"'Whakarongo ai au
Ki te koroki manu
Whakaorooro ana i te ngahere.
I na-wa e!'
('I'm listening for the voices,
The singing of the birds,
Sounding, echoing in the forest!')
The 'singing of the birds' was a figure of speech for the voices of the soldiers on the march.
"That maro-taua was all the clothing I wore in the fight. Round my brows I bound a handkerchief, which held in place my tiparé rangatira, my chief-like war-feathers. My weapons were a double-barrelled gun (tupara), and a short-handled tomahawk, which I carried stuck in my belt. Round me I had strapped a cartridge-holder. E tama! Now I was ready for my first battle."
Meanwhile, what of the pakeha-Maori in this nest of Hauhaus?