"Manu-rau's" famous sword, too, was set apart as a sacred gift to the gods; it was a _parakia_, or _taumahatanga_, a thank-offering for victory. It became a _tapu_ relic, and was religiously preserved by the Hauhaus. It is in their possession to this day.
Presently the bodies of the slain--the "Fish-of-Tu"--were ceremoniously apportioned amongst the several tribes represented in the village, as Bent again watched from his eye-hole in the wall.
One of the chiefs paced up and down past the pile of dead, with a stick in his hand. Pointing to a soldier's corpse, he cried:
"This is for Ngati-Ruanui--take it away! This is for Nga-Rauru--take it away"--and so on until the whole of the dead men had been portioned out to the Hauhau clans to deal with as they deemed fit--subject always, however, to Titokowaru's approval.
The Nga-Rauru, the wild tribe of the Waitotara River, were the only men who actually took a body from the line of dead.
Two warriors jumped up and, laying their weapons aside, seized a dead soldier by the ankles and dragged the corpse away. One was Wairau, the other was the celebrated scout Kātené Tu-Whakaruru. This Kātené was a strange fellow. He had fought for some time on the Government side against his own countrymen, then he suddenly reverted to Hauhauism and barbarism, and led his warriors against his old friends and commanding officers, McDonnell and Gudgeon, with utter valour and ferocity. Now he was to turn cannibal.
Kātené and his companion dragged the body along the ground across the _marae_ to the cooking-ovens in the rear of the dwelling-huts, watched in silence by the people. "I could not say whose body it was," says Bent, "but it was a man in good flesh!"
When the two Hauhaus had hauled their body away to the _hangi_ for a terrible feast, the tribes sat in silence for a few moments, gazing intently on their dead enemies lying there before them. It was a calm, windless day, and the midday sun beat hotly down on that ghastly pile in the middle of the crowded _marae_.
Titokowaru rose, _taiaha_ in hand. In his great croaking voice he cried:
"_E koro ma, e kui ma, tena ra koutou! Tanumia te hunga tapu, e takoto nei; e tahu ki te ahi. Kaore e pai kia takoto ki runga ki te kino. Te mea pai me tahu ki te ahi!_" ("Oh, friends, men and women--I salute you! Bury the sacred bodies of the slain, lying before us here. And burn them with fire! It is not well that they should be left to offend. They must be consumed in fire!")