For the Illustrious Dead.

The great lament composed by the chief Te Heuheu Iwikau for his brother the famous Heuheu, overwhelmed in the landslip at Te Rapa, Taupo, in 1846, begins with this beautiful figure:

“See o'er the heights of dark Tauhara's Mount The infant morning wakes. Perhaps my friend Returns to me, clothed in that lightsome cloud. Alas! I toil alone in this dark world!”

Another lament is a chant composed by Papahia, the principal chief of the Rarawa tribe, of the northern Hokianga country:

“Behold the lightning's glare!
it seems to cut asunder Tuwhare's rugged mountain.
From thy hand the weapon dropped, And thy spirit disappeared Beyond the heights of Raukawa.
The sun grows dim and hastes away
As a woman from the scene of battle.
The tides of the ocean weep as they ebb and flow,
And the mountains of the south melt away;
For the spirit of the chieftain
Is taking its flight to Rona.”