Death of Whati-uru and Te Oho-mauri, 1819.

The Ure-wera tribe, through causes which do not belong to this story, arose in their wrath and expelled the Ngati-Manawa tribe from their homes at Te Whaiti and Galatea. This humbled tribe took refuge with that branch of the Ngati-Kahu-ngunu tribe, which lived at Te Putere, on the upper Waiau river, one of the main branches of the Wairoa that falls into Hawke’s Bay. On their way to Te Putere, a woman named Whati-uru, who was from Waikato, and who had been staying with Ngati-Manawa when they were expelled, died as the page 285 migration passed Te Waiwai, a place in the Esk Valley. Her body was taken on to Te Putere, and there buried. I fear my readers will be much horrified at what then occurred, but this story seeks to pourtray Maori life as it was before the introduction of Christianity. The Ngati-Kahu-ngunu hosts of the expelled tribe dug up the body, cooked, and ate it!

Next, a member of the Ure-wera tribe, directly after the above event, being at Mohaka, in Hawke’s Bay, the Ngati-Kahu-ngunu chief, Te Kahu-o-te-rangi (the Hawk of Heaven), set upon him and killed him. The man’s name was Te Oho-mauri.

As my learned informant says, Ngati-Kahungunu had thus given two takes, or causes, to two very war-like tribes to induce them to seek revenge.