Samuel Calvert’s wood engraving, originally published in the Illustrated New Zealand Herald, depicts an incident in the New Zealand wars. After the south Taranaki leader Tītokowaru attacked a government outpost in mid-1868, colonial soldiers advanced towards Tītokowaru’s pā, Te Ngutu-o-te-manu. Despite the impression given in this scene, the battle was a serious defeat for the colonial forces. Tītokowaru’s men, some of whom were hidden in the bush, ambushed them and forced a retreat, with serious loss of life. Such incidents reinforced a view among Europeans that the bush was a strategic refuge for Māori opponents of the government.