Te Maiharoa and the Promised Land

In 1848 the largest tribe in the South Island - Kai Tahu - were persuaded to sell over 8 million hectares of their land to the New Zealand Company. For this they received only £2,000, or less than a farthing a hectare, a deal that engulfed Kai Tahu in bitterness and led a battle for justice lasting almost a century. The battle was fought mainly with words, but in 1879 it led to an armed confrontation between Māori and Pakeha. Hipa Te Maiharoa, a Kai Tahu prophet whose whose teachings paralleled those of Te Ua, the founder of the Hauhau movement, played a major role in those events. This thoughtful and moving book, based on interviews with kaumatua as well as extensive archival research, tells, for the first time, the story of Te Maiharoa - of how he led his people to the promised land and found it flowing with tears."--Back cover.