Then Ihenga went alone in pursuit of his birds along the borders of the lake. He passed by Ohinemutu, where he found the hot springs, and the steam which he had supposed to be the smoke of a fire. When he reached the hill at Kawaha, looking down he saw the smoke of a fire burning below at Waiohiro; so he thought with himself, “Shall I go on, or no?” He decided on the no; for he saw a net hanging near a stage, on which there was food, so he went to look for the _tuahu_ or sacred place for the net. When he had found it he forthwith set to work to carry off the earth, and the posts, and the old decaying _inanga_, in order to make a _tuahu_ for himself by the face of the cliff at Kawaha. Then he brought fresh earth and new posts to the _tuahu_ of the man of the place, and carried away some posts partly burnt by fire. He also stript off the bark from branches of _koromuka_ and _angiangi_, and fastened them together with flax, and set them up in the inclosure of the _tuahu_ belonging to the man of the place. When Ihenga had done all this secretly, he named his own _tuahu_ Te Pera-o-tangaroa, and went on to the place where the fire was burning. As soon as he was seen, the people of the place waved their cloaks, and shouted cries of welcome. And when the ceremony of _uhunga_ was ended, the chief, whose name was Tu-o-rotorua, inquired when Ihenga had come to the lake. “Ho! this is my own land,” said Ihenga. “Where is your land?” asked Tu. “Why, this very land,” replied Ihenga. “I ought rather to ask you how long you have been here?” “Why, I have been here this long time.” “No, no! I was here first.” “No,” said Tu, “I and your uncle were first here.” Ihenga, however, persisted. “Ho! surely you came last. The land belongs to me.” “What sign have you,” said Tu, “to shew that the land is yours?” “What is your sign?” replied Ihenga. “A _tuahu_,” said Tu. “Come on,” said Ihenga, “let me see your _tuahu_. If your _tuahu_ is older than mine, you truly came first, and the land is yours.” Tu consented, and led the way to his _tuahu_. When they arrived there, it had the appearance of having been newly made. Then said Ihenga, “Now come and look at my _tuahu_, and my _ngakoa_.”⁴⁸ So they went together to the Pera-o-tangaroa, where they found a heap of decaying and dried old _inanga_ which Ihenga had brought there from the _tuahu_ of Tu-o-rotorua. So when Tu beheld them, and the old burnt posts which Ihenga had stolen, he was so puzzled that he was almost persuaded that Ihenga must have been the first to occupy the land. However, he said, “let me see your net.” ⁴⁸ _Ngakoa_ were offerings to the _Atua_ of fish and other kinds of food. “Come up higher,” said Ihenga, “and I will shew you my net.” And he then pointed to a mark on a distant cliff, caused by a landslip. “Why, that is a landslip,” said Tu. “No,” said Ihenga, “it is a net quite new. Look at that other net which is hanging up, and looks black; that is the old net.”