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Book Two
I. The Boundary Post

Sleepy are the eyes of the eel fisher:
He can doze off while fishing.
But the fisher in war, the planner
and conductor of battles, his eyes must
be ever watchful.

Colenso's Maori Proverbs.

Disturbing thoughts were in the mind of Manaia as he led his men still farther eastward that day.

What were Tuhoe doing in among these foothills of the Kaimanawas, far to the south of their homes in the Uréwera? Was it by chance that they had almost captured the daughter of the high chief of Ngatihotu? Was it possible that the war-parties met with on the Plains of Kaingaroa had really been feeling their way towards Taupo Lake, rather than making any serious threat against Hikurangi in the north?

Disturbing thoughts, but they decided Manaia upon his course of action. He would make the most of this opportunity to measure the hold which Ngatihotu had upon the Kaimanawa country. Then he would hasten back to the ariki and beseech him to end the war with Tuhoe quickly, so that more urgent and more important work for the tribe might be carried out in the south.

………..

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Early next morning the Arawas reached the top of the watershed at the very end of the Kaimanawa Range. Beyond lay a jumble of hills and ridges and a maze of valleys and ravines — a desolate-looking country leading down towards the sea-coast far away to the east. Let other tribes claim such country, thought Manaia.

He ordered the warriors to cut down and shape a sapling, and he intoned the incantations as his men drove the long stake deeply into the ground upon the very top of the dividing ridge. Then he lined the warriors up, and they turned their faces first towards Taupo, and then towards the east, and then back towards Taupo, as they joined their leader in a brief but triumphant chant:

“The boundary-post of Te Arawa!
The boundary-post of Te Arawa!
Te Arawa is the Canoe!
Te Arawa is the Tribe!
The boundary-post of Te Arawa!”

………..

On the return journey westward, the Arawas kept well up into the hills, and from time to time were rewarded with entrancing views of Taupo.

At various points along the route they saw pas, and the nearer they approached the Lake the more populous the country became. Truly Ngatihotu were a numerous people, even if they lacked in spirit, and their fortified villages were on hills that would be difficult to assault. The conquest of this Taupo country might not be easy. The full strength of Te Arawa might be needed, unless—–

“O Rata!” said Manaia. “I see more clearly now. page 71 First I will seek to conquer Taupo from Taupo Lake itself. I will capture or have hewn out a fleet of canoes. And I will seize that island yonder. Motu-taiko! That-Island-over-There — the name given to it by Ngatoro in other days! It shall be my base. Enough!”