Maori Bushman Hurae.

One of our party was just the right kind of companion for a Waikare-iti cruise. Hurae Puketapu, from Waimako kainga, near the outlet of Waikare-moana, was an elderly man of the Ngati-Ruapani tribe, the original lords of all these parts. He had lived all his life on the lake shores. His memories were of the primitive life and the Hauhau war days. He was an expert in canoe-making and canoe-sailing. It was he who in the Nineties, when Mr. Seddon visited Waikare-moana, steered the canoe “Hinewaho” safely across the lake with the Premier on board, one squally evening when nearly all the passengers and crew expected it to capsize. Black-bearded Hurae was full of stories of the earlier times than that; legends and songs, and tales of war and wizardry.