Read "War to the Knife" by Rolf Boldrewood online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
It was decided to camp on the border of the lake between the village of Ohinemutu, where the old historic _pah_, with its grim carven giants of the Wharepuni, looks frowningly down upon the little Roman Catholic chapel. Clouds of steam arose in all directions above them, while the scattered pools exhibited the pervading warmth combined with sulphur fumes.
"We are now on historic ground," said Warwick; "for, without counting Hinemoa -- there is her island -- all manner of legends abound; some of them horrible enough in all conscience, ghastly to a degree," he continued, gazing across the lake. "Mokoia looks peaceful enough now, with scarcely a hundred people on it all told. Yet what tales those rocks could tell! The island was a grand resort for the tribe in the days before gunpowder. In war-time they could paddle over from this side, and defy any enemy that had arrived on foot. There was no waterway to Rotorua. However, Hongi-ika-kai-tangata taught them a lesson."