then placed the gun to his own
breast, and saying, "Here is your payment," pulled the trigger with his
foot, and fell dead before them. I think the reason suicide has become
so comparatively unfrequent is, that the minds of the natives are now
filled and agitated by a flood of new ideas, new wants and ambitions,
which they knew not formerly, and which prevents them, from one single
loss or disappointment, feeling as if there was nothing more to live
for.

CHAPTER XII.

The Tapa.--Instances of.--The Storming of Mokoia.--Pomare.--Hongi
Ika.--Tareha.--Honour amongst Thieves.

There was a kind of variation on the _tapu_, called _tapa_, of this
nature. For instance, if a chief said, "That axe is my head," the axe
became his to all intents and purposes; except, indeed, the owner of
the axe was able to break his "head," in which case, I have reason to
believe, the _tapa_ would fall to the ground. It was, however, in a
certain degree necessary to have some legal reason, or excuse, for
making the _tapa_; but to give some idea of what constituted the
circumstances under which a man could fairly _tapa_ anything, I must
needs quote a case in point.

When the Ngapuhi attacked the tribe of Ngati Wakawe, at Rotorua, the
Ngati Wakawe retired to the island of Mokoia in the lake of Rotorua,
which they fortified; thinking that, as the Ngapuhi canoes could not
come nearer than Kaituna on the east coast, about thirty miles distant,
that they in their island position would be safe. But in this they were
fatally deceived, for the Ngapuhi dragged a whole fleet of war canoes
over land. When, however, the advanced division of the Ngapuhi arrived
at Rotorua, and encamped on the shore of the lake, the Ngati Wakawe
were not aware that the canoes of the enemy were coming, so every
morning they manned their large canoes, and leaving the island fort,
would come dashing along the shore deriding the Ngapuhi, and crying,
"_Ma wai koe e kawe mai ki Rangitiki?_"--"Who shall bring you, or how
shall you arrive, at Rangitiki?" Rangitiki was the name of one of their
hill forts.

The canoes were fine large ornamented _totara_ canoes, very valuable,
capable of carrying from fifty to seventy men each, and much coveted by
the Ngapuhi. The Ngapuhi of course considered all these canoes as their
own already; but the different chiefs and leaders, anxious to secure
one or more of these fine canoes for themselves and people, and not
knowing who mi