tribe who lived down the river to
join them. They and two other of the Wanganui tribes living on the lower
part of the river refused to do so, and also refused to let them pass
down the river, and sent a challenge for a regular battle to take place
on the island of Moutoa in the river.

"The challenge was accepted. At dawn on the following morning our
natives, three hundred and fifty strong, proceeded to the appointed
ground. A hundred picked men crossed on to the island, and the rest
remained on the banks as spectators. Of the hundred, fifty, divided into
three parties each under a chief, formed the advance guard, while the
other fifty remained in reserve at the end of the island two hundred
yards away, and too far to be of much use in the event of the advance
guard being defeated. The enemy's party were a hundred and thirty
strong, and it is difficult to understand why a larger body was not sent
over to the island to oppose them, especially as the belief in the
invulnerability of the Hau-Haus was generally believed in, even by the
natives opposed to them.

"It was a curious fight, quite in the manner of the traditional warfare
between the various tribes before our arrival on the island. The lower
tribesmen fought, not for the defence of the town, for they were not
very friendly with the Europeans, having been strong supporters of the
king party, but simply for the prestige of the tribe. No hostile war
party had ever forced the river, and none ever should do so. The
Hau-Haus came down the river in their canoes and landed without
opposition. Then a party of the Wanganui advance guard fired. Although
the Hau-Haus were but thirty yards distant none of them fell, and their
return volley killed the chiefs of two out of the three sections of the
advance guard and many others.

"Disheartened by the loss of their chiefs, the two sections gave way,
shouting that the Hau-Haus were invulnerable. The third section, well
led by their chief, held their ground, but were driven slowly back by
the overwhelming force of the enemy. The battle appeared to be lost,
when Tamehana, the sub-chief of one of the flying sections, after vainly
trying to rally his men, arrived on the ground, and, refusing to obey
the order to take cover from the Hau-Haus' fire, dashed at the enemy and
killed two of them with his double-barrelled gun. The last of the three
leaders was at this moment shot dead. Nearly all his men were more or
less severely wounde