"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.[1] 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."
"Come up higher," said Ihenga, "and I will shew you
- ↑ Ngakoa were offerings to the Atua of fish and other kinds of food.
