Eruera te Kahu and Ratana Ngahina, chiefs of the Ngatiapa tribe, led their people in the singing of this finely-phrased mourning chant, an adaptation of an apakura:—
Haere ra, Hetana, i te ara haukore,
Taku ate hoki ra, taku pa kairiri
Ki te ao o te tonga;
Taku manu-korero ki te nohanga pahii,
Taku manu hakahaka ki runga ki nga iwi.
Houhia mai ra te matua
Ri te kahu Tahu-whenua;
Houhia mai ra te matua
Ki te kahu Taharangi.
Marewa e te iwi
Nana i whitiki taku motoi-kahurangi,
Ka mau ki te taringa;
Taku koko-tangiwai
Ka mau ki te kaki:
Taku pou-mataaho e tu i te whare.
Kia tu mai koe i te ponaihu o te waka,
Kia whakaronga koe te wawara tangi wai hoe,
I roto Poneke,
I te Runanga-nui,
Waiho i muri ne i to pukaikura—i!
Pass on, Hetana, along the quiet ways,
The beloved one of my heart, my shelter and defence
Against the bleak south wind.
My speaking-bird that charmed the assembled tribes,
That swayed the people’s councils.
Clothe him, the Father, with the stately garments,
The very fine mats Tahu-whenua and Taharangi,
Place in his ear the precious jewel-stone,
The greenstone kahurangi,
Hang on his breast the koko-tangiwai,
Of glistening lucid jade,
Oh, thou wert a prop within the house;
At the prow of the canoe thou wert,
Ears bent to the plashing sound
Of many paddles
In the waters of Poneke,[1]
In the contentions of the People’s Council.
Our prized kaka-bird has gone,
The plumes alone remain.
Then came the chiefs of the Greenstone Land. A big half-caste chief, Timoti Whiua, who is better known as George
- ↑ Port Nicholson, the former name of Wellington Harbour.
