Artwork Information

Angas's description:

"PLATE XLVIII.

TAUPO PAH, COOK'S STRAITS. A WAHI TAPU IN THE FOREGROUND.

THIS view is taken from the hill immediately above Rangihaeata's Pah, a stronghold which that chief has erected since the massacre of Wairau, to which he may retreat in case of attack. The Māori village occupying the shores of the bay is called Taupo Pah, and belongs to Rauparaha, being inhabited by a portion of the Nga-ti-toa tribe. The situation of this Pah is about a mile from Porirua, on the northern shores of Cook's Straits. On the brow of the hill, as represented in the foreground, is a singular erection of sticks, much resembling, basket-work, elevated on four upright posts, and having a semi-circular top. Within this cage-like building are placed a variety of different articles; household utensils, skins, calabashes, and dried fish: and a garment suspended beneath flutters in the wind. This is a wahi tapu, or sacred place, of peculiar construction, serving as a receptacle for goods and property that have become subject to the law of tapu for a certain length of time, and are placed here by the Tohunga or priest, who alone has the right of approaching the sacred articles."