Mihi-ki-te-kapua was the greatest composer of the Tuhoe and Mataatua peoples. She was born at Ruatahuna in the 1790s, the daughter of Te Aihurangi and Tamakaimoana. When the fighting between Te Kooti's forces and government troops spread to Waikaremoana in May 1870, the Tuhoe people moved from Te Matuahu and she was left behind. She gave expression to her feelings in the chant below, which she composed while crouched in the forest close to the pa when her kinfolk abandoned it.                          Source:     Paitini Wi Tapeka    =>    Elsdon Best    =>  Margaret Orbell Engari te tītī1 e tangi haere ana, ē, Whai tokorua rawa rāua. Tēnā ko au nei, e manu, Kai2 te hua kiwi I mahue3 i te tawai.4 Ka toro te rākau kai runga, ē, Ka hoki mai ki te pao, Ka whai uri ki ahau ī. Although the muttonbird1 is crying as it goes it always has the company of its mate. But this is me here, oh birds; just like the kiwi egg abandoned3 beneath the beech tree. The wood spreads out above it until the parents return for the hatching. searching for offspring like me. Nōku koia ko te wareware ē, Tē whai au te tira haere Nō Te Hirau, whakangaro ana ē Ngā5 hiwi maunga ki Huiarau. Kia ringia ki te roimata  Ko te rere7 au ki Ngāuemutu rā. Indeed the oversight is mine: I should have followed the travelling party of Te Hirau, now disappearing towards the mountain ridges of Huiarau.6 May my tears be poured down I'm the waterfall over there at Ngauemutu!8 Ko au anake rā i mahue nei ē, Hai9 hēteri10 kiritai ki Te Mātuāhu, Hai9 titiro noa atu ki waho rā ē. He waka hēra11 e rere atu rā ē. Whakatika rawa ake ki runga rā ē, Ka momotu ki tawhiti. Mā wai ia ra e whai atu? I—a! All alone I am left behind here as a sentry just outside Te Matuahu to gaze in vain into the distance. A sail boat is speeding away; belatedly I get up on high ground but it disappears into the distance. Who could catch up with it? Ah me! Footnotes 1.   Tītī are muttonbirds or sooty shearwaters. When these seabirds flew away together to dive for fish to feed their young, they had to keep their chicks safe from predatory Skua gulls that hunted by sight, so they dug burrows under trees in the inland hill country, and laid their eggs in the burrows. But these hiding places became useless when Europeans introduced big Norwegian rats and stoats that hunted by sound and smell. 2.  Kai, the Tūhoe way of pronouncing kei. In Ngai Tuhoe accent, "Kei te pai!" sounds like "Kai te pai." 3.   Mahue, abandoned. The huge kiwi eggs take 75 days to hatch, and Maori believed that the parents abandoned       them for all of that time, and returned only when the egg was about to crack open. 4.   Tawai, Tūhoe dialect of tawhai, the Nothofagus or southern beech tree. 5.   Ngā, but it is probably pronounced Nā. 6.   Huiarau. These ranges were snow-covered in June 1871, and the weaker Tūhoe villagers died of hypothermia crossing them during their retreat to Ruatāhuna. By leaving the old lady behind where there was food and shelter, the defenders saved her life.    7.   Ko te rere - today many of us associate rere with flying like a bird - Me he manu rere. But it comes from the Malay lelah to melt or flow, and it still is lele in Samoa & Hawaii, and le in Tonga. It is rere in eastern and southern Polynesia, and in all Polynesia it means flow, sail, flee, escape or abandon. The noun rere is any flowing thing; a waterfall, a swarm, a school of fish. Also in Maori, korere - gutter, karere - messenger, aorere - scudding clouds, ohorere - startled movement, rērere - run to & fro, whakarere - reject, matarere - forerunner, hirere - gush, and  tororere - "the trots". 8.   Ngāuemutu is a well-known waterfall at Ruatāhuna. 9.   Hai, Tūhoe dialect of hei. 10. Hēteri, borrowed from the English word 'sentry'.       The old Polynesian word is tūtei, tū(stand)tei(summit). 11. Hēra, borrowed from the English word 'sail'.       Old Polynesian words for sail are kōmaru, kō(on the other side)maru(shade), and rāwhara, rā(sun)whara(defeated) The Fall of Matuahu In May 1870 some three hundred and fifty Ngati Kahungunu and Ngati Pahauwera were led by native chiefs and three European officers against the Waikaremoana rebels. They went into camp at Onepoto, from which base they proposed to proceed against the stronghold of Matuahu. The rebels, seeing these signs of a hostile demonstration, sent two men over to Onepoto under a flag of truce. These men lay off the camp in their canoe, and pretended to have been sent for the purpose of opening negotiations for peace, but their real object was to spy out the numbers of the invading force. Early in June a start was made from Onepoto. The two canoes and boat were manned by a portion of the force and the remainder marched northwards to Mautaketake. From this place a force of eighty men were conveyed north-west across the lake. On reaching Taumatataua, a native clearing, they received a volley from the bush, but held the rebels in check while the balance of the men were landing. Then they advanced on the enemy and drove them back on Matuahu, upon which, as darkness was setting in, the force returned to the clearing and camped for the night. An advance was then made on Matuahu, and, after spending some time in planning and carrying out a careful advance, the famous pa of Matuahu was rushed and - found empty. The contingent spent over a month at Matuahu. A small party of the Waikaremoana defenders came in under a flag of truce and surrendered. They reported that some of their people had perished in the snows of Huiarau, the mountain range between Waikaremoana and Ruatahuna, in retreating from the Government force. Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout. Vol 75.    Further reading Reports        Some documents from the Colonial side of this campaign, plus letters from Tuhoe leaders. Kaore Hoki Te Kooti's waiata tangi calling for support from other tribes. PDF 12MB     All the campaign documents in an official government publication. Tūhoe dialect  - its changed pronunciation and alternative words.