eak, early in 1864, of a curious superstition, the cult
of the Hau-Haus. Their doctrine would be hard to describe. It was a
wilder, more debased, and more barbaric parody of Christianity than
the Mormonism of Joe Smith. It was an angry reaction, a kind of savage
expression of a desire to revolt alike from the Christianity and
civilization of the _Pakeha_ and to found a national religion. For
years it drove its votaries into purposeless outbreaks, and acts of
pitiless and ferocious cruelty. By the Hau-Haus two white missionaries
were murdered--outrages unknown before in New Zealand. Their murderous
deeds and the reprisals these brought about gave a darker tinge to
the war henceforth. Their frantic faith led to absurdities as well
as horrors. They would work themselves up into frenzy by dances and
incantations, and in particular by barking like dogs--hence their
name. At first, they seem to have believed that the cry _Hau! Hau!_
accompanied by raising one hand above the head with palm turned to the
front, would turn aside the _Pakeha's_ bullets.

It was in April, 1864, that they first appeared in the field. A
Captain Lloyd, out with a reconnoitring party in Taranaki, fell,
rather carelessly, into an ambuscade, where he and six of his people
were killed and a dozen wounded. When Captain Atkinson and his rangers
came up at speed to the rescue, they found that the heads of the slain
had been cut off and carried away. Lloyd's, it appears, was carried
about the island by Hau-Hau preachers, who professed to find in it
a kind of diabolical oracle, and used it with much effect in
disseminating their teaching. One of these prophets, or preachers,
however, had a short career. Three weeks after Lloyd's death,
this man, having persuaded himself and his dupes that they were
invulnerable, led them against a strong and well-garrisoned redoubt at
Sentry Hill, between New Plymouth and Waitara. Early one fine morning,
in solid column, they marched deliberately to within 150 yards of the
fort, and before straight shooting undeceived them about the value of
their charms and passes, thirty-four of the poor fanatics were lying
beside their prophet in front of the redoubt. A number more were
carried off hurt or dying, and thenceforward the Taranaki natives were
reduced to the defensive.

In the summer of the same year another prophet met his death in the
most dramatic fight of the war, that by which the friendly natives
of the Wanganui distri