CHAPTER XXVIII. THE AUKATI LINE. Manga-o-rongo--Mangatutu River--The encampment--A sumptuous repast--The _kainga_--Surrounding scenery--Old warriors--The tribes--The _Korero_--Arrival of Te Kooti--His wife--His followers--A tête-à-tête--A song of welcome--_A haka_--Departure from Manga-o-rongo--Waipa River--Valley of the Waipa--Our last difficulty. The nearest way for us to have reached civilization from Hengia would have been to travel straight to Kihikihi; but there was great talk of a native meeting to be held at Manga-o-rongo, a settlement situated at some distance further south from where we were, and as it was stated that Te Kooti and a large number of natives from all parts would be there, I determined to attend the _korero_, as much as anything to see the ex-rebel chief of whom I had heard so much, and afterwards pass to Alexandra by way of the valley of the Waipa. We left Hengia at daybreak with a party of natives, who were going in the same direction as ourselves, and took a southerly course through a district known as Wharepapa, and which led us in the direction of the Rangitoto Mountains. As we approached the valley of the Mangatutu River, the country became more undulating, until we gained the bed of the stream, which wound in a remarkably serpentine course from the Rangitoto Mountains. In the bed of the river the natives pointed out several curious kinds of stone, in form not unlike the blade of an axe, and which were formerly sharpened and used as tomahawks by the tribes of the district. The country hereabouts fell rapidly from 500 to 300 feet, and gradually became of a lesser altitude as we went on. Crossing the river, we continued our course through the open, fern-clad plains known to the natives as Manutarere, passing on our right a rock which rose like a rude monument from the centre of a circular basin of low hills. Beyond this point we passed through a native _kainga,_ known as Patokatoka, and soon afterwards reached Manga-o-rongo. A large encampment of natives was already formed, and great preparations were being made for the gathering; pigs were being slaughtered by the dozen, bevies of women and girls were busy at work with delicacies intended for the feast, while mounted natives were riding to and fro in every direction. We rode into the _kainga_ with the natives who had accompanied us from Hengia, and were received with loud shouts of _haeremai_ from the women, who danced about and circled their arms in the air in the wildest way.