The chants in games had many meanings and uses. In a famous incident at Waiaruhe in the northern war of 1845, the Ngāpuhi chief Hōne Heke recited a tutukai (guessing game) chant to the chief Tāmati Wāka Nene. It was a warning to Nene that Heke would attack him. This image shows Hōne Heke (centre) with his wife Hāriata Rongo and another great Ngāpuhi chief, Te Ruki Kawiti.
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Alexander Turnbull Library
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C-012-019
Watercolour by Joseph Jenner Merrett
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.
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