Hongi hongi. [image of page 33]
plate xi. Hongi hongi. The pah of ngahuruhuru, which is situated about four miles from otawhao, in the waipa district, is inhabited by a portion of the nga ti hinetu tribe; one of their principal fighting men is the warrior hongi hongi, or nga toki, whose portrait is given on the accompanying plate. At the taking of taranaki, hongi hongi captured sixty slaves, and drove them before him with his green-stone meri, like a flock of sheep, over mountains and through forests, for a distance of one hundred and eighty miles. Hongi hongi is a man of the most determined courage and bravery, and though looked upon with dread by his inferiors, he is courteous and polite to strangers. After i had painted kahawai, the old chief of ngahuruhuru, the taranaki warrior put on his choicest mats, and flourishing his meri of greenstone in his hand, insisted upon my taking his portrait also, and refused to let me leave the pah until i had complied with his desire, saying that he also was a rangatira, or great man, and he would make the pakeha (stranger) paint him, that his name might go to england to the queen, with that of kahawai. The huge carved posts in the background are the usual supports for the railing or fence-work of the native pahs: they are hewn out of the trunks of the large forest trees, and are sunk several feet into the ground; the smaller paling is tied together with flax rope, or the stem of the wild vine. Date: 1847.
Loading...
