoyed ; that he and Tapihana had just had rather a stormy interview with him, and had left him very sulky. Tawhiao and the most of his companions returned to Makaka in the evening. Te Tapihana said he was too angry to return there, and asked me to remain with him. I did so. Tapihana then told me the speech which he made at Torea was to have been made here; but seeing me there, Tawhiao told him to make it there. He said, "Do not think there is any one else to gainsay what I said; these are the words of Tawhiao. He has my hearty co-operation, but we have a great deal of jealousy to contend against from Tawhia and other Waikato chiefs. Tawhia is afraid that we might get a salary from the Government like himself. You just look on; I am nearly tired of this kind of thing, but mean to put up with it for a short time longer for Tawhiao's sake. If they will not help me I will open Kawhia myself; listen, the thing is settled, my finger nail is all that requires to