The appearance of the pa on Monday morning was peculiar.

They had left cooking utensils, food, saddles, clothes etc. all over the place, and the pa had the appearance of having been suddenly cleared of everything living by a whirlwind. On Monday the 26th, I learnt that there was scarcely a native left in the settlement, but before noon some stragglers came in… One striking proof of the suddenness with which their minds were made up is that where rivers were to be crossed no horses were taken, but from the settlements on the high roads inland all went on horseback… I refrain from offering any opinion on the matter, or its probable result. Wiser and older heads than mine, I fear, will find it difficult to do so. The terror, the utter carelessness of consequences, the determined aspect of fanaticism about the whole affair is astonishing.

On 31 December 1864 Rice again reported:

Eight of the Matapihi natives returned on the 29th in a whaleboat to look after their crops and horses. I brought six before the Colonel. Nothing of importance was elicited, only that Te Tiu had not arrived. They persisted in stating it would injure ‘ Paimarire ’ to take up worldly arms; it is to the spiritual that we are to be indebted for our destruction… This returned party assures us that the people are all coming back in a week or two. However this may be, as also the declaration that the movement is not an hostile one remains to be seen. The fact of their having joined such a force plainly shows a real desire to recover their land by any means. I do really think that the chief part of the people are deluded as to the real intention of the movement, but the leaders are not, is certain. Neither do I agree with Colonel Greer that the absence of the principal chiefs of Ngaiterangi has assisted in bringing this movement about.

On 26 December, Colonel Greer (quoted by Gifford and Williams, 1940, p.281) commented on how “ very secretly ” the movement had been made to go into the bush. Greer continued his report:

Paimarire, an angel or god believed to have miraculous powers. In fact they appear to be mad on the subject. They believe that all natives who have not by this day given in their adhesion to him will be destroyed. That is they will fall down and die before the end of the month, and that the Europeans will be destroyed before the end of January, and that Waikato and Tauranga will be the first to be swept clean. They add that a great many of the pakehas will go away in ships, and those who wish to do so will be permitted, but that those who remain will be destroyed. They stated that the Ngaiterangi people are to go up to Rangitoto, one or two days ’ journey from Maungatautari, where there is to be a great gathering of many tribes to meet Te Tiu, or the Jew, as they call the prophet of the real Christ whom they believe their angel and god to be. The natives wish the white man no ill and would not destroy them, but their god would destroy the pakehas and them also if they did not immediately go out and they were afraid.

The Tauranga correspondent of the newspaper The New Zealander wrote an account on 30 December which was published on 5 January 1865 and indicates the panic felt by Europeans in the military camp at Te Papa.