“Now there were in the kainga one hundred and thirty Maoris, but out of that number there were only four of us who were real warriors--_i.e._ who knew from personal experience the joys and the responsibilities of war, the remainder were young men who had been entrusted to us to be taught all the arts becoming to a Maori warrior, and who were at that period learning to cure and catch fish. These young men, however, were all rangatera (well-born gentlemen). There were no slaves with us for it is not seemly to train rangatera with slave boys, and it so chanced that on this occasion these youths were to be called upon to do warriors’ work before they had received their full instructions. “Well, my friend, the fishing was progressing, and we had already caught, cured and sent to our homes very many loads of dried fish, and in a few days more we should have returned to our tribe. One day, however, we received news that some big ships with many soldiers had reached Tauranga and that the great chief himself was coming to attack us. This was a great honour, but we could not understand it, for the white men must have known that where we were fishing was not a suitable place for us to fight in, that it was only an open kainga, the taking of which would gain the soldiers no credit. Also the big white chief must have heard that the bulk of our tribe were at that very time building large entrenchments at Te Ranga, which when complete would be suitable for him to test the courage of his warriors by attacking. Messages, however, we at once sent to our allies the Ngatiporou and Whakatohea to come to our assistance, and they did so, but were met and defeated at Maketu by the wild soldiers (the colonial irregulars) who killed very many of them; but of this we knew nothing as that fight took place on the same day as the one on which we were attacked by the real soldiers and the Ngati Jacks (naval brigade).