and were making plantations; but of these facts the government were
ignorant when they bought the land. Wiremu-Kingi at once joined the king
movement, from which he had previously stood aloof. A meeting was held
at the Waikato. Chief Wiremu-Kingi and Mr. M'Lean, the native secretary,
both addressed the meeting, and Potatau and many of the chiefs were of
opinion that the English had acted fairly in the case. Many of the
younger chiefs, however, took the part of the Taranaki natives, and
marched away and joined them.

"Unfortunately, in the first fight that took place, our troops were
driven back in an attack upon a pah, and the news of this success so
fired the minds of all the fighting men of the Waikato, and neighbouring
tribes, that they flocked down to Taranaki and joined in plundering the
deserted homes of the settlers, and in the attacks upon the troops.
Potatau and his council did all they could to stop their men from going,
but the desire to distinguish themselves and to take part in the
victories over the Pakehas, which is what the natives call the whites,
were too strong for them. In the midst of all this turmoil Potatau died,
and his son Matu-Taera was made king.

"In the fighting that went on in Taranaki discipline and training soon
began to make themselves felt. The troops in the colony were largely
reinforced, and pah after pah were captured. The war went on. But though
English regiments with a strong force of artillery were engaged in it,
it cannot be said that the natives have been conquered, and General
Cameron, who came out and assumed the command, found the task before
him a very difficult one.

"There was for a time a pause in hostilities when Sir George Grey came
out as governor in the place of Governor Brown, but the natives
recommenced hostilities by a treacherous massacre near New Plymouth, and
fighting began again at once.

"The native pah near the Katikara river was attacked by a column of
infantry with artillery, and shelled by the guns of a ship of war, and
the Maoris were driven out of a position that they believed impregnable.
The Waikatos now rose and murdered and plundered many of the settlers,
and a force marched for the first time into their country, carried a
formidable pah at Koheroa, and, although unprovided with artillery,
defeated the Maoris in a fight in the thick bush. The very formidable
position at Merimeri, which lay surrounded by swamps near the Waikato
river, was next c