Skip to main content

Story: Hōiho – horses and iwi

Lament for horses

  • Hōhepa Tamamutu, Waiata Page 1
  • AHōhepa Tamamutu, Waiata Page 2
  • Hōhepa Tamamutu, Letter Page 1
  • Hōhepa Tamamutu, Letter Page 2
  • Hōhepa Tamamutu, Letter Page 3

Taupō chief Hōhepa Tamamutu wrote a letter to the Māori-language newspaper Te Wānanga in 1875, and included a lament by a Ngāti Raukawa visitor to Taupō, Parāone Taupiri. Taupiri’s horses had died, and he requested horses from the Taupō chiefs in a waiata (song). The letter and waiata are translated below.

Using this item

Auckland Council Libraries − Tāmaki Pātaka Kōrero o Tāmaki Makaurau, Sir George Grey Special Collections

Reference: NZMS 714

Permission of Auckland City Libraries Tāmaki Pātaka Kōrero must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

Basil Keane, Hōiho – horses and iwi – Introduction of horses, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/interactive/17813/lament-for-horses (accessed 14 June 2026).

Story by Basil Keane, published 1 March 2009, updated 1 July 2015.