Ngatata goes to Waikato.

When Raua-ki-tua, Tautara and Nga-tata heard of this most grievous insult to the body of their relative, they determined on revenge; and it was decided to send messengers to Waikato to ask their aid. Doubtless, Ati-Awa felt that Ngati-Rua-nui and Taranaki, which latter tribe seems to have been drawn into the quarrel, would be too much for their diminished forces, after so many warriors had gone south in the "Niho-puta" heke to join Te Rau-paraha. Ngatata,^* says my informant, although a man of influence, was not a chief of supreme rank. He was the father of the late Pomare of Ati-Awa; but Raua-ki-tua was a man of great power and influence, a very tall, fine-looking man, with a large nose. It was arranged that Ngatata should visit Waikato and endeavour to enlist the help of that tribe. He went to Mote-poho to interview Te Wherowhero and Te Kanawa, and then on to Nganga-toatoa to see Pehi-Tu-korehu (of Ngati-Mania-poto), where all the chiefs of Waikato assembled. At the latter place, at the meeting held to hear his message, he appeared as a suppliant before the assembled page 414tribe dressed in a kilt made of the dried husks of Indian corn, with a whalebone mere in his hand, and there sung his tau, or lay, expressive of his wishes. This was a common method of enlisting the aid of a strange tribe in the quarrels of another. The tau has been preserved; it is as follows:—

Te Tau a Ngatata.
Moe mai E Tama, i runga te onepu,
Ko te kainga tena o Toa-rangatira,
Me ko Maui toa i whano kia hinga,
I komia atu ai te waha, ko nga iwi,
Me ko "Kura-hau-po" te mate ra koe,
Ka wewete te taura, ka tuku i to punga,
Ka hou i tona hou, ka tau ki te moana—e—i
E iri, E Koro! i runga i a Iwi,
Ko te waka tena o Tahatuna.
Te waka o Manaia, ko Nuku-tama-roa,
Te Ika-hui-rua, pokina ki roto Whatu-te-ihi,
Huna e Whiro, ko Ngana-i-te-irihia,
Ka kapo i te kai, ko kona ko kai-kino,
Tcnei au, e te hoa! te whakataua pa-eke-ipu,
Taia atu Kopiri i a Maru-uhi,
I wehi i a Maru, nukurau to mate na—i.
Waiho me tatari te ruru pae-nui,
Ki te pu o te tiu, i te hau mata kaha,
Kia kimihia atu kei whea ra koe,
Kei tua o Tamaki; e kore e kitea,
E pokipoki ai te umu o te hau,
Kei puaki to hounga—e—i.
He kawa ta te taua e—i. e whata ana ra,
Ki te whanau a Rangi na—i,
Tikina atu ra ko te kahui-po,
Oho ake ki te ao, ka rongo te tangata
Ka hotu te taua e, i, e hotu ana ra,
Ki te ika wareware.
Waiho atu riri, vaiho atu nguha,
Ka noho Tu-kai-taua e—i.