Artwork Information

Angas's description:

"PLATE XXXIII.

POAHU AND E KOTI; TWO LADS OF POVERTY BAY.

DURING my stay at Paripari in the Mokau district, a party of natives arrived from Poverty Bay upon a visit to the chief Taonui; they brought with them presents for the chief and his family, as is usual on such occasions, consisting chiefly of fine mats, for the manufacture of which the people of Poverty Bay and those about East Cape are celebrated throughout the island.

Two of the youths accompanying the party before alluded to, are portrayed in the adjoining plate: Poahu, the sitting figure, is son of a celebrated chief; his head is ornamented with the wings of a hawk fastened on by means of flax. E Koti, his companion, also wears hawks' feathers in his hair, which is daubed with red ochre and shark oil: in his ear is a medal of the Jesuit mission: both the dresses are handsome mats of the variety called E Koroai.

CHILDREN OF TE PAKARU, THE CHIEF OF KAWHIA.

ONE of the most interesting and intelligent chiefs of the Ngatimaniapoto tribe is Te Pakaru, or Apokea, of whom a portrait is given in a subsequent plate: his children are gay, lively young creatures, and afford favourable examples of the rising generation in New Zealand: the family of the chief resides not far from the Mission Station of Ahuahu, on the banks of Kawhia Harbour: and the children are universal favorites at the Mission-house, where they learn to read in the native school. The Māori population about Kawhia is a very interesting one: the people belong to a division of the great Waikato tribe, and have benefitted much from the labours of the missionaries amongst them. The tallest girl is called Powharo, and the younger one, who is sitting upon the ground, Rangiteriwi, or Juliana, the latter name being her baptized one: they both wear Kaitaka mats, the borders of which are richly embroidered in angular designs. The boy, Taraunahi, is clad in a rough Kakahu of undressed flax leaves; a garment usually worn in wet weather, and by the natives when working at their plantations."