he kotahi au, ara, he patu ano taku, noku te he, ae, tena, no tau tangata ke, hei aha au i mate noa ai?’ Ka whakatika tetahi tamaiti ariki ano o taua tira i haere nei ki Maungawhau, ka mea, ‘Ki te mea ka moe matou ko aku hoa i roto i te Wharekura, a, ka tikina mai matou ka pokea e te atua, e kore te mea kotahi e rere; i poke te mea kotahi, ka poke katoa; waihoki ko te kotiro na, e kiia nei na Ponga te ngakau ki a ia i rere mai ai i a tatou, kua pokea a Ponga e te aitua, a, kua pokea katoatia tatou, te iti, te rahi, te wahine, te tane o taua tira i haere nei ki Maungawhau.’ He roa noa atu te korero a te iwi nei i taua po, he tangata i pai, he tangata i kino ki te mahi a Ponga, otiia i noho puku a Ponga, waiho noa te whakapae mona kia korerotia e taua iwi nei. A no ka poto katoa nga kaumatua te whai ki, katahi ra ano a Puhihuia ka tu ki runga, i te taha tonu ano a ia o Ponga e noho ana, ka mea atu a ia, ‘E aku tupuna, e aku matua, he aha kei a au kei te ware, na koutou te mana, ma koutou te kupu; ehara i a Ponga te he nei, na koutou, i tuku ake i a Ponga ki te pa i aku matua, te titiro koutou ki te pai o ta koutou tamaiti, a, ka pupuri ki konei noho ai; te tukua ake ko etahi anake o a koutou uri rangatira, kia tono mai ratou i a au kia haere mai kia noho i konei. Penei e kore au e whakama te mea atu ai au ki era, “E kore au e tae atu”. He uri rangatira ratou, a, he aha hoki au, te whakapaea ai e au na koutou au i kohuru; tukua ake ana te tino tangata o Ngati-Kahukoka ki taku aroaro, a, pai noa taku ngakau ki a ia, a, haere mai nei au i a ia. Ehara i a ia te take, ehara i a ia te kupu; naku ano i kitea mai ai au ki konei; na koutou tenei he, te waiho ai a Ponga ki enei whenua, kia riro ana i te kotiro a etahi ano o koutou; nei koe, whakaaria ana e koutou ki a au, a, rere noa au ki a ia. A, ka tahi nei ranei te wahine ka rere ki tana tane i pai ai, ko au nei anake? E pai ana te kupu a te tini o koutou, he ahakoa, he wahine au, penei rawa ake apopo pukana ana aku kanohi ki tena taua e kiia na, ahakoa taku kotahi, ahakoa te kotahi o Ponga, a, me noho puku koutou, ka aha, ka hoki au? E kore, e kore, ko taku rironga tenei i a Ponga, a, Paerau atu ana.’ Ka whakatika te kaumatua o te iwi nei, ara, te tino ariki o Ngati-Kahukoka, ka mea, ‘E pai ana e te iwi, kua puta a koutou kupu, e pai ana, nana maua ko taku kotiro ka patua, ka mate, e taea hoki koa te aha. Nana ka not make any account of the war-party that is coming here; I am only one of many, and I have but one weapon. If the evil had originated with me, it would have been incumbent on me to take part; but, as it has come on us by the act of a distant one (that is, one of low rank), why should I be killed for nothing?’ Another of the young chiefs who had visited Mount Eden rose and said, ‘When I and my friends sleep in a wharepuni, and one of us is visited by a god and is infected by him with a disease, he is not the only one who is infected, but all in the house suffer from the same infection. Even so, in regard to the young woman who, it is said, was invited and brought here by Ponga: if Ponga is to bear the consequences for an evil act, all we who paid a visit to Mount Eden must be implicated, the small and the great, the men and the women.’ The discussion continued far into the night. Some of the speakers approved and others condemned the acts of Ponga, but Ponga himself kept silent, leaving the accusations against him to be discussed by the tribe. When all the elders of the tribe had spoken, Puhihuia rose from where she was sitting at the side of Ponga, and said, ‘My elders, why take such notice of me, who am of low birth? As the power is yours, you have the right to speak. The evil of which you speak (my having left my home and come here to live with you and to take Ponga as my husband) did not originate with Ponga; you were the cause of my acting as I did. You allowed Ponga to visit my parents’ pa. Why did you not see the beauty and noble bearing of Ponga, and keep him here with you, and allow only the other noble young chiefs of your tribe to visit my people? If these others had asked me to come back here with them to live, I should not have hesitated to say to them, “I will not go with you.” They are of high birth; and what am I? Why should not I charge you with being the cause of the evil that has been done to me? You allowed the most noble-looking man of the Ngati-Kahukoka to come into my presence, and my heart approved of him, and I accompanied him to this place. ‘He did not cause me to do this, nor did he give me any advice; it is by my own decision that I am here. It was you who brought about this evil. You should have kept Ponga in this land where he could have taken one of your own daughters; but as you held him up