AGAINST THE REBEL NATIVES.

43

A.—No. 8u

escape to warn other kaingas. We shall so continue taking all the places, and march direct for Waikare-Moana, and from there form a base of operations against Te Kooti into Buatahuna, where he is supposed to be, as he has not yet reached Waikare. We hope to get positive information of his whereabouts at Maungapowhatu —if he is not there himself. We are afraid the woman's husband may have gone on to that place and given them warning. Bopata thinks not, saying he will follow on our track, seeking the body or blood of his wife and children. The woman reports a tribe of the Ngatikohatu as living near Te Beinga, at Orewha. 9th March. —To-day's march has been rather a short one, as soon after starting, on reaching the top of the range, the advanced guard announced smoke in a gully some distance off. A halt was at once called, and men sent out to reconnoitre ; they found the remains of a fire and temporary camp, with a lot of dried pork, eels, &c, inside the whare. The men then laid in wait, expecting the late occupants to return. Getting tired of waiting, they began searching the hills, but without success, the runaways being no doubt at homo in their own wild country, although chased by a tribe nearly as wild. On the top of the hill where the track leads over we found the body of another poor wretch who had lain clown to die, probably another who had been wounded at Te Karetu or Ngatapa. We are now in a very high country, and on all sides are to be seen a succession of wooded ranges, range after range. It is a wonder how tracks can be found leading to any particular place. An enemy could remain hidden here for years and defy pursuit. Maungapowhatu is still in sight, but we appear to approach it slowdy. At dusk in the evening, three of the men out on the track of the runaways returned, bringing in captive one man, two women, and two children, quite wild-looking wretches, with nothing but rough flax mats round their waists. It is astonishing how these fellows of Ngatiporou can follow up a trail without fear. I have seeu their ability in this way at Ngatapa and other places ; to a stranger it would seem incredible. Two men had escaped during the chase ; they will however be followed in the morning. 10th, Thursday. —This morning, before starting, one of the women prisoners, accompanied by two of our fellows, returned to the place where the men had escaped. They returned about 10 o'clock a.m., bringing back one man prisoner, rather a fine-looking savage. He came in quite proudly, and fully expecting to bo killed —yet he showed no sign of fear. When asked why he ran away he said, "I am now in the hands of the Kawanatanga, therefore kill me ; it is needless asking the question why I ran away." We passed Puketapu to-day, where Te Kooti stayed after being followed by Colonel Whitmore. We arc camped to-night at tho Pa Puni, the site of an old pa. It is described by the Natives as having at one time been a lake, and that it was the bed of a Taniwha, who, getting tired of his long stay in such a confined place, had burst through the hills, and escaped by Euakituri, which has ever since been a river. It has no doubt been a lake in former times, and at no distant date, as the whole place is covered with sand and shells ; on what at one time would have been the shore of the Lake, are the remains of an old Pa, the formation of the whares still definable. Before reaching here to-day we found two more human remains, by the side of a small creek ; one skull had rolled into the water, and one was on the bank at the side. We are still three days' march from Maungapowhatu, and our food is getting short. If we meet with much resistance there, lam afraid that we shall be badly off for food. 11th March. —To-day's march has been a very fatiguing one, climbing some very steep ranges from the top of one of which a splendid view was obtained of the surrounding country. I do not ever remember seeing scenery so beautifully grand. Our track has been up tremendously steep ridges, very thickly timbered. It is from occasional breaks in the forest that a clear view can be obtained of the country around. In a torrent called the Arini, which takes its rise at Maungapowhatu, we saw a beautiful waterfall, with a fall of about 200 feet, and in width about 100, pouring over a smooth papa rock. During the latter part of the march the forest upon the range that we are ascending is so dense that we cannot get a glimpse of the sun. Wo are camped to-night in the ranges ; our supply of water is obtained from decayed logs, by squeezing the rotten wood with our hands, and catching the moisture in our pannikins. Soon after leaving Te Pa Puni this morning, we came upon another of Te Kooti's victims, Te Mano, a chief of the Urewera Tribe, who, while Te Kooti was at Puketapu, had come from Maungapowhatu with his wife to join the Hauhaus, but it appears that Te Kooti did not like him, Te Kooti told him that his atua had warned him against Te Mano, who was a murderer, and would cause his (Kooti's) death, and wanted to kill him. The man, however, effected his escape, and succeeded in reaching Maungapowhatu. Te Kooti ordered fifty men to follow him; they did so, and brought him back with his wife as far as Te Pa Puni. Here Te Kooti met them, and killed them with his sword. After all were camped, one of the prisoners gave us a very interesting account of Te Kooti's ways, and the fear in which he is held by them, they looking upon him as a god. In one part of the conversation, he said the whole country round stunk with the bodies of Te Kooti's victims. To-morrow we sleep close to Maungapowhatu, the reputed impregnable pa. Next day we shall attack. I have heard much of bad country and have seen a great deal, but never worse than that we passed over to-day. It is raining, but we only feel it dropping from the trees, the foliage being too thick to allow of its penetrating to us. 12th March. —During the whole of to-day's march it has been raining, consequently we are all miserably wet. Our track still lies through a dense bush and along the beds of mountain torrents, and it has been almost as dark as night. In crossing one of the streams to-day, two of our dogs were washed away and drowned ; and although at the crossing place the depth of water was not more than one foot and a half, yet many of the men fell, the current was so strong. The prisoners tell us that if a southerly wind prevails we could not reach Maungapowhatu, as the snow would be many feet deep in these torrents. They always watch the winds when starting on a journey in this direction. The name of the last-mentioned stream is Wanapukau. Our food is now getting short. We are in hopes of getting plenty from the enemy to-morrow. 13lh March, Sunday. —Before starting this morning the order of march was determined by Bopata. Two parties of men, sixty in each, were told off, all picked men. One party was commanded by myself, the other by Bopata; the main body in charge of Henare Potae. Just above Maungapowhatu our track separated —I taking the one leading to the pa of Te Eakiroa, guided by one of the prisoners. I