Artwork Information

Angas's description:

"PLATE XXIII.

TOMB OF THE LATE CHIEF HURIWENUA, QUEEN CHARLOTTE'S SOUND.

AT a small and now entirely deserted Pah on the shores of Tory Channel, not far distant from the entrance of Queen Charlotte's Sound, stands the recent tomb of Huriwenua, a late celebrated chief of the Nga-ti-toa tribe.

The enclosure, which presents an imposing appearance from its being coloured red, is situated in the centre of the pah: a double row of palings or fencework surround the wahi tapu, or sacred place of the dead; these are ornamented at intervals with the white feathers of the albatross placed crosswise, where the stakes are fastened together by means of flax; within the inner enclosure is an upright monument, composed of a portion of a canoe, decorated at the summit with a profusion of kaka feathers, and richly painted with red and black in arabesque spirals; at the top is the name of the chief, with the date of his decease. The body lies buried beneath the upright canoe, enclosed beneath two smaller canoes, wrapped in the choicest mats, and ornamented with the feathers of the huia. Since the period of the erection of this tomb, the whole village has been made tapu, and no native dare venture upon the sacred ground under any pretence whatever. My visit to this spot, for the purpose of making the drawing of the tomb, which is given on the annexed plate, was made from the water by stealth, and was attended with some difficulty and danger."