Kecently, the wife of Hohepa Tamai hen^ia—a chief of standing and influence at Porirua, in the Wellington Province, and, as we believe, one of those who shared the capture and imprisonment of Eauparaha—was sick, and as was thought, " sick unto death." Hohepa thereupon proceeded to collect all his available funds and call in his outstanding debts, in order to provide a fitting funeral feast for his spouse, when she had " shuffled off this mortal coil." The provisions were purchased on a scale of profusion corres ponding with the rank of the chief, and all was ready; but, after all, the lady did not die, though, strange to say, Hohepa did immediately after her recovery, and the preparations he had made for her fune ral were, under her direction, expended on his own.
