ed beyond Ngaruawahia, the village which had been the Maori King's
head-quarters, and which stood at the fine river-junction where the
brown, sluggish Waipa loses its name and waters in the light-green
volume of the swifter Waikato. Twice the English beat the enemy in the
triangle between the rivers. A third encounter was signalised by the
most heroic incident in the Colony's history. Some three hundred
Maoris were shut up in entrenchments at a place called Orakau. Without
food, except a few raw potatoes; without water; pounded at by our
artillery, and under a hail of rifle bullets and hand grenades;
unsuccessfully assaulted no less than five times--they held out for
three days, though completely surrounded. General Cameron humanely
sent a flag of truce inviting them to surrender honourably. To this
they made the ever-famous reply, "Enough! We fight right on, for
ever!" (Heoi ano! Ka whawhai tonu, ake, ake, ake.) Then the General
offered to let the women come out, and the answer was, "The women will
fight as well as we." At length, on the afternoon of the third day,
the garrison assembling in a body charged at quick march right through
the English lines, fairly jumping (according to one account) over the
heads of the men of the Fortieth Regiment as they lay behind a bank.
So unexpected and amazing was their charge, that they would have got
away with but slight loss had they not, when outside the lines, been
headed and confronted by a force of colonial rangers and cavalry. Half
of them fell; the remainder, including the celebrated war-chief Rewi,
got clear away. The earthworks and the victory remained with us, but
the glory of the engagement lay with those whose message of "Ake, ake,
ake," will never be forgotten in New Zealand.

[Illustration: REWI, THE WAIKATO LEADER

Photo by J. MARTIN, Auckland.]

The country round the middle and lower Waikato was now in our hands,
and the King natives were driven to the country about its upper
waters. They were not followed. It was decided to attack the Tauranga
tribe, which had been aiding them. Tauranga lies on the Bay of Plenty,
about forty miles to the east of the Waikato. It was in the campaign
which now took place there that there occurred the noted repulse at
the Gate _Pa_. The Maoris, entrenched on a narrow neck of land between
two swamps, were invested by our forces both in the front and rear
We were, as usual, immensely the stronger in numbers. Our officers,
non-commiss