TE ROHU, WIDOW OF REWI MANIAPOTO
(From a photo by J. Cowan, at the Puniu, 1920)
“At that moment Sergeant Carron, who had been sniffing around with his usual acuteness, reported to me that there were Maoris in the bush. This decided me in relinquishing my position at once, as we could do no harm to our antagonists if they persisted in remaining in the bush. I had hardly drawn my men down the knoll on which the dwelling-house stood when down came a volley over the heads of the last men disappearing behind the hill. I took up a better position within 300 yards of it, where logs and fern gave good cover to the ground in our favour. But the Maoris would no more cross that swamp in front of us than we would in front of [[57]]them; so, looking at one another wrathfully, and shaking a figurative fist, we parted at last without much harm done to either side.”
The redoubt now built on the highest part of the Kihikihi village (the spot is just behind the present police station) was garrisoned by Imperial troops for a time, and then by Waikato Militia. In the Seventies, and, in fact, until about 1883, it was occupied by the Armed Constabulary. Unfortunately it was demolished in the Eighties by the townspeople, who did not realise the value of this large and picturesquely-set earthwork as a place of future historic interest.
HITIRI TE PAERATA
Hitiri was a chief of Ngati-Raukawa and Ngati-te-Kohera, and fought in the defence of Orakau pa, where his father and brother were killed. His sister, Ahumai, who suffered several wounds, was the heroine who declared that if the men died the women and children must die also.
From a photo by Mr. J. McDonald, Dominion Museum, Wellington.]