Te Kauparaha.
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES 
 
 OF 
 
 TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 (Chief of the Ngatitoa). 
 
 W. T. L. TRAVERS, F.L.S. 
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. J. W. STACK. 
 
 Christehureh, Wellington and Dunedin, N.Z. ; 
 Melbourne and London : 
 
 WHITCOMBE AND TOMBS LIMITED. 
 
 013273
 
 INTRODUCTORY NOTE 
 
 Mr. Traver's chapters on Te Rauparaha were first published in 
 1872, when they were read before the Wellington Philosophical 
 Society. 
 
 Mr. Stack found considerable difficulty in fixing the exact dates 
 of the occurrences related in his history, owing to the Maoris 
 possessing no written record of them. If Tamaiharanui was carried 
 off in the brig Elizabeth in October or November, 1830, Te Rau- 
 paraha 's first raid on Kaiapoi was probably made either towards the 
 close of 1828 or the beginning of 1829 ; and Kaiapoi was captured 
 in 1831, just four years before Hernpleman started his whaling 
 station at Pireka, on Banks Peninsula, and twenty years before the 
 arrival of the Canterbury Pilgrims in the first four ships. 
 
 For the plan of the site of the old pa he was indebted to Colonel 
 Lean. The plan shows that a considerable space in front of the 
 deep ditch, which crossed from side to side of the lagoon in front of 
 the pa, was at one time covered with houses. These buildings were 
 all burnt, and the fences removed by the Kaiapoi people themselves 
 as soon as they became aware that Te Rauparaha was coming to 
 attack them. The principal entrances to the pa were on the land 
 side, the Kaitangata gate being near the south-eastern angle of the 
 stockade, and the Hiakarere near the south-western ; the Huirapa 
 gate was on the western side. The illustration representing the 
 Old Kaiapoi Pa shows the south-western angle where Te Pehi was 
 killed, and the dwelling houses of some of the principal chiefs. 
 
 All who have travelled up and down the coast of New 
 Zealand, and experienced a tossing in the stormy straits of Raukawa 
 (Cook), will admit that the Maoris must have been very plucky and 
 skilful navigators to be able to traverse such stormy waters with 
 safety, and to accomplish such long voyages as they did in their 
 canoes. Part of Te Rauparaha's fleet is shown on page 215 in the 
 illustration approaching the landing place. The man standing up 
 with a taiaha in his hand is chanting a boat song, to which the 
 paddles beat time. The peculiar appearance of the sails of the
 
 INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 canoes still in the offing, suggests the idea that they are upside 
 down, but only to those who have not resided long enough in this 
 country to know that it is a very common occurrence to find 
 things topsy-turvy in New Zealand. 
 
 The pattern of tattooing on Te Pehi's face, affords a good 
 specimen of the art, and shows to what perfection it had attained. 
 It is astonishing to think that such an elaborate design could be 
 marked upon a living human face by such a painful process as the 
 native artist adopted, without making a mistake of any kind ; and 
 though the work was done at different times, the symmetry and 
 uniformity was preserved with great exactness. The artist first 
 drew the pattern with charcoal on the face of the person to be 
 tattooed, who placed his head on the operator's lap or on the ground 
 for the purpose ; and if it was approved of, he proceeded to tap the 
 point of a bone needle which had been previously dipped in ink 
 made of a particular kind of charcoal sufficiently far into the skin 
 to secure an indelible mark being made ; the punctures were 
 placed close together, and as the skin began to swell, the difficulty 
 of avoiding a mistake must have been very great. It was generally 
 necessary to submit to several sittings before the tattooing of the 
 face was completed. But brave dandies were not content to have their 
 faces only marked, but had similar patterns on a larger scale drawn 
 on their chests and thighs. It must be admitted that a man with 
 such a pattern drawn on his face as Te Pehi had was entitled to 
 assume the role of a critic on tattooing, and that he was probably 
 quite correct in his contemptuous remarks about the markings on 
 Mr. Moimoi's face, to which reference is made on page 195. 
 
 Mr. Stack purposely retained the name Kaiapoi for the old pa, as 
 it was the commonly-adopted abbreviation for Kaiapohia in use 
 amongst the Maoris, and it will help to connect the modern English 
 town with the old Maori town of the same name. The longer 
 name, Kaiapohia, was used in all formal speeches and in poetical 
 compositions ; and it is to be hoped that one result of giving it 
 greater publicity amongst Europeans in the accompanying narrative, 
 will be to induce residents in the Kaiapoi district to call themselves 
 Kaiapohians in future, instead of applying to themselves the 
 unmusical name by which they have hitherto been designated. 
 
 Readers who know nothing of Maori are reminded that the 
 vowels have the same sound as in Italian, and that as the words 
 are spelt phonetically every syllable should be pronounced.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE EAUPARAHA. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE. 
 
 I. Habits and Customs of the Maoris ... ... 9 
 
 II. Depopulation ... ... ... ... ... 32 
 
 III. Childhood and Early Manhood ... ... ... 58 
 
 IV. The Migration from Kawhia ... ... ... 80 
 
 V. The Occupation of Kapiti ... ... ... 105 
 
 VI. The Struggle with the Ngaitahu ... ... ... 129 
 
 VII. The Last Phase... ... ... ... ... 148 
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA. 
 
 I. Kaiapoi of To-day ... ... ... ... 169 
 
 II. The Kaiapoi Pa ... ... ... ... 178 
 
 III. Te Rauparaha's First Visit to Kaiapoi ... ... 191 
 
 IV. The Raid on Akaroa Life at Kaiapoi ... ... 199 
 
 V. The Siege of Kaiapoi ... ... ... ... 212 
 
 VI. Onawe Return to Kapiti ... ... ... 232 
 
 VII. Retaliation Peace 239
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS. 
 
 TE EAUPARAHA. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Te Bauparaha Frontispiece 
 
 The Moa ... ... ... 13 
 
 Maori Implements ... 19 
 Early Settlement in Port 
 
 Nicholson ... ... 25 
 
 A Maori War Expedition ... 29 
 
 War Canoe ... ... 31 
 
 Captain Cook ... ... 35 
 
 Ship's Cove, Queen Char- 
 lotte Sound ... ... 37 
 
 New Zealand Flax ... 39 
 A Fortified Village, Poverty 
 
 Bay 43 
 
 Source of the Waikato 
 
 River ... ... ... 47 
 
 Bust of Hongi ... ... 49 
 
 Dusky Sound ... ... 51 
 
 Te Whero Whero .. ... 55 
 
 The Mokau River... ... 59 
 
 The Coming of the Maoris 61 
 
 Landing of Marsden ... 69 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Tamati Waka Nene ... 73 
 
 Bay of Islands, 1844 ... 83 
 
 Te Whero Whero's Pa ... 87 
 
 Te Rangihaeata ... ... 91 
 
 New Plymouth in 1843 ... 99 
 Mouth of the Wanganui 
 
 River ... ... ... 101 
 
 War Dance ... ... 107 
 
 Tongariro from Lake 
 
 Taupo ... ... ... Ill 
 
 Maori Swings ... ... 115 
 
 The Kaikoura Mountains... 123 
 
 TePehi ... ... ... 125 
 
 Tattooing on Te Pehi's 
 
 Face ... ... ... 127 
 
 Decorated Head of Te Rau- 
 
 paraha's War Canoe ... 131 
 
 Taiaroa ... ... ... 144 
 
 Porirua Bay ... ... 163 
 
 Interior of the Church at 
 
 Otaki 165 
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA. 
 
 The Kaiapoi Woollen 
 
 Factory ... ... ... 172 
 
 Old Kaiapoi ... ... 181 
 
 Cabbage Tree ... ... 183 
 
 Te Rauparaha's Fleet ap- 
 proaching Kaiapoi ... 215 
 The Kaiapoi Pa ... ... 221 
 
 The Kaiapoi Monument ... 243
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES 
 
 OF 
 
 TE RAUPARAHA. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 HABITS AND CUSTOMS OF THE MAOEIS. 
 
 The position occupied by the great chief Te Eauparaha 
 in connection with the establishment and earlier progress 
 of the New Zealand Company's settlements in Cook 
 Straits, would alone justify us in recording all that can 
 be learnt of the career of this remarkable man ; but 
 when, in addition to the interest which his personal 
 history possesses for us in this respect, we find that he 
 took a very important part in the events that occurred in 
 these Islands between the years 1818 and 1840 leading as 
 they did to an immense destruction of life amongst the 
 then existing population, and to profound changes in the 
 habits and character of the survivors it becomes im- 
 portant, for the purposes of the future historian of the 
 Colony, that we should preserve the most authentic
 
 10 THE STIKEING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 accounts of his career, as well as of that of the other 
 great chiefs who occupied, during the period in question, 
 positions of power and influence amongst the leading 
 New Zealand tribes. 
 
 As with Hongi, Te Waharoa, and Te Whero Whero in 
 the North, so Te Rauparaha in the South carried on, 
 during the interval referred to, wars of the most ruthless 
 and devastating character, undertaken partly for purposes 
 of conquest, and partly for the gratification of that innate 
 ferocity for which the New Zealanders have long been 
 remarked. His own immediate tribe, the Ngatitoa, 
 though insignificant in point of numbers, when compared 
 with most of the leading tribes of the North Island, had 
 long been celebrated for their prowess as warriors ; and 
 the reliance they placed upon the sagacity and valour 
 of their chief added to the prestige of frequent vic- 
 tories, and, above all, to the confidence inspired by the 
 possession of new and powerful weapons, unknown in 
 most cases, to their earlier opponents, led them un- 
 hesitatingly to engage in enterprises, the difficulties and 
 dangers of which might otherwise well have deterred 
 even bolder men. 
 
 Nor was the special confidence inspired by the 
 possession of firearms at all surprising, when we re- 
 member the extraordinary results which have recently 
 been brought about, even amongst European nations, by 
 mere improvements in the construction of the weapons 
 used in warfare. In the case of Austria for example, 
 the power of one of the greatest military nations of the 
 world was almost annihilated, and has certainly been 
 permanently reduced, in consequence of the possession, 
 by their recent adversaries, of weapons of somewhat 
 greater precision than their own. We cannot, therefore,
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 11 
 
 wonder at the results which would be produced upon 
 even the most warlike savage people, where the arms on 
 the one side were muskets, and on the other mere clubs 
 and wooden spears and more especially where those who 
 used the latter had had no previous knowledge of the 
 destructive power of the more deadly weapons brought 
 against them. My narrative will, indeed, often recall 
 the graphic language of De Foe when describing the 
 effect produced by the guns of Eobinson Crusoe and 
 Friday upon the savages engaged in butchering their 
 prisoners : They were, you may be sure," he says, " in 
 a dreadful consternation, and all of them who were not 
 hurt jumped upon their feet, but did not immediately 
 know which way to run or which way to look, for they 
 knew not from whence their destruction came." 
 
 We shall find, in effect, that this was the principal 
 reason why the wars carried on by Te Eauparaha were, 
 notwithstanding the smallness of his own forces, quite 
 as disastrous to the numerous tribes which occupied the 
 scenes of his exploits, as those which were waged against 
 their own neighbours by the more powerful chieftains in 
 the northern parts of the country, and that Te Eauparaha 
 contributed as largely as most of the former to the 
 enormous destruction of life which took place during the 
 two-and-twenty years referred to. 
 
 But before entering upon the immediate subject of 
 this memoir, I have thought it desirable to compile a 
 short account, showing : the habits and character of the 
 New Zealands ; their laws in relation to the acquisition 
 and ownership of land; their customs in war; the 
 general condition of the tribes before the introduction 
 of firearms, and the effects which that circumstance in 
 their history produced upon them. I have thought it
 
 12 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 would be satisfactory to my readers that I should adopt 
 this course, not merely as a matter of speculative 
 interest, but because some knowledge upon these subjects 
 will really be found necessary to a full appreciation of 
 the events I propose to relate, and of the characters of 
 the chief actors in those events. 
 
 I propose in the present chapter to inquire, shortly, 
 into the habits and customs of the New Zealanders in 
 especial relation to the ownership of land, and to war, 
 and then to offer some observations regarding their 
 social and individual characteristics ; and I may at once 
 say that in compiling the following notice of these 
 matters I have availed myself largely of White's 
 " Lectures on Maori Customs and Superstititions," and 
 of Colenso's "Essay on the Maori Eaces," which, though 
 by no means exhaustive, are sufficient to enable those 
 who have had any opportunities of personal observation, 
 and who may, therefore, read them by the light of locally 
 acquired knowledge, to obtain reasonably clear ideas upon 
 these points. 
 
 It would appear from the facts collected by these and 
 other writers, and from traditions of the New Zealanders 
 themselves, that from the very earliest times they clearly 
 understood the value of the possession of land. This 
 was, of course, naturally to be expected in a people 
 dependent upon the cultivation of the soil for a 
 considerable proportion of their ordinary means of sub- 
 sistence, for although New Zealand, as a rule, is a fertile 
 country, and possesses a mild climate, and is almost 
 everywhere covered with a dense vegetation, its natural 
 vegetable productions, suitable for the proper sustenance 
 of man, are extremely limited ; and the Natives would 
 often have suffered from want if they had been wholly
 
 13 
 
 dependent for their supplies of food upon the indigenous 
 vegetation, and upon the uncertain results of their rat- 
 chases and their fisheries. No doubt, whilst the Moa 
 still abounded in various parts of both Islands, it afforded 
 them a better class of animal food than any other they 
 possessed before the introduction of the pig; but we have 
 no positive information as to the date at which this 
 
 source of supply 
 failed them, nor do 
 I think the materials 
 for the determin- 
 ation of this ques- 
 tion are at all likely 
 to lead to any 
 certain results upon 
 the point. There 
 can be no doubt, 
 indeed, that long 
 before the time of 
 Cook, the most valu- 
 able articles of food 
 used by the Maoris 
 were not indigenous, 
 as, for example, the 
 Kumara (Convol- 
 vulus chrysorhizus], 
 the Taro (Caladium esculentum) , and the gourd-like Hue, 
 in the growth of each of which a special and most careful 
 mode of treatment was necessary. We find, accordingly, 
 that a very large part of the time of the people of all 
 classes was taken up in these cultivations, as well as in 
 the preparation of such indigenous substances as were at 
 all suitable for food ; for, independently of the immediate 
 
 The Moa.
 
 14 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 family wants, the hospitalities of the tribes to which all 
 the members must necessarily contribute, especially on 
 solemn occasions led to the expenditure of large stores 
 of provisions. As I have before observed, it was natural 
 that a people whose ordinary wants necessitated, the 
 cultivation of the soil to any large extent, should attach 
 great value to the possession of land ; and we find, in 
 effect, that every tribe claimed its own special domain, 
 and preserved the most accurate knowledge of the extent 
 and limit of its territorial rights. 
 
 " There is no point," says White, "on which a New 
 Zealander's indignation can be more effectually roused 
 than by disputing his title to land. This love for his 
 land is not, as many would suppose, the love of a child 
 for his toys ; the title of a New Zealander to his land is 
 connected with many and powerful associations in his 
 mind. He is not, of course, what we call a civilized 
 man ; but in dealing with him we deal with a man of 
 powerful intellect, whose mind can think and reason as 
 logically on any subject with which he is acquainted, as 
 his more favoured European brethren, and whose love for 
 the homes of his fathers is associated with the deeds of 
 their bravery, with the feats of his boyhood, and the 
 long rest of his ancestors for generations. 
 
 " The New Zealander is not accustomed to law, and 
 parchment, or to wills and bequests in gaining knowledge 
 of or receiving a title to the lands of his fathers; nor 
 would he quietly allow any stranger to teach him what 
 lands were his, or what lands were not ; what were the 
 names of the boundaries, the creeks, mountains, and 
 rivers in his own district. The thousand names within 
 the limits of his hereditary lands were his daily lesson 
 from childhood. The son of a chief invariably attended
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 15 
 
 his father, or his grandfather, in all his fishing, trapping, 
 or spearing excursions ; and it was in these that he 
 learnt, by ocular demonstration, the exact boundaries of 
 his lands, and especially heard their various names. 
 
 " It was a custom with the Maoris in ancient times to 
 eat the rat a rat indigenous to this country, and caught 
 in traps set on the tops of the mountain ranges. This 
 was a source of part of their daily food, and it was 
 therefore, with them, a point of great importance to 
 occupy every available portion of their lands with these 
 traps ; and as most of the tribal boundaries are along the 
 range of the highest hills, or mountains, and as these 
 were the common resort of the rat, every New Zealand 
 chief soon naturally became acquainted with the exact 
 boundary of his land claims. He did not, however, limit 
 these claims to the dry land they extended to the shell- 
 fish, and even out to sea, where he could fish for cod or 
 shark, or throw his net for mackerel ; nor did he go 
 inadvertently to these places, and trust to chance for 
 finding his fishing grounds he had land marks, and 
 each fishing-ground and land-mark had its own peculiar 
 name ; these to him were more than household words ; 
 his fathers had fished there, and he himself and his tribe 
 alone knew these names and land-marks. Where a 
 creek was the dividing boundary of his lands, this was 
 occupied by eel-dams. These dams were not of wicker- 
 work, that might be carried away by a flood labour 
 and art were bestowed upon their construction, so that 
 generations might pass, all of whom in turn might put 
 their ell-basket down by the carved and red-ochred 
 totara post which their great-grandfather had placed 
 there. When the dividing boundary between two tribes 
 ran along a valley, landmarks were put up ; these
 
 16 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 consisted generally of a pile of stones or a hole dug in 
 the ground, to which a name was given significant of the 
 cause which gave rise to such boundary being agreed to ; 
 such, for instance, as Te Taupaki the name given to the 
 dividing boundary on the West Coast between the 
 Ngatiwhatua and Tainui tribes which means the year 
 of peace, or the peaceful way in which a dispute is 
 adjusted. This boundary had its origin from a chief of 
 the Ngatiwhatua called Poutapuaka, going from Kaipara 
 to take possession of land with his paraoa, or bone spear. 
 His intention was to go along the coast as far as the 
 quantity of food which he carried would enable him to 
 travel, and return from the point at which his food was 
 expended ; he had succeeded in taking possession of the 
 whole of the line of sandy coast called Eangatira, and 
 on arriving at the top of the hill, now known as Te 
 Taupaki, he met the Tainui chief Haowhenua. They 
 both halted, sticking their spears in the ground, and 
 enquiring of each other the object of their being there. 
 They found that they were both on the same errand, and 
 at once agreed that this meeting point should be the 
 boundary dividing the lands of the tribes whereof each 
 was the representative. The Ngatiwhatua chief at once 
 dug a hole with his bone spear, and the boundary so 
 established has remained to this day. 
 
 "I may state," adds White, "without fear of con- 
 tradiction, that there is not one inch of land in the New 
 Zealand Islands which is not claimed by the Maoris, and 
 I may also state that there is not a hill or valley, stream, 
 river, or forest, which has not a name the index of 
 some point of the Maori history. As has been stated 
 above, the New Zealander knows with as much certainty 
 the exact boundary of his own land, as we could do from
 
 17 
 
 the distances and bearings given by a surveyor. But 
 these boundaries are liable to be altered at times ; for 
 instance, when lands are taken by a conquering tribe, or 
 are given by a chief for assistance rendered to him by 
 another tribe in time of war, or when land given to the 
 female branch of a family again becomes, after a certain 
 time, the property of the male branch of the family. In 
 certain cases, also, lands are ceded by a tribe for a 
 specific purpose, with certain restrictions, and a tenure 
 conditional on certain terms being complied with." 
 
 Colenso, in his " Essay on the Maori Eaces," tells us 
 that their views of property were, in the main, both 
 simple and just, and in some respects (even including 
 those most abnormal) wonderfully accorded with what 
 once obtained in England. Amongst them, property 
 was usually divided into two classes, namely, peculiar 
 and common. Every man,, for example, had a right to 
 his own, as against every one else, although this right 
 was often overcome by might. A man of middle, or low 
 rank, caught, perhaps, some fine fish, or was very lucky 
 in snaring birds such were undoubtedly his own ; but 
 if his superior, or elder chief, wished or asked for them, 
 he dared not refuse, even if he would. At the same 
 time, such a gift, if gift it might be termed, was (accord- 
 ing to custom) sure to be repaid with interest, hence it 
 was readily yielded. The whole of a man's movable 
 property was also his own ; it included his house and 
 fences as well as all his smaller goods. All that a 
 freeman made or caught, or obtained, or raised by agri- 
 culture, were his own ; although his house, created by 
 himself, was his own, yet if not on his own land (rarely 
 the case) he could not hold it against the owner of that 
 spot, unless such use had been openly allowed to him by
 
 18 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 the owner before all (i te aroaro o te tokomaha). So a 
 plantation planted by himself, if not on his own land 
 (also a rare thing), he would have to leave after taking 
 his crops, on being ordered to do so ; but not so if he 
 had originally, and with permission, felled the forest, or 
 reclaimed that land from the wild ; in which case, he 
 would retain it for life, or as long as he pleased, and very 
 likely his descendants after him, To land, a man ac- 
 quired a peculiar right in many ways : 
 
 1. Definite -(a) By having been born on it, or, in 
 their expressive language, " where his navel-string was 
 cut," as his first blood (ever sacred in their eyes) had 
 been shed there. (b) By having had his secundines 
 buried there (this, however was much more partial). 
 
 (c) By a public invitation from the owner to dwell on it. 
 
 (d) By having first cultivated it by permission, (e) By 
 having had his blood shed upon it. (/) By having had 
 the body or bones of his deceased father or mother, or 
 uterine brother or sister, deposited or rested on it. 
 (g) By having had a near relative killed or roasted on it. 
 (h) By having been bitterly cursed in connection with 
 that piece of land, e.g. this oven is for thy body, or 
 head ; on that tree thy liver shall be fixed to rot ; thy 
 skull shall hold the cooked birds, or berries of this wood. 
 (i) Or by the people of the district using for any pur- 
 pose a shed which had been temporarily put up there, 
 and used by a chief in travelling. 
 
 2. Indefinite (a) By having been invited to come 
 there by the chief with a party to dwell (lit., having had 
 their canoe in passing called to the shore), (b) Through 
 his wife by marriage ; but such would be only a quasi 
 life-interest to him, i.e., during her life and the infancy 
 of the children, as, in case of children, they would take
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 19 
 
 all their mother's right. (c) By having assisted in 
 conquering it. (d) by having aided with food, a canoe, 
 
 p, ... a spear, etc., 
 
 an armed 
 party who 
 subseque n 1 1 y 
 became con- 
 querors of it. 
 All these 
 equally ap- 
 plied, though 
 he should be- 
 long to a 
 different tribe 
 or sub-tribe. 
 
 3. Beyond 
 all these, how- 
 ever, was the 
 right by gift 
 or transfer, 
 and by inher- 
 itance, which 
 not unfre- 
 quently, was 
 peculiar and 
 private. This 
 (which has of 
 late years been 
 much con- 
 tested, and too 
 often, it is 
 feared, by ignorant and interested men, or by those who 
 have too readily believed what the talkative younger New 
 
 Maori Implements. 
 
 1. Flaking punch ; 2. Saw; 3. Knife; 4. Cutting 
 
 tool; 5. Hammer; 6. Boring tool; 7. Adze; 
 
 8. Spear scraper ; 9. Chisel ; 10. Adze sharpener ; 
 
 11. Spear polisher.
 
 20 THE STIEEING TIMES OF TE EAUPAEAHA 
 
 Zealanders now say), may clearly be proved beyond all 
 doubt : (l) By the acts of their several ancestors 
 (great-grandfathers) to their children, from whom the 
 present sub-tribes derive their sub-tribal names, and 
 claim their boundaries ; such ancestors divided and gave 
 those lands simply to each individual of their family, 
 which division and alienation, however unfairly made, 
 has never been contested. (2) By their ancient transfers 
 (gifts or sales) of land made by individuals of one tribe 
 to individuals of another, as related by themselves, from 
 which gift or alienation, in many instances, they deduce 
 their present claims. (3) By their earliest (untampered) 
 sales and transfers of land to Missionaries and to others 
 which were not unfrequently done by one native (as was 
 notably the case in the first alienation of land by deed 
 to Marsden, at the Bay of Islands, in 1815). Although 
 the foreign transferees (not knowing the native custom) 
 often wished others, being co-proprietors, to sign the 
 document of transfer ; and this by-the-by, came to be 
 looked upon as the New Zealand custom ; whence came 
 the modern belief that all must unite in a sale ; and 
 thence it followed that one could not sell his own land ! 
 But such is not of New Zealand origin. 
 
 It will be observed, that there is some difference of 
 opinion between the two writers from whom I have 
 quoted, as to the existence of definite individual rights of 
 property in land, as distinguished from tribal, or 
 common, or indefinite rights ; but as this is a point 
 which little concerns the purpose of my narrative, I 
 shall do no more than refer to it here. The extracts 
 above given, at all events sufficiently show that the 
 Maoris always attached the greatest value to the 
 ownership of the soil, and took the utmost care to
 
 THE STIREING TIMES OF TE RAUPABAHA 21 
 
 preserve an accurate knowledge of the boundaries of the 
 tribal estate. 
 
 The very value, however, attached to the possession of 
 land naturally led to aggression and to the use of various 
 other means of acquiring title to it ; and not only in 
 many of their traditions, but also in all other accounts of 
 the habits of the race, we find mention of wars under- 
 taken for purposes of conquest, and of marriage alli- 
 ances being contracted, and other devices resorted to, 
 for the purpose of peacefully securing additions to the 
 tribal territory. Upon the first of these points, White 
 tells us that a tribe, in going to war, had one or more of 
 three objects in view : 1. To take revenge for some real 
 or supposed injury. 2. To obtain as many slaves as 
 possible. 3. To extend its territory. " A tribe," he 
 says, ' seldom .became extinct in consequence of war, 
 but when this resulted, the conquering tribe took all 
 their lands, and from the slaves taken in war the 
 conquerors learnt the boundaries of the land thus taken. 
 But, if a portion of the tribe escaped, their claim held 
 good to as great an extent of land as they had the 
 courage to occupy. If, however, they could manage to 
 keep within their own tribal boundary, and elude their 
 enemy, their right to the whole of the land held good. 
 Hence the meaning of a sentence so often used by old 
 chiefs in their land disputes : / ko tonu taku ahi i runga 
 i taku whenua (my fire has been kept burning on my 
 land) ; meaning that other tribes in war had never been 
 able to drive them entirely off their ancestral claims. 
 
 " The right to lands taken by conquest rests solely on 
 the conquering party actually occupying the taken dis- 
 trict, to the utter exclusion of its original owners or 
 other tribes ; thus, in the war of the celebrated Hongi,
 
 22 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 he drove all the tribes out of the Auckland district into- 
 Waikato, and even as far as Taranaki ; but though the 
 whole district thereby became his, yet, as he did not 
 occupy it, the conquered tribes, on his return to the 
 North, came back to their own lands ; and we found 
 them in occupation when Auckland was established as 
 an English settlement. 
 
 Again, in the case of a tribe which had been con- 
 quered and had become extinct, with the exception of 
 those that had been made slaves by the conquering 
 party, these slaves could, by purchase, recover the 
 ownership of their tribal rights to land, or they could be 
 liberated and return to their own lands on a promise of 
 allegiance to the conquerors, i-endering them any assist- 
 ance, if required, in times of war, and supplying them, 
 for the first few years after their return, with a certain 
 amount of rats, fish, and fern-root ; and eventually, on 
 presenting the conquerors with a greenstone battleaxe 
 (the mere pounamu), they were again allowed to be called 
 a tribe, and claim the land of their fathers as though 
 they had never been conquered. 
 
 " The claims in connection with lands given to a tribe 
 for assistance rendered in war are more complicated 
 than any other. Although the land was given to the 
 leader of the tribe rendering such assistance, it did not 
 thereby become vested in that individual leader, inas- 
 much as the assisting tribe were seldom alone, but had 
 brought their allies, and, if these allies had lost any of 
 their chiefs in battle, each relative of the deceased chiefs 
 had a claim in the land thus given ; and each relative of 
 any chief who had been killed, of the tribe to whose 
 leader the land was given, had also a claim. But the 
 complication of land claims does not end even here. It
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TK RAUPARAHA 23 
 
 was necessary that the land given should be occupied so 
 that possession of it be retained, and as the assisted and 
 assisting tribes became related by intermarriage, the 
 tribal lands of the assisted tribe were claimed by the 
 issue of these marriages, according to the laws relating to 
 the ownership of land as affected by the marriage tie, so 
 that after a few generations their respective claims not 
 unfrequently became the cause of another war. 
 
 " An instance of this happened about four generations 
 ago. One of the northern tribes rendered assistance in 
 time of war to a southern tribe, now residing not far 
 from Auckland, and a portion of land was given to the 
 northern tribe ; shortly afterwards the daughter of the 
 southern chief was taken in marriage by one of the 
 chiefs of the northern tribe ; the two sisters of this 
 woman were married to chiefs of the southern tribe, and 
 thereupon their children's claims held good ; but when 
 the time came for the offspring of the sister, who had 
 married the northern chief, to give up their land, the 
 colonization of New Zealand had commenced, and land 
 became a marketable commodity. This offspring re- 
 tained their claims against all right and argument, and 
 to this day their is a rankling feeling between the tribes 
 concerned ; and if, in this disputed land, incautious 
 dealing by Europeans takes place, it would probably 
 result in a Maori war. 
 
 " The war in the Bay of Plenty which has been 
 continued until very lately between certain chiefs, also 
 originated in a like cause ; the contending parties were 
 all of one tribe, and sprung from one ancestor, but, by 
 intermarriage, some have a more direct claim than 
 others. The descendants, who, by intermarriage, are 
 related to other tribes, have made an equal claim to the
 
 24 
 
 land over which they have but a partial claim, and 
 resistance to this was the cause of the war. Disputes of 
 this kind were not easily unravelled. I believe that 
 were it possible to teach the Maoris the English 
 language, and then bring them into some Court, allowing 
 each contending party to plead his cause in such a 
 dispute as I have mentioned, not according to English 
 law, but according to Maori custom, both sides would, 
 according to native genealogy and laws, make out their 
 respective cases so clearly that it would take a judge and 
 jury, possessed of more than human attainments, to 
 decide the ownership of the land. 
 
 " While speaking about lands claimed by conquest, I 
 will give a few instances of land claimed by the offspring 
 of those male or female chiefs who have been made 
 slaves in war. It would not generally be supposed that 
 lands disposed of at the southern end of this Island 
 would affect any native at the northern end of it, yet 
 such is the case. A chieftainess who was taken slave 
 from the south by the Ngapuhi and other northern 
 tribes, became the wife of a Ngapuhi chief ; her claim 
 stood in the way of completing the sale of the land, and 
 it was not until the consent of her son by the Ngapuhi 
 chief was gained, that the land could be disposed of by 
 the natives residing on it, and to him, in due course of 
 time, a portion of the payment was transmitted. 
 
 " Again, a chief who was taken slave from the Bay of 
 Plenty by the northern tribes, having taken a northern 
 woman to wife, and having a family, his relatives from 
 the Bay of Plenty made presents to the chiefs by whom 
 he was taken, and procured his return home ; but he 
 was obliged, according to Maori laws of title to land, to 
 leave his wife and daughters with the Ngapuhi people,
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 25
 
 26 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 for if he had taken them with him, they would have lost 
 their claim to land at Ngapuhi, and would not be allowed 
 any claim to land in the Bay of Plenty ; while his son, 
 whom he took back with him, now claims, by right of 
 his grandfather, an equal right to the lands of the Bay of 
 Plenty tribe. 
 
 " Again one of the northern chiefs having taken to 
 wife a woman whom he had made slave from Taranaki, 
 and having a son by her, this son returned to the tribe of 
 his mother and claimed as his right, derived from his 
 grandfather, a share in their land, which was not 
 disputed, because, as I have before stated, the great- 
 grandchild in the female line has a claim to land. I 
 remember another instance of this : a certain block of 
 land was sold by a tribe near Auckland, and when the 
 purchase money was portioned out amongst the claim- 
 ants, a northern chief rose up and rehearsed hi& 
 genealogy, by which he proved that he was the great- 
 grandchild (in the female line) of one of the claimants of 
 the block sold. He thereupon, as a matter of course 
 received a part of the purchase money. He was a 
 northern chief, and had only been known to the settlers 
 by name." 
 
 In addition to the above points, which more especially 
 affect the events of my narrative, White gives us details 
 of other modes of acquiring title to land, with illustrative 
 cases of the most interesting kind ; but there is one 
 custom which he does not refer to, and which was 
 mentioned to me by Wi Tako Ngatata, namely, that in 
 some cases a conquered tribe, absolutely driven from its 
 lands, was formally restored to possession by the 
 conquerors. He stated, as an instance, that this was 
 done in the Wairarapa, after the Ngatikahungunu had
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 27 
 
 been forced to the northward by the Ngatiawa, under 
 E Puni and himself, in revenge for some isolated acts of 
 violence perpetrated upon members of their own tribe. 
 He informed me that this proceeding was always a highly 
 formal and ceremonious one, and was carried out, in the 
 instance in question, in consequence of many inter-r 
 marriages having taken place between the two tribes 
 since the settlement of the Ngatiawa near Port Nichol- 
 son, and of the absence of any desire on the part of the 
 latter to push their vengeance to extremity. 
 
 It would lead me too far, were I to enter more at 
 length upon the points above referred to, and I will now 
 proceed shortly to notice some of the leading features in 
 the character and habits of the natives in other respects. 
 There can be little doubt that, both in intellectual and 
 physical capacity, the Maori occupies a high position 
 amongst savage people ; but I cannot agree with White 
 when he says, " that in dealing with him, we deal with 
 a man of powerful intellect." I admit that he possesses 
 much intelligence, and a quick perception, but he is 
 wanting in one of the chiefest characteristics of the 
 civilized man a characteristic acquired only by a long 
 course of national education namely, the power of fore- 
 seeing the result of these special classes of actions to 
 which his contact with Europeans gives the greatest 
 importance. It is not, however, altogether in this 
 respect that I propose to view his character, for the 
 principal events in my narrative took place before the 
 colonization of the Islands ; and their want of foresight 
 when dealing with the agents of the New Zealand 
 Company would not have produced effects injurious to 
 them, but for the occurrence of events which have taken 
 place since the death of Te Ruaparaha.
 
 28 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 " Their ordinary course of life," says Maning, speak- 
 ing of the natives, " when not engaged in warfare, was 
 regular, and not necessarily unhealthy ; their labour, 
 though constant in one shape or other, and compelled by 
 necessity, was not too heavy. In the morning, but not 
 early, they descended from the hill pa to the cultivations 
 in the low grounds ; they went in a body, armed like 
 men going to battle, the spear or club in one hand, and 
 the agricultural instrument in the other. The women 
 followed. Long before night (it was counted unlucky to 
 work till dark) they returned to the hill in a reversed 
 order ; the women, slaves, and lads, bearing fuel and 
 water for the night, in front ; these also bore, probably, 
 heavy loads of kumara or other provisions. 
 
 In the time of year when the crops, being planted and 
 growing, did not call for their attention, the whole tribe 
 would remove to some fortified hill, at the side of some 
 river, or on the coast, where they would pass months in 
 fishing and making nets, clubs, spears, and implements 
 of various descriptions ; the women, in all spare times, 
 making mats for clothing, or baskets to carry the crop of 
 kumara in, when fit to dig. There was very little idle- 
 ness, and to be called ' lazy ' was a great reproach. 
 
 It is to be observed, that for several months the crops 
 could be left unguarded with perfect safety, for the 
 Maori, as a general rule, never destroyed growing crops, 
 or attacked their owners in a regular manner until the 
 rops were nearly at full perfection, so that they might 
 afford subsistence to the invaders ; and, consequently, 
 the end of the summer all over the country was a time 
 of universal preparation for battle, either offensive or 
 defensive, the crops being then near maturity."
 
 30 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPABAHA 
 
 This picture exhibits a very unhappy condition of 
 existence, for it is manifest that no race, in such a 
 position, could ever rise further in the scale of civili- 
 zation (paradoxical as the language may appear) than 
 was sufficient to improve their knowledge of the art of 
 war. But, notwithstanding this unsatisfactory condition 
 of the tribes, the people appear, in their social and 
 domestic relations, to have been, generally speaking, 
 good natured and hospitable, though being little, if at all, 
 fettered by conscientious motives or restraints, they 
 were at all times easily roused to acts of violence and 
 cruelty. With them, moreover, revenge was a most 
 persistent feeling, and the duty of ministering to it was 
 considered of sacred obligation. 
 
 Their love of war was universal and intense, and in its 
 prosecution they were as reckless of the consequences to 
 themselves as they were of the results to their foes. 
 "Nothing," says Mr. Maning, "was considered so 
 valuable or respectable as strength and courage; and to 
 acquire property by war and plunder was more honour- 
 able, and also more desirable, than by labour." Their 
 cruelty to their prisoners was frightful. Cannibalism 
 was considered glorious, and this habit led not only to 
 the most dreadful atrocities, but also to a 'degree of 
 callousness, in regard to the sufferings inflicted upon 
 others, which appears to be utterly incompatible with, 
 and renders singularly remarkable, the kindliness of 
 feeling which they constantly exhibited in their domestic 
 relations. It is clear, however, that whatever good 
 qualities the Maori possessed in his quiet and social 
 moments were utterly lost when he was acting under the 
 impulse of passion. Colenso, in describing their charac- 
 ter, particularly alludes to their love for children, and
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 31 
 
 remarks that " nothing more clearly shows the truth of 
 the old adage, ' the best corrupted is the very worst,' 
 than that a party of New Zealanders should be so carried 
 away by the diabolical frenzy of the moment as wholly 
 to forget their strongly and highly characteristic natural 
 feelings, and kill, roast, and eat little children." I need 
 not, however, dwell any further on the subjects specially 
 treated in this chapter, for their habits and customs 
 must necessarily come, more or less, under further 
 consideration throughout the course of my narrative. 
 
 War Canoe.
 
 32 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 DEPOPULATION. 
 
 Before noticing the condition of the New Zealand 
 tribes during the twenty years immediately preceding 
 the systematic colonization of the islands, I think it 
 necessary to call attention to the accounts we have 
 received, both from early voyagers and from late writers 
 of authority, as to the extent of the native population, 
 and their habits of life, previously to the introduction of 
 fire-arms; and I do this chiefly for the purpose of 
 showing, that notwithstanding the savage character of 
 the former wars of the New Zealanders, the effects 
 which those wars produced upon their numbers were as 
 naught compared with the destruction of life, both direct 
 and indirect, which followed upon the use of the more 
 deadly weapon of the civilized man. 
 
 The earliest notice we have of the present race, occurs 
 in the history of the voyage of Abel Tasman to the 
 South Seas, in the seventeenth century, from which we 
 learn that, in December, 1642, he discovered a high 
 mountainous country, which he named Staaten Landt, or 
 Land of the States, but which is now called New 
 Zealand.* A day or two afterwards, he anchored in the 
 
 * Tasman called the country Staaten Landt in honour of the States- 
 General of the United Provinces, and because he thought it might prove 
 to be continuous with Staaten Landt to the east of Tierra del Fuego. 
 When in 1643, Staaten Landt was found to be an island, the States- 
 General changed the name of the territory discovered by Tasman to 
 Nova Zeelanda, naming it after Zeeland, a province in the south-west of 
 Holland.
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OP TE RAUPARAHA 33 
 
 beautiful bay at the north-western extremity of the 
 Nelson Province, formerly named Massacre, or Murderers 
 Bay, on account of the murder to which I am about to 
 refer, but which is now known, on the maps of the 
 Nelson Province, as Golden Bay. 
 
 He says that he there found abundance of inhabitants, 
 whom he describes as very large made people, of a 
 colour between brown and yellow, with hoarse voices, 
 and with hair long, and almost as thick as that of the 
 Japanese, combed up and fixed on the top of their heads 
 with a quill or some such thing, that was thickest in the 
 middle, in the very same manner the Japanese fastened 
 their hair behind their heads. Some of them covered 
 the middle of their bodies with a kind of mat, and others 
 with what Tasman took to be a sort of woollen cloth ; 
 but their upper and lower parts were altogether naked. 
 
 Tasman remained in the bay for several days, and on the 
 19th of December the savages, who had previously been 
 shy of close intercourse, grew bolder and more familiar, 
 insomuch that they at last ventured on board the 
 " Heemskirk " (one of his ships) to trade. As soon as 
 he observed this, he sent his shallop, with seven men in 
 it, to put the people in the " Heemskirk " on their 
 guard, and to direct them not to place too much trust in 
 the good intentions of their visitors. The men in the 
 shallop were at once attacked by the savages, and, being 
 without arms, three of them were killed, the remaining 
 four fortunately escaping by rowing for their lives. 
 Tasman intended to take revenge for this murderous 
 assault, but was compelled to leave without doing so, in 
 consequence of rough weather coming on. 
 
 It is probable that the people, by whom his boat's 
 crew was attacked, belonged either to the Ngaitahu tribe
 
 34 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 who, under the leadership of their ancestor Tahu, a 
 chief of the Ngatikahungunu, crossed Cook Straits nearly 
 three hundred years ago or to the Eangitane and 
 Ngatiapa, large numbers of whom also crossed Cook 
 Straits some time before Tasman's visit, and took part in 
 destruction of the Ngatimamoe and other tribes which 
 had previously occupied the northern part of the Middle 
 Island ; but I am unable to determine this point. It is 
 clear, however, that the number of natives then living in 
 Massacre Bay was large, and that they exhibited the 
 same fearless and ferocious character which led to such 
 frequent hostile collisions with them, during the visit of 
 subsequent voyagers. 
 
 Our next accounts are derived from our own navigator, 
 Cook, who had been directed to follow out the discoveries 
 of Tasman regarding New Zealand and Van Diemen's 
 Land, in order to ascertain whether they constituted part 
 of the then little known continent of New Holland. In 
 October, 1769, Cook first made land at the place which 
 he named Poverty Bay. He did not then know that he 
 had fallen in with the Staaten Land of Tasman, and the 
 country he had found formed the subject of much eager 
 discussion amongst the voyagers, the general opinion 
 inclining to the belief that it was part of the continent of 
 New Holland. 
 
 He described the country in the neighbourhood of his 
 land fall as being thickly peopled, and was greatly struck 
 with the appearance of a pa, the use of which he was 
 unable at the time to conceive. " Upon a small penin- 
 sula, at the north-east head of the bay, we could plainly 
 see," he says, " a pretty high and regular paling, which 
 enclosed the whole top of the hill, which was the subject 
 of much speculation, some supposing it to be a park for
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 35 
 
 deer, others an enclosure for oxen and sheep." Of 
 course, Cook soon afterwards discovered the nature of 
 -of these structures, which will be fully referred to in the 
 sequel, and which had nothing to do either with deer, 
 -oxen, or sheep. Having landed for the purpose of 
 watering the ship, his people were at once attacked with 
 spears and " a sort of war hatchet of green slate, capable 
 
 of splitting the 
 hardest skull at a 
 blow." 
 
 Notwithstanding 
 all his efforts to 
 conciliate, he found 
 it impossible to come 
 to any amicable 
 understanding with 
 the natives, even 
 though Tupia (his 
 interpreter) assured 
 them that no harm 
 was intended ; and 
 his seamen at last 
 effected their retreat 
 in safety, only after 
 killing one of their 
 assailants. The next 
 Captain Cook. day he again en- 
 
 deavoured to open friendly intercourse with the natives, 
 and succeeded in approaching them, but they then 
 became as thievish as they had previously proved daring. 
 They endeavoured to snatch the arms out of the men's 
 hands, and were prevented from doing so only by some 
 of them being wounded with small shot.
 
 36 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 Failing in his attempts to communicate satisfactorily 
 with them on land, Cook now endeavoured to secure 
 some of those who came out to the ship in their canoes, 
 intending to try and win their confidence by kind treat- 
 ment. In carrying out this design, four more of the 
 natives were killed, but two lads were captured and 
 carried aboard, where they soon became reconciled to 
 their fate, and ate and drank voraciously. These lads 
 were afterwards landed, but the people still remained as 
 hostile and dangerous as before. 
 
 Cook then followed the coast southward, as far as 
 Hawke's Bay, everywhere observing vast numbers of 
 people watching the ship from different parts of the 
 shore, all of whom, however, displayed the same hostility, 
 coming off in their canoes, and menacing the ship " with 
 great bravado." When some of them came near enough, 
 Tupia told them of their folly, explaining " that the 
 white men had weapons that, like thunder, would kill 
 them in a moment, and tear their canoes to atoms." In 
 order to show them the effect of the guns, without 
 hurting them, a four-pounder, loaded with grape, was 
 fired, which by its flash, its roar, and the effect of the 
 shot far off on the water, astonished them for a moment ; 
 but only for a moment. 
 
 Being at last induced to come near, for barter, they 
 took everything offered, but then refused to give the 
 articles required in exchange, and ultimately seized and 
 attempted to carry off Tayeto, Tupia's boy, who had 
 been sent down into one of the canoes, in order to hand 
 up such articles as the natives might agree to part with. 
 This compelled Cook to fire on them again, when one 
 man was killed, and two others were wounded, and the 
 boy, during the surprise, sprang into the water ; where,
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 37
 
 38 
 
 however, he was protected till he re-gained the ship, only 
 by the firearms of the crew. 
 
 This occurred at Kidnappers' Point, and Cook then 
 proceeded southward as far as Cape Turnagain ; whence 
 he returned to the north-eastward. On passing Portland 
 Island, a chief and four others, in a canoe, boarded the 
 ship Cook's kindness to the lads whom he had pre- 
 viously seized having, apparently, produced the effect he 
 intended. Their canoe was hoisted on board, and they 
 stayed all night without any misgivings. In the morning 
 they were put ashore at Cape Table, appearing to be 
 much astonished at finding themselves so far away from 
 home. From this time the ship was frequently visited, 
 and it was found that the events which had taken place 
 at Poverty Bay were well known all along the coast. 
 According to Cook, "kindness and the cannon" both 
 contributed to produce this more friendly feeling. 
 
 At Tolaga Bay, some of the scientific men attached to 
 the expedition landed for the first time, taking Tupia and 
 Tayeto with them. Here they had their first close view 
 of the houses and mode of life of the people. They 
 entered some of the huts, and saw them at their meals. 
 These huts are described as being very slight, and 
 generally placed ten or fifteen together. 
 
 The chief food appeared to be fish and fern-root, the 
 fibres of which were spat out, like quids of tobacco, into 
 baskets set beside them for the purpose. This was in 
 October, and Cook learnt that, in the more advanced 
 season, the natives had plenty of excellent vegetables, 
 but no animals, except dogs, which they ate like the 
 South Sea Islanders. They visited the native gardens, 
 which consisted of from one acre to ten, and altogether, 
 in the bay, amounted to 150 or 200 acres in extent.
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 These gardens are described as being planted with sweet 
 potatoes, coccos, or eddas (such as are used in the East 
 and West Indies), yams, and gourds; but few of them 
 were then above ground, and the plantations were care- 
 fully fenced in with reeds. 
 
 New Zealand Flax. 
 
 They found both men and women painted with red 
 ochre and oil, but the women much the more so ; and 
 that, like the South Sea Islanders, they saluted by 
 touching noses. They wore garments of native cloth,
 
 40 THE STIRRING TIMES OP TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 made from the fibre of New Zealand flax, and a sort of 
 cloak or mantle of a much coarser kind. The women 
 are described as being more modest in manner, and more 
 cleanly in their homes, than the Otaheiteans. They 
 willingly bartered their cloth and war weapons for 
 European cloth, but they set no value on nails, having 
 then no knowledge of iron or its uses. What astonished 
 the visitors greatly was to find boys whipping tops 
 exactly like those of Europe. 
 
 Cook then visited a pa, and learned that these enclosures 
 were used for purposes of defence against invasion, the 
 houses within the enclosure, being larger and more 
 strongly built than those on the shore. He describes 
 the men as having their faces wonderfully tattooed, and 
 their cheeks cut in spiral lines of great regularity ; and 
 states that many of them had their garments bordered 
 with strips of dog and rat skins, which animals, however, 
 were said to have become very scarce. They measured 
 one canoe, made out of the boles of three trees, which 
 was sixty-eight and a half feet long, five wide, and three 
 high. These, as well as the houses, were much adorned 
 with carvings, in which spiral lines and distorted faces 
 formed the main points, but the work was so well done, 
 that Cook could scarcely believe that it had been 
 executed with any of the tools he saw. 
 
 He then followed the north coast as far as Mercury 
 Bay, and thence to the Bay of Islands, everywhere 
 observing villages full of people, who constantly came off 
 in their canoes to utter defiance to the ship, displaying, 
 on all occasions, the same reckless daring and unre- 
 flecting courage, which were so conspicuous during the 
 late war. It was surprising, indeed, that half-a-dozen 
 naked men in a crazy canoe, should defy a large ship
 
 THE STIKEING TIMES OF TE RAUPAEAHA 41 
 
 with all its cannon and musketry, even after they had 
 seen its destructive effects. Sometimes they assumed 
 a more friendly aspect, and began to trade ; but as soon 
 as they had obtained what they wanted, they refused to 
 give up the equivalent, and laughed at all menace of 
 consequences, till they suffered wounds or death as a 
 punishment, and then the survivors paddled off for a 
 time. 
 
 These accounts are confirmed, in all particulars, by 
 other voyagers who visited New Zealand during the 
 latter part of the last, and the earlier part of the present 
 century, and lead to the conclusion that, prior to the 
 year 1818, the native population was very large ; and 
 although we know, as I have before observed, that 
 neighbouring tribes had been for ages constantly engaged 
 in war with one another, it would also seem that the 
 general results of their conflicts had not, until after the 
 introduction of firearms, been such as materially to 
 interfere with the maintenance of their numbers. 
 
 Maning, one of the judges of the Native Lands Court, 
 a gentleman whose opportunities of acquiring knowledge 
 on this subject were unrivalled, also bears testimony to 
 the former large numbers of the native people. " The 
 natives," he says, " are unanimous in affirming that they 
 were much more numerous in former times than they 
 are now, and I am convinced that such was the case for 
 many reasons." In support of this opinion, he refers to 
 the existence, in most parts of the North Island, of 
 numerous hill-forts or pas, many of them so large as to 
 have required immense labour to trench, terrace, and 
 fence. As he points out, the absence of iron tools must 
 have greatly increased the difficulty of constructing these 
 fortresses ; whilst, even with the aid of such tools, the
 
 42 THE STIEKING TIMES OP TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 present population of the surrounding districts would, in 
 most cases, be insufficient to erect them within any 
 reasonable time. He also mentions that many of these 
 forts were of such an extent that, taking into consider- 
 ation the system of attack and defence necessarily used 
 before the introduction of fire-arms, they would have 
 been utterly untenable, unless held by at least ten times 
 the number of men which the whole neighbourhood, for 
 a distance of two or three days' journey, can now pro- 
 duce ; and as, in those times of constant war, the natives, 
 as a rule, slept in their hill-forts with closed gates, the 
 bridges over the trenches removed, and the ladders of 
 the terraces drawn up, it is evident that the inhabitants 
 of each fort, though numerous, consisted only of the 
 population of the country in its close vicinity. 
 
 " From the top of one of these pointed, trenched, and 
 terraced hills," says Maning, " I have counted twenty 
 others, all of equally large dimensions, and all within a 
 distance, in every direction, of fifteen to twenty miles ; 
 and native tradition affirms, that each of these hills was 
 the stronghold of a separate hapu, or clan, bearing its 
 distinctive name." We have, moreover, evidence that 
 vast tracts of land that are now wild, and have been so 
 for time out of mind, were once fully and carefully 
 cultivated. The ditches for draining are still traceable, 
 and hundreds of large kumara pits are to be seen on the 
 tops of the dry hills all over the northern part of the 
 North Island. 
 
 These pits, in the greatest number, are found in the 
 centre of extensive tracts of uncultivated country, whose 
 natural productions would now scarcely sustain a dozen 
 inhabitants. The extent of the ancient cultivations with 
 which they are connected is clearly traceable ; and what
 
 44 THE STIERING TIMES OP TE RAUPAEAHA 
 
 is more remarkable and undoubtedly indicates the former 
 existence of a large population, is that tracts of land of 
 what the natives consider, as a rule, to be of very inferior 
 quality, were formerly cultivated, leading to the inference 
 either that the population was fully proportioned to the 
 extent of available land, or that these inferior lands were 
 cultivated in consequence of their vicinity to some 
 stronghold, or position of greater consequence, in the 
 eyes of the natives, than the mere fertility of the 
 surrounding country. "These kumara pits," says 
 Maning, " being dug generally in the stiff clay on the 
 hill-tops have, in most cases, retained their shape 
 perfectly, and many seem as fresh and new as if they 
 had been dug but a few years. They are oblong in shape, 
 with the sides regularly sloped. Many collections of 
 these provision stores have outlived Maori tradition, and 
 the natives can only conjecture to whom they belonged. 
 Out of the centre of one, which I have seen, there is now 
 growing a kauri tree, one hundred and twenty feet high, 
 and out of another a large totara. The outline of these 
 pits is as regular as the day they were dug, and the 
 sides have not fallen in in the slightest degree ; from 
 which, perhaps, they have been preserved by the absence 
 of frost, as well as by a beautiful coating of moss, by 
 which they are everywhere covered. The pit in which 
 the kauri grew had been partially filled up by the scaling 
 off of the bark of the tree, which, falling in patches, as 
 it is constantly doing, had raised a mound of decaying 
 bark round the root of the tree." 
 
 Maning points out, as further evidence of the former 
 existence of a large population, that each of the hill-forts 
 referred to contained a considerable number of houses. 
 Every native house, as we know, has a fire-place
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 45 
 
 composed of four flattish stones or flags, sunk on their 
 edges into the ground, in which a fire is made to heat 
 the house at night. Now, in two of the largest hill-forts 
 he examined (though for ages no other vestige of a 
 house had been seen) there remained the fire-places 
 the four stones projecting, like an oblong box, slightly 
 above the ground ; and their position and number 
 clearly denoted that, large as was the circumference of 
 the huge volcanic hill which formed the sight of the 
 fortress, the number of families inhabiting it, required 
 the strictest economy of room. The houses had 
 been arranged in streets, or double rows, with paths 
 between them, except in places where there had 
 been only room, on a terrace, for a single row. The 
 distances between the fire-places proved that the houses 
 in the rows must have been as close together as it was 
 possible to build them ; and every spot, from the foot 
 to the hill-top, not required, and specially planned for 
 defensive purposes, had been built on in this regular 
 manner. Even the small flat top, sixty yards long by 
 forty wide the citadel on which the greatest care and 
 labour had been bestowed to render it difficult of 
 access, had been as full of houses as it could hold, leaving 
 only a small space all round the precipitous bank for the 
 defenders to stand on. 
 
 It would not be difficult to multiply authorities, in 
 order to prove that the New Zealanders were formerly 
 much more numerous than when the Islands were first 
 systematically colonized by Europeans, but I conceive 
 that I have afforded sufficient evidence on this point, 
 and it now remains for me to notice the principal causes- 
 which led to their decrease.
 
 46 THE STIRRING TIMES OP TE TRAUPARAHA 
 
 " The natives," says Maning " attribute their decrease 
 in numbers, before the arrival of the Europeans, to war 
 and sickness ; but I have already shown, that although 
 the weapons they used before they obtained firearms were 
 sufficiently formidable in close combat, the destruction of 
 life incident to the possession of such weapons would, 
 probably, never have brought about the deplorable results 
 which followed upon the introduction of the musket into 
 their system of warfare. Indeed, Maning himself leans to 
 this opinion. "The first grand cause," he says, "of the 
 decrease of the natives, since the arrival of the Europeans, 
 is the musket." Now, it was not until after the year 
 1820 that fire-arms were extensively used in native 
 warfare. Shortly before that date, the Ngapuhi chiefs, 
 Hongi and Waikato, had visited England, from whence 
 they returned laden with valuable gifts, of which no 
 small part consisted of guns and ammunition, for which, 
 too, they soon bartered the remainder of their newly- 
 acquired treasures, with traders from New South Wales. 
 
 Then commenced a period of slaughter almost un- 
 paralleled in any country, when compared with the total 
 population engaged in the conflicts. Bands of the 
 Ngapuhi, armed with weapons whose destructive power 
 was unknown to the great majority of the native 
 people, marched from one end of the North Island to 
 the other, carrying dismay and destruction wherever 
 they went. The population of large districts was 
 exterminated or driven into mountain fastnesses, where 
 they either perished, in numbers, from famine and 
 exposure, or contracted diseases which ultimately 
 proved fatal to them. The great tribes of the Arawa 
 and Waikato, against whom the first efforts of the 
 Ngapuhi were directed, seeing the necessity of at
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 47 
 
 once obtaining similar weapons, in order to avoid 
 threatened destruction, suspended all their usual pursuits 
 for the purpose of preparing flax, to be exchanged 
 
 Source of the Waikato River. 
 
 with the European traders for guns, powder, and ball. 
 As fast as these were obtained, they were turned against
 
 48 THE STIKEING TIMES OF TE EAUPARAHA 
 
 weaker neighbours, and the work of destruction received 
 a fresh impulse. Hongi, Epihai, Tamati Waka Nene,. 
 and Tareha, amongst the Ngapuhi chiefs, Te Whero 
 Whero, and others of the Waikatos, and Te Waharoa, 
 with his Ngatihaua, were all simultaneously engaged in 
 the most ruthless wars against their neighbours ; whilst 
 as I have before observed, Te Rauparaha was carrying 
 on operations of a similar character in the South ; and 
 the number of people slaughtered was tremendous. 
 
 On this head, I might quote many graphic passages- 
 from J. A. Wilson's " Story of Te Waharoa." In speaking 
 of the ultimate destruction of the great pa at Matamata, 
 he tells us, " That at that time a number of Ngatimaru, 
 with Tuhurua as their chief, resided at Matamata, an 
 important fortress, not far from Mangakawa, Te Waharoa's 
 own place, and therefore in a position which rendered 
 them specially open to his incursions. Nor could they 
 expect any effective aid against these incursions from 
 the other sections of the tribe, whose internal jealousies, 
 and constant dread of the Ngapuhi, then using their 
 newly-acquired weapons, in taking vengeance for former 
 injuries, prevented them joining Ngatimaru proper 
 against the common enemy. But for these circum- 
 stances, of which Te Waharoa was, no doubt, well aware, 
 it is considered questionable whether he would have 
 succeeded in his designs, as the Thames natives, before 
 they lost the Totara Pa, mustered 4,000 fighting men ; 
 and, even after that disaster, he was unable, by mere 
 strength, to wrest it from its possessors." The following 
 events, however, determined him to prosecute his war 
 with Ngatimaru, and greatly contributed to his ultimate 
 success.
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OP TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 In 1821," says Wilson, " a taua of Ngapuhi, under 
 the celebrated Hongi, arrived at the Totara Pa, between 
 Kauaeranga and Kopu, at the mouth of the Thames. So 
 numerous did they find the Ngatimaru, and the Totara so 
 strong, that, hesitating to attack, they affected to be 
 amicably disposed, and were received into the pa for the 
 purposes of trade and barter. Towards evening Ngapuhi 
 
 retired, and it is very 
 remarkable as indi- 
 cating that man, in his 
 most ignorant and 
 savage state, is not 
 unvisited by compunc- 
 tions of conscience 
 that an old chief of 
 the Ngapuhi lingered, 
 and going out of the 
 gate behind his com- 
 rades, dropped the 
 friendly caution ; ' kia 
 tupato.' That night, 
 however, the Totara 
 was taken, and, it is 
 said, 1,000 Ngatimarus 
 perished. Rauroha 
 was slain, and Uri- 
 mahia, his daughter was carried captive to the Bay of 
 Islands, where she remained several years. This 
 calamity, while it weakened Ngatimaru, encouraged Te 
 Waharoa. 
 
 " In 1822, Hongi again appeared, and sailing up the 
 Tamaki, attacked and carried two pas which were 
 situated together, on part of the site now occupied by 
 
 Bust of Hongi.
 
 .50 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 the village of Panmure. Many of the inhabitants were 
 slaughtered, and some escaped. I would here observe 
 that these two pas, Mauinena and Makoia, had no 
 connection with the immense pa which evidently at some 
 time flourished on Mount Wellington, and which, with 
 the traces of a very great number of other enormous pas 
 in the Auckland district, betokens the extremely dense 
 Maori population w r hich once existed upon this isthmus 
 a population destroyed by the late owners of the soil, 
 and numbered with the past, but which, in its time, was 
 known by the significant title of Nga Iwi ' The Tribes.' 
 
 " Leaving naught at Mauinena and Makoia but the 
 inhabitants' bones, having flesh and tendons adhering, 
 which even his dogs had not required, Hongi pursued his 
 course. He drew his canoes across the isthmuses of 
 Otahuhu and Waiuku, and descended the Awaroa. At a 
 sharp bend in the narrow stream, his largest canoe could 
 not be turned, and he was compelled to make a passage 
 for her, by cutting a short canal, which may yet be seen. 
 
 " At length he arrived at Matakitaki, a pa situated 
 about the site of the present township of Alexandra, 
 where a number of Waikato natives had taken refuge. 
 The pa was assaulted, and while Hongi was in the act of 
 carrying it on one side, a frightful catastrophe was 
 securing to him the corpses of its wretched occupants on 
 the other. Panic-stricken at the approach of the 
 victorious Ngapuhi, the multitude within, of men, women, 
 and children, rushed madly over the opposite rampart. 
 The first fugitives, unable to scale the counterscarp, by 
 reason of its height, and of the numbers which poured 
 down on them, succumbed and fell ; those who had 
 crushed them were crushed in like manner ; layer upon 
 layer of suffocating humanity succeeded each other. In
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 51 
 
 vain did the unhappy beings, as they reached the 
 parapet, attempt to pause death was in front, and 
 death behind fresh fugitives pushed on ; they had no 
 option, but were precipitated into, and became part of 
 the dying mass. When the deed was complete, the 
 Ngapuhi came quickly up, and shot such as were at the 
 surface and likely to escape. 
 
 " Never had cannibals gloated over such unexpected 
 good fortune, for more than 1,000 victims lay dead in 
 
 Dusky Sound. 
 
 the trench, and the magnitude of the feast which fol- 
 lowed may, perhaps, be imagined from the fact that, after 
 the lapse of forty-two years, when the 2nd Begiment of 
 Waikato Militia, in establishing their new settlement, 
 cleared the fern from the ground, the vestiges of many 
 hundred native ovens were discovered, some of them 
 long enough to have admitted a body entire ; while 
 numberless human bones lay scattered around.
 
 52 
 
 several of the larger bones, pieces appeared to have been 
 carefully cut, for the purpose, doubtless, of making fish- 
 hooks, and such other small articles as the Maoris were 
 accustomed to carve froin the bones of their enemies." 
 
 Nor was Te Waharoa idle during all this time. 
 Having, by his courage, activity, and address, acquired 
 the leadership of his own people, he had long determined 
 to extend the boundaries of their territory by conquering 
 that of the Ngatimaru ; but, before commencing his 
 sanguinary wars against that tribe, he had felt it 
 necessary to form offensive and defensive alliances with 
 the Ngatimaniapoto and to check Te Whero Whero and 
 the Waikatos, by whom he had been threatened, but into 
 whom he succeeded in inspiring a wholesome dread of 
 his strength, whilst he also repelled, with heavy loss, the 
 incursions of the Ngapuhi, which were directed indis- 
 criminately against all the tribes south of the Auckland 
 Isthmus. He succeeded, moreover, in causing Te Bau- 
 paraha, as pugnacious and skilful a warrior as himself, to- 
 leave Kawhia with his people. He then pressed his 
 alliance upon the Ngaiterangi, who occupied Tauranga 
 and the surrounding country, an alliance, which, by the 
 way, proved very disastrous to them, whilst it greatly 
 aided his own projects. 
 
 Having done all this he commenced his more regular 
 operations against the Ngatimaru, who were then estab- 
 lished in great strength at Hauwhenua, where they had 
 been joined by the refugees from Mauinena and Makoia. 
 He had naturally viewed the establishment of this strong- 
 hold with the utmost jealousy, and it had no little effect 
 in hastening the commencement of hostilities between 
 the two parties. Feeling that his own warriors were not 
 sufficiently numerous to attack the hostile pa, h&
 
 THE STIREING TIMES OF TE EAUPAEAHA 53 
 
 summoned some of his Waikato and Ngatimaniapoto 
 allies to Matmgatautari, who, only too ready, at once 
 joined him to the number of 200 warriors. His own 
 force comprised some 700 Ngatihaua and Ngaiterangi. 
 
 In the meantime, the Ngatimaru had spared no pains 
 to strengthen their important stronghold, their garrison 
 having, moreover, been increased by numbers of Ngatite- 
 matera and Ngatipaoa. The pa thus became a very large 
 one, and densely peopled, not only with warriors, but 
 with women, children, and slaves. Their numbers 
 appear to have inspired them with much self-confidence, 
 for when it became known that Te Waharoa had arrived 
 at Maungatautari, with a taua 900 strong, they boldly 
 determined to meet him in the open field. Perhaps they 
 wished to decide the matter before he could receive 
 further reinforcements ; or perhaps they desired to avoid 
 the mortification of seeing the enemy sit comfortably 
 down before their pa, and regale himself on their 
 cultivations. At any rate, they marched forth and took 
 post on the hill, Te Tihi o te Ihimarangi the place where 
 the descendants of Waharoa's warriors opposed General 
 Cameron in 1864 ; and, when the enemy was seen to 
 approach, they rushed down and joined battle with him 
 on the plain to the eastward. 
 
 The contest was a severe one, but resulted in the 
 complete defeat of the Thames natives. They were 
 driven back over Te Tiki o te Ihimarangi, and down its 
 reverse slope, and were pursued, with great slaughter, 
 over the long narrow bushy plain that extends to 
 Hauwhenua. At the end of a long and sanguinary day, 
 the dejected men within the pa sat. dreading the morrow's 
 light, whilst Te Waharoa calmly considered his own and 
 his enemy's positions. After resolving the matter for
 
 54 THE STIEBING TIMES OF TE BAUPABAHA 
 
 some time, he sent a herald to proclaim to the occupants 
 of the pa ' that during the next four days anyone might 
 retire unmolested from the pa, but on the fifth day 
 Hauwhenua, with all it contained, would be taken and 
 destroyed." No answer was returned, but during the 
 interval a multitude of all ages and sexes issued forth 
 from the pa, and marched in close order along the road 
 by Matamata to the Thames. That night Te Waharoa's 
 ranks were recruited by many slaves, who deserted, 
 under cover of darkness, from the retreating Ngatimarus, 
 and on the following day the pa was assaulted and taken. 
 The fall of Hauwhenua, which occurred about 1831, 
 terminated the residence of the Ngatimaru on the 
 Waikato ; and was followed by operations, from a Waikato 
 basis, which were successfully conducted against them, 
 on the line of the Piako. 
 
 Whilst the earlier of these events were proceeding, the 
 Ngatimaru chief, Takurua, maintained his position at 
 Matamata ; but about that time he appears, after much 
 fighting, to have judged it advisable to accept terms of 
 peace proposed by Te Waharoa. They were to bury the 
 past in oblivion, and both parties were to live at Mata- 
 mata, where, it was said, there was room for all. These 
 terms were practically ratified by Te Waharoa and 
 Takurua living side by side, in the most apparent friend- 
 ship, for a period of about two years. Te Waharoa then, 
 however, committed an act of perfidy, condemned even 
 by the opaquely-minded savages of that day, by which he 
 obtained sole possession of Matamata, and so turned the 
 balance of power in his own favour, as greatly to aid him 
 in his ultimate designs. One afternoon he left Matamata 
 on pretence of a necessary journey to Tauranga a 
 circumstance rather calculated to lull suspicion than
 
 THE STIREING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 55 
 
 otherwise and during his absence, his tribe at midnight 
 rose, and massacred, in cold blood, the too confiding 
 Takurua, and nearly every man of his tribe. Their 
 bodies were devoured, and their wives and property were 
 shared by the ruthless Ngatihauas. 
 
 Te Whero Whero. 
 
 This Maori St. Bartholomew's day occurred about 1827, 
 and so weakened Ngatimaru, that Te Waharoa was 
 enabled, after the fall of Hauwhenua, to push his con- 
 quests to the foot of the Aroha, and it is difficult to say 
 where they would have ceased, had not his attention 
 been unexpectedly diverted by the casual murder of his
 
 56 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 cousin Hunga, at Eotorua, in the latter end of the year 
 1835." 
 
 I make no apology for citing these instances of 
 atrocity, which exhibit, in the strongest light, the 
 dreadful character of the wars carried on by the great 
 chieftains in the North, during the twenty years 
 succeeding Hongi's return from Europe. Indeed, this 
 period has been well characterized by Colenso "as a 
 fearful period in New Zealand." " The Ngapuhi," he 
 says, "being well armed with muskets, revelled in 
 destruction, slaying thousands. At Kaipara, Manukau, 
 Tamaki, the Thames, the interior of Waikato on to 
 Eotorua, and even to Taranaki ; and they also came in 
 their canoes as far south as Ahuriri or Hawke's Bay, 
 remorselessly destroying everywhere as they went. The 
 tribes further north were also fighting against each other 
 the Earawa destroying the Aopuri, who were very 
 numerous about the North Cape. Te Whero Whero, at 
 the head of his people, was slaughtering, for many years, 
 on the West Coast, from Taranaki to Wanganui ; Te 
 Waharoa, and other chiefs, in the interior and overland 
 to Hawke's Bay ; the Eotorua tribes in the Bay of 
 Plenty ; and Te Eauparaha exterminating in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Cook Straits and along the east coast of the 
 Middle Island. From 1822 to 1837 was truly a fearful 
 period in New Zealand. Blood flowed like water, and 
 there can be no doubt that the numbers killed during 
 this period of twenty years, including those who perished 
 in consequence of the wars, far exceeded 60,000 
 persons." 
 
 The preliminary sketch contained in the foregoing 
 chapters, though brief, will, I hope, convey to my 
 readers a sufficiently clear idea of the manners and
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 57 
 
 customs, and character of the New Zealanders, and 
 of the condition of the tribes previous to the systematic 
 colonization of the Islands, and will, be found to aid 
 them materially in understanding the events which will 
 be detailed in the following pages. It shows, moreover, 
 the frightful results brought about by placing the deadly 
 weapons of European warfare in the hands of a savage 
 and warlike race, whilst still uncontrolled by those milder 
 influences, to which, notwithstanding their ferocity, the 
 New Zealanders have shown themselves so singularly 
 open and amenable.
 
 58 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CHILDHOOD AND EAELY MANHOOD. 
 
 At the time of the birth of Te Eauparaha, and, indeed, 
 for many generations before that event, the Ngatitoa 
 tribe occupied the country lying between Kawhia and 
 Mokau on the western side of the North Island, and 
 extending backward, from the coast line, to the seaward 
 slopes of the beautiful Pirongia mountain, and of the 
 chain of hills to the southward, which bounds the valleys 
 of the Waipa and the Mangarama. This tribe, in fact, 
 claims to have held the country in question ever since its 
 settlement by their ancestor, Hoturoa, a leading chief 
 amongst those who are said to have come from Hawaiki 
 in the " Tainui " canoe. It will be remembered that 
 this canoe was dragged across the portage at Otahuhu 
 after the disputes between Tama Te Kapu and Manaia 
 about the dead whale, its chiefs and their followers 
 settling in and around Kawhia, and their descendants 
 gradually spreading to the eastward as far as Maunga- 
 tautari. 
 
 The Maoris in various parts of the Islands, believe 
 that several of the canoes in which their ancestors came 
 from Hawaiki have been transformed into stone, and 
 a remarkable block of limestone, close to the sea-shore, 
 on the north side of the harbour of Kawhia, is pointed
 
 60 THE STIERING TIMES OF TE EAUPARAHA 
 
 out as being part of the Tainui." This rock, with the 
 land immediately surrounding it, was formerly under 
 strict tapu, but the sanctity of the place, and of the 
 supposed relic, has succumbed to the march of civilization, 
 and curiosity - hunters have long since marred the 
 picturesque outline of the stone by breaking off corners. 
 
 Hoturoa is also said to be the ancestor of the Ngatirau- 
 kawa, Ngatikowhata, and Ngatimaniapoto tribes, the 
 order of descent in the several cases being much as 
 follows : From Hoturoa, through Hotumatapu and 
 Kouwe, sprang Baka, whose eldest son, Tuihaua, was the 
 ancestor of Toa Bangatira, the actual founder of the 
 Ngatitoa as a separate tribe, and from whom they derive 
 their name. From another son of Raka, named Kakati, 
 through Tawhao and Turonga, sprang Baukawa, from 
 whom the Ngatiraukawa derive their name. From Toa 
 Bangatira, in direct descent, came Kimihia, the mother 
 of Werawera, who married a Ngatiraukawa woman 
 named Parekowhatu. 
 
 These two were the parents of Te Bauparaha, and of 
 his sister Waitohi, the mother of Bangihaeata, who will 
 be frequently mentioned in the course of this narrative. 
 Besides Te Bangihaeata, Waitohi had other children, of 
 whom a daughter named Topiora was still living at Otaki 
 in 1872, and was the mother of Matene Te Whiwhi, for 
 many years one of the most influential chiefs of the 
 Ngatitoa and Ngatiraukawa tribes. Topiora's husband 
 was a Ngatiraukawa man, of high rank, named Te Bangi 
 Kapiki, who himself claimed to be closely connected to 
 Ngatitoa, both by ancient descent and through frequent 
 intermarriages between members of the two tribes. 
 Tracing back again, we find Te Urutira and his sister, 
 Hine Kahukura, in the third place in the ascending line
 
 -62 THE STIKKING TIMES OP TE EAUPARAHA 
 
 from Toa Eangatira. From Hine Kahukura sprang 
 Parewahawaha and Parekowhatu, the former of whom 
 married Tihau, by whom she had a son named Whatanui, 
 the father of the great chief of that name, who was at the 
 head of the Ngatiraukawa tribe, during the career of Te 
 Bauparaha. 
 
 We see, therefore, that the leading chiefs of the 
 Ngatitoa and Ngatiraukawa tribes claim descent from 
 common ancestors, and that frequent intermarriages took 
 place between the members of these tribes, since they 
 branched off from the common stock. The same remarks 
 apply, but in less degree, to the descent of the Ngati- 
 maniapoto and Ngatikowhata, who also claim Hoturoa as 
 their remote ancestor ; but it is unnecessary, for the 
 purposes of my story, that I should trace up the history 
 of these tribes, as they do not appear to have taken any 
 prominent part in the events in which the Ngatitoa 
 were engaged after their departure from Kawhia. 
 
 As my readers are doubtless aware, Kawhia is the only 
 harbour of any note between the Manukau, which lies 
 about sixty miles to the northward of it, and Wanganui, 
 which lies at some distance within the entrance of Cook 
 Straits ; but, like all the other harbours on the West 
 Coast of the North Island, its entrance is somewhat 
 impeded by sand-banks. The entrance is narrow, but 
 inside the Heads the waters spread out for many miles in 
 length and width, having numerous navigable channels 
 leading to a series of small rivers, which flow into the 
 harbour from the eastward. At full tide, this sheet of 
 water is extremely beautiful, surrounded, as it is, with 
 picturesque scenery, which attains its highest effect at 
 the north-east end, in the neighbourhood of the Awaroa 
 River. Rock masses, assuming the forms of towers and
 
 THE STIERING TIMES OF TE EAUPARAHA 63 
 
 castles, occupy its shores, whilst the gullies and valleys 
 of the streams which fall into it contain tracts of fertile 
 and highly cultivated soil. The character of the lands- 
 cape continues the same far up the slopes of the 
 surrounding mountains, the name of the " Castle Hills " 
 having been given to them in allusion to the masses of 
 white limestone which emerge, in huge castellated forms, 
 from the forest with which these mountains are generally 
 clothed. 
 
 Between Kawhia and the Waipa valley, a little to the 
 northward of the former, is the beautiful Pirongia 
 mountain, " an ancient dilapidated volcano," whose many 
 peaks and ravines afford a grand spectacle when bathed 
 in the mellow light of the setting sun ; whilst the soil on 
 its slopes, derived from the decomposition of the 
 trachytic rock of which it is composed, is of the most 
 fertile kind. The climate of the whole district is 
 delightful, the orange and the lemon yielding their fruit 
 with a luxuriance unsurpassed even in the delicious 
 valleys of Granada. The seaward aspect of the mountain 
 chain to which I have alluded, as well as the slopes 
 of the Pirongia, are, however, densely wooded, rendering 
 travelling through this country toilsome and difficult. 
 
 At the time I speak of, the Ngatimaniapoto occupied 
 the country lying along the coast to the northward, 
 whilst the Waikato tribes, of whom Te Whero Whero was 
 the head chief, claimed the principal part of the valley of 
 the Waipa, and of the country extending to the inner 
 shores of the Manukau. To the eastward, beyond the 
 range shutting in the Waipa valley on that side, and 
 stretching from Otawhao to Maungatautari, lay the 
 possessions of Ngatiraukawa proper, comprising some of
 
 64 THE STIKRING TIMES OF TE RAUPAKAHA 
 
 the most fertile and beautiful country in the North 
 Island. 
 
 The Ngatituwharetoa, or Taupo tribes, under the 
 leadership of Tukino Te Heuheu, one of the greatest 
 of the old New Zealand chieftains a man of gigantic 
 stature and commanding presence, and whose deeds still 
 form the theme of many a wild tale clustered round the 
 shores of Lake Taupo, and the spurs of Tongariro. As is 
 well known, Te Heuheu met his death by an awful 
 catastrophe in 1846, his village, Te Rapa, having been 
 overwhelmed during the night by a huge landslip, under 
 which he and his six wives, with upwards of fifty other 
 persons, were buried alive. 
 
 I have thought it necessary to mention the tribe of 
 this chief amongst the others above referred to, for 
 although he took a comparatively trifling part in the 
 events in which Te Eauparaha himself was concerned, 
 his friendship and alliance were of great service to the 
 latter, and permitted a ready means of communication 
 between him and his Ngatiraukawa allies during the 
 prosecution of his designs in the South. 
 
 It is almost impossible to determine the date of the 
 birth of Te Rauparaha, but from the best information 
 I have been able to obtain as to his probable age at the 
 time of the Treaty of Waitangi, I am disposed to fix it at 
 about the year 1770. He was born at Kawhia, where, 
 except during occasional visits to other parts of the 
 Island, and especially to his kindred at Maungatautari, 
 he resided until he obtained the complete leadership 
 of his tribe. He had two brothers and two sisters, 
 all older than himself, but his brothers never assumed 
 positions of importance amongst their people, and 
 neither of them ever exhibited the particular qualities
 
 STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 65 
 
 which have made Te Eauparaha so famous in the history 
 of " Old New Zealand." 
 
 Te Rauparaha is said to have been a good, pretty, and 
 playful child, possessing, amongst other qualities, that of 
 obedience in a high degree. It is recorded of him, that 
 on one occasion when directed by an old slave of his 
 father's, named Poutini, to fetch water in a calabash, an 
 order which, considering his rank, he would have been 
 quite justified in disregarding, he at once obeyed and 
 fetched it. But, like other youths, he now and then got 
 into scrapes, and, to use the naif language of his son, 
 "he did many good and many foolish actions." 
 
 As he advanced in years, his mind developed rapidly, 
 and he soon exhibited an extraordinary degree of wisdom, 
 though his parents scarcely gave him credit for qualities 
 quite apparent to strangers ; and, as it seems, were rather 
 inclined to snub him in favour of his elder brothers. 
 But this condition of things did not long continue, 
 and the following incident brought his peculiar talents 
 prominently before his people, and enabled him at once 
 to assume a position of great authority amongst them, 
 leading, ultimately, to the absolute chieftainship of 
 the tribe. It was a custom amongst the Maori chiefs, 
 before the introduction of Christianity, to assign a wife to 
 each of their male children, even before the latter had 
 attained the age of puberty. In the case of Te 
 Rauparaha, a girl named Marore had been given to him 
 as the wife of his boyhood, of whom, as he grew up, 
 he became very fond, and in whose cause he obtained his 
 first experience as a warrior his " baptism of fire." 
 
 It appears that his parents had invited a large number 
 of the tribe to a feast, and when the food the fish, the 
 eels, and thekumara had been placed upon the platform, 
 
 E
 
 66 THE STIRRING TIMES OP TE EAUPARAHA 
 
 Te Eauparaha saw that the portion allotted to Marore 
 had no relish. This made him very sad, and after some 
 consideration he asked his father's permission to lead 
 a war party into the country of the Waikatos, in order 
 that some people might be killed as a relish for the 
 food apportioned to Marore. In those days his wish 
 was, no doubt, considered strictly reasonable and proper 
 strictly tika in fact and his father at once placed 
 under his leadership a number of young warriors, who 
 were, as we may suppose, perfectly willing to join in 
 such an expedition. During this time, as I have been 
 informed, Te Eauparaha was suffering from some disease, 
 attended with a good deal of physical pain ; but not- 
 withstanding this, and against the suggestions of his 
 father to postpone the expedition until his health was 
 better established, he determined to prosecute it, and the 
 war party advanced into the territory of the Waikatos, 
 with whom, at that time, they were in profound peace. 
 
 In ignorance of their intentions, their advanced parties 
 were permitted to enter a pa of the enemy, who, 
 however, soon discovering their error, flew to arms, 
 and succeeded in driving them out again with some loss. 
 Te Eauparaha, with the remainder of the taua, seeing 
 the route of his advanced guard, at once took cover, 
 unperceived by the Waikatos ; and as the latter, in some 
 disorder, were pushing the pursuit, he and his warriors 
 attacked them in flank and rear, and defeated them with 
 much slaughter, at the same time taking many prisoners, 
 amongst whom was Te Haunga, a principal chief, who, 
 with several others, was afterwards killed and eaten " as 
 a relish " to the food apportioned to Marore. 
 
 The success attending this expedition, and the skill 
 shown by Te Eauparaha in taking advantage of the
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 67 
 
 disorder of the enemy, at once rendered him famous as a 
 Maori warrior ; and thenceforth he occupied a position of 
 influence, not only with his own immediate tribe, but 
 also with those to which it was allied, whilst his growing 
 talents and power were looked upon with much respect 
 and dread by those who had any reason to fear his 
 prowess or his revenge. The event above referred to 
 naturally led to frequent battles with the Waikatos, 
 in which the Ngatitoa, under Te Eauparaha, were 
 generally successful, although occasionally defeated with 
 considerable loss. 
 
 In the intervals of peace, Te Eauparaha visited his 
 kindred at Maungatautari, then under the general 
 leadership of Hape Te Tuarangi, a distinguished old 
 warrior, who had fought many battles against the 
 Waikato tribes, and particularly one at Kakamutu, on 
 the Waipa, in which the latter were defeated with 
 tremendous slaughter. On the death of Hape, which 
 will be more specially referred to in the sequel, Te 
 Eauparaha married his chief wife, Akau, who became 
 the mother of Tamihana Te Eauparaha, still living at 
 Otaki in 1872, from whom I obtained a large amount 
 of information respecting the career of his celebrated 
 father. 
 
 Te Eauparaha also kept up constant intercourse with 
 his friends at Eotorua, and frequently visited Te Heuheu, 
 who was much impressed with the character of his 
 visitor, and became his fast and valuable ally. Besides 
 this, he made several excursions to the Thames in order to 
 obtain the alliance of the Ngatimaru then a very power- 
 ful people, but who were subsequently nearly annihilated 
 by the Ngapuhi from the North, and by Te Waharoa and 
 his Ngaiterangi allies, as mentioned in the last chapter.
 
 68 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 From the chiefs of this tribe, Te Eauparaha obtained 
 a musket, with a quantity of ammunition, gifts of very 
 great value at that time, and indicating the estimation in 
 which he was held by his hosts. He also visited 
 Kaipara, where he soon gained the friendship of the 
 Ngatiwhatua, and other tribes in that district, and on 
 his way back went to the Waitemata he succeeded 
 in forming an alliance with Kiwi and the son of Tihi, 
 chiefs of the great tribes which then occupied that 
 part of the country. I am led to understand that 
 these visits took place between 1810 and 1815, and 
 that Te Rauparaha then entertained the design of 
 forming an extensive alliance against the Waikatos, 
 under Te Whero Whero, with the intention of completely 
 destroying them ; but he found it impossible to effect his 
 object, and chiefly for the following reason. 
 
 After the establishment of the convict settlements in 
 Sydney and Hobart Town, the South Seas were much 
 frequented by whale ships, and the eastern coast of New 
 Zealand, which then afforded a large supply of these 
 valuable animals, became one of the principal whaling 
 grounds. In the course of their voyages the ships often 
 resorted to the Bay of Islands and the Harbour of 
 Whangaroa for supplies of water and vegetables ; and 
 during these visits, the natives first learnt the use 
 and power of the musket. The tribes with whom the 
 chief intercourse took place, were the Ngapuhi, who 
 at once saw the immense power which the possession of 
 such a weapon would confer upon them in their contests 
 with their enemies. Previously to this period, their own 
 country had been constantly devastated by the powerful 
 and warlike tribes of the Thames, and they naturally 
 burned for revenge.
 
 70 THE STIBEING TIMES OF TE EAUPAEAHA 
 
 Singularly enough, they were much aided in their 
 object by the establishment of the mission stations, 
 formed in the year 1814 under Marsden, who had 
 brought down with him, from Sydney, pigs and 
 poultry, and many kinds of vegetables, amongst which 
 the most valuable were the Indian corn and the potato. 
 The pigs were suffered to run wild, and, having increased 
 very much, were usually caught with dogs when wanted 
 for purposes of trade. The natives themselves rarely 
 used them for food, but they eagerly and successfully 
 cultivated all the species of vegetables which had been 
 introduced. 
 
 Moreover, during the intercourse which took place 
 between them and the whale ships, many natives visited 
 Port Jackson, where they had further opportunities of 
 learning the destructive power of the European weapons, 
 and the eagerness of the tribes to procure them became 
 so great, that twenty hogs, obtained at the expense of 
 enormous labour, and worth to the ships more than 
 as many pounds, were often given in exchange for a 
 musket not worth ten shillings. In effect, the muskets 
 usually sold to these natives were of a very worthless 
 kind, and would not, in a contest with European troops, 
 have been considered particularly dangerous weapons ; 
 whilst the natives' own want of knowledge of the 
 proper mode of taking care of them, soon led to the 
 greater number of them becoming hopelessly out of 
 order. 
 
 But unskilfully as they used the musket, and little 
 as it might have been feared by Europeans, such was the 
 dread of its effects amongst the natives, more especially 
 on the part of the tribes which did not possess them, 
 that the strength of a war party was, at that time, not so
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 71 
 
 much calculated by the number of its members, as by the 
 quantity of fire-locks it could bring into action ; and when 
 Paora, a northern chief, invaded the district of Whangaroa 
 in 1819, the terrified people described him as having 
 twelve muskets, whilst the name of Te Korokoro, then a, 
 great chief at the Bay of Islands, who was known to 
 possess fifty stand of arms, was heard with terror for 
 upwards of 200 miles beyond its own district. 
 
 But the musket was not the only weapon which the 
 natives obtained from the European traders. The 
 bayonet and the tomahawk, the former of which was 
 fixed to a long handle, began to replace in their fights the 
 wooden spear and battle-axe, and naturally added greatly 
 to the offensive power of those who possessed them in 
 any numbers. As fast as the Ngapuhi acquired these 
 arms, they made hostile expeditions against the Ngati- 
 maru, and other tribes occupying the Thames, and the 
 shores of the Tamaki and Waitemata, carrying terror and 
 destruction wherever they went. But in proportion as 
 the whale ships and traders from Sydney extended their 
 intercourse with the natives, the Ngatimaru, the Ngati- 
 haua, and the Arawa, gradually acquired similar weapons, 
 and thus fought on terms of greater equality ; and it was 
 also during this period, as mentioned in the last chapter, 
 that Te Waharoa began to mature his designs for the 
 destruction of the first of these tribes. 
 
 I may here remark, that the trade referred to was 
 almost confined to the Eastern side of the North Island, 
 and that the tribes on the West Coast, at all events below 
 the Manukau, had but little opportunity of obtaining the 
 much coveted weapons. The wars in which Ngatimaru 
 were engaged against Ngapuhi and Ngatihaua, and the 
 want of a sufficient quantity of fire-arms amongst the
 
 72 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 tribes at Kaipara and Hokianga, coupled with their 
 total absence amongst the other tribes on the West 
 Coast, went far towards preventing Te Eauparaha from 
 carrying out his designs against the Waikato, whilst such 
 designs became gradually less feasible, owing to the 
 position of the latter, who, in consequence of the offensive 
 and defensive alliance which they had formed with Te 
 Waharoa, were enabled, without difficulty, to obtain 
 supplies of muskets and ammunition. 
 
 When Te Eauparaha found it impossible to carry out 
 his design, he returned to Kawhia, where, by a succession 
 of victories over the Waikato, and by the practice of 
 hospitality, he greatly increased his power and influence 
 with his own tribe, whilst he cultivated the friendship 
 (due partly to good feeling, but largely to fear) of the 
 Ngatiawa, who occupied the country to the southward, 
 stretching from Mokau to Taranaki. He is represented 
 as having been, during this period, " famous in matters 
 relative to warfare, cultivating, generosity, welcoming of 
 strangers and war parties." He is also said to have 
 been particularly remarkable for the following reason : 
 " If a party of visitors arrived just as the food of his 
 workmen was cooked, and if those workmen were 
 strangers to his treatment of visitors, and gave them 
 their food, he ordered them to take it back, saying that 
 fresh food was to be cooked for the visitors. The 
 workmen would then be ashamed, and Te Eauparaha 
 applauded as a man whose fame had travelled amongst 
 all the tribes. When the workmen were satisfied, Te 
 Eauparaha would cook fresh food for the visitors, who, 
 when they had partaken, would leave. Hence, amongst 
 his tribe a saying is used, ' Are you Te Eauparaha ?
 
 Tamati Waka Nene.
 
 74 THE STIREING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 When his workmen are satisfied, food will be prepared 
 for visitors.' " 
 
 It appears that in 1817, or about three years before 
 Hongi left for England, and after the failure of Te 
 Rauparaha's attempt to form an alliance against Waikato, 
 a large war party arrived at Kawhia under the command 
 of Tamati Waka Nene and of his brother Patuone, who 
 invited Rauparaha to join them in a raid upon the 
 southern tribes. Tamati Waka's people had a consider- 
 able number of muskets on this occasion, but the 
 expedition had no special object beyond slaughter and 
 slave-making, with the added pleasure of devouring the 
 bodies of the slain. Te Rauparaha joined them with 
 many warriors, and the party travelled along the coast 
 through the territory of the Ngatiawa whose alliance 
 with Ngatitoa, however, saved them from molestation. 
 Hostilities were commenced by an attack upon Ngati- 
 ruanui, who were dispersed, after great slaughter. This 
 first success was followed by attacks on all the tribes on 
 the coast until the taua reached Otaki, great numbers of 
 people being killed, and many slaves taken, whilst the 
 remainder were driven into the hills and fastnesses, 
 where many of them perished miserably from exposure 
 and want. 
 
 At Otaki the invaders rested, Rauparaha visiting 
 Kapiti, which he found in possession of a section of the 
 Ngatiapa tribe, under the chiefs Potau and Kotuku. It 
 would seem that even at this time Te Rauparaha, who 
 was much struck with the appearance of the country, 
 formed the design of taking possession of it, and, with 
 his usual policy, determined, instead of destroying the 
 people he found on the Island, to treat them with 
 kindness, though he and the other leaders compelled
 
 THE STIEEING TIMES OF TE EAUPAEAHA 75 
 
 them to collect and surrender much greenstone, of which 
 this tribe especially had, during a long intercourse with 
 the Middle Island, and by means of their own conquests 
 of the Ngaitahu, obtained large and valuable quantities. 
 
 The hostile party then continued their course along 
 the coast, destroying great numbers of people. On their 
 arrival at Wellington, then called Whanganui-a-tara, 
 they found that the inhabitants a section of the 
 Ngatikahungunu alarmed at the approach of the ruthless 
 invaders, had fled to the Wairarapa. Thither followed 
 the taua, and discovered the Ngatikahungunu, in great 
 force, at a pa called Tawhare Nikau. Undaunted, 
 however, by the strength of the fortress, they attacked 
 and carried it with great slaughter. Large numbers of 
 the unfortunate inhabitants escaped to the hills, where 
 they suffered greatly, whilst the invaders, after following 
 the fugitives as far as Kawakawa and Porangahau, killing 
 many, fell back upon Tawhare Nikau, in order to gorge 
 themselves upon the bodies of the slain. 
 
 The party then returned to Whanganui-a-tara and pro- 
 ceeded to Omere, where they saw a European vessel 
 lying off Raukawa, in Cook Strait. 
 
 Tamati Waka Nene, immediately on perceiving the 
 ship, shouted out to Te Rauparaha, " Oh, Raha, do you 
 see that people sailing on the sea ? They are a very 
 good people, and if you conquer this land and hold inter- 
 course with them you will obtain guns and powder, and 
 become very great." Te Rauparaha apparently wanted 
 but this extra incentive to induce him to take permanent 
 possession of the country between Whanganui-a-tara and 
 Patea, and at once determined to remove thither with his 
 tribe, as soon as he could make such arrangements as-
 
 76 THE STIRRING TIMES OP TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 would secure him in the possession of his intended 
 conquest. 
 
 The taua returned along the coast line as they had first 
 come, killing or making prisoners of such of the 
 inhabitants as they could find as far as Patea. It was 
 during the return of this war party that Eangihaeata took 
 prisoner a woman named Pikinga, the sister of Arapata 
 Hiria, a Ngatiapa chief of high rank, whom he afterwards 
 made his slave wife, a circumstance much and absurdly 
 insisted upon in favour of the Ngatiapa title during the 
 investigations of the Native Lands Court into the 
 Manawatu case. Laden with spoil, and accompanied by 
 numerous slaves, the successful warriors reached Kawhia, 
 where Tamati Waka Nene and Patuone, with their 
 party, left Te Rauparaha in order to return to their own 
 country at Hokianga. 
 
 As I have before mentioned, Te Rauparaha had, during 
 the progress of this raid upon the South, conceived the 
 idea of leaving the ancient possessions of his tribe at 
 Kawhia for the purpose of settling at Kapiti and upon 
 the country on the main land in its vicinity ; and 
 accordingly, after the period of festivity and rest usually 
 indulged in by a returned taua, he began to take the 
 necessary steps, not only to induce his own people to accept 
 his resolution, but to enlist the sympathies and assistance 
 of his relatives at Maungatautari and elsewhere. During 
 a visit which he paid for this purpose to the Ngati- 
 raukawa, he found their great chief Hape Taurangi in a 
 dying state, and the circumstances which then occurred 
 contributed greatly to the ultimate success of his designs. 
 
 It appears that, notwithstanding the respect in which 
 the offspring of the Maori aristocracy are usually held 
 by their own people, and the influence they generally
 
 THE STIREING TIMES OF TE BAUPARAHA 77 
 
 exercise in matters affecting the tribe, it is not unusual 
 for the natural ariki of a tribe, or chief of a hapu, to be, 
 in some respects, supplanted by an inferior chief, unless 
 the hereditary power of the former happens to be 
 accompanied by intellect and bravery ; and such an 
 occurrence took place in regard to the natural hereditary 
 ariki of the Ngatiraukawa at the death of Hape. Te 
 Eauparaha himself, though by virtue of common descent, 
 and by marriage ties, entitled to be treated as a chief of 
 Ngatiraukawa, was not considered to be high rank, on 
 the grounds that, in the first place, he was the offspring 
 of a junior branch of the ariki family of Tainui ; and, in 
 the next place, that the influence primarily due to his 
 birth had been weakened by the intermarriage of his 
 progenitors with minor chiefs and with women of other 
 tribes. But when Hape, on his death bed, the whole 
 tribe being assembled, asked " if his successor could 
 tread in his steps and lead his people on to victory, and 
 so keep up the honour of his tribe," not one of his sons, 
 to whom, in succession, the question was put, gave any 
 reply. 
 
 After a long period of silence, Te Rauparaha, who was 
 amongst the minor chiefs and people, sitting at a distance 
 from the dying man and from the chiefs of high rank by 
 whom he was surrounded, got up and said, I am able 
 to tread in your steps, and even do that which you could 
 not do." Hape soon after expired, and as Te Eauparaha 
 had been the only speaker in answer to his question, the 
 whole tribe acknowledged him as their leader, a position 
 which he occupied to his dying day. But even in this 
 position his authority was limited, for though in his 
 powers of mind, and as a leader of a war party, he was 
 admittedly unsurpassed, either by Te Waharoa or by the
 
 78 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 great Ngapuhi chief, E Hongi, and therefore fully entitled 
 to occupy a commanding position in the tribe, the mana 
 which he acquired on the occasion in question extended 
 only to the exercise of a species of protecting power and 
 counsel whenever these were required, whilst the general 
 direction of the affairs of the tribe still remained vested in 
 their own hereditary chiefs. The influence he had 
 obtained, however, materially aided him in ultimately 
 inducing a large number of the tribe to join him in the 
 conquest and settlement of the territory of the Ngatiapa. 
 Rangitane, and Muaupoko, as will be shown in the 
 sequel. 
 
 It may seem strange that a people occupying the 
 fertile slopes of the Maungatautari and the beautiful 
 tract of country stretching along the Waikato to 
 Rangiaowhia and Otawhao, could have been induced to 
 abandon such a country in order to join in the conquest 
 and settlement of a distant, and not more fertile, 
 territory ; but it must be remembered that, at the time 
 in question, the whole Maori people were engrossed by 
 one absorbing desire that of acquiring fire-arms and 
 the inland position of the Ngatiraukawa, and their known 
 wealth in much that the natives then considered 
 valuable, invited attack, whilst the former circumstance 
 prevented them acquiring to any extent the much 
 coveted European weapons. It is true, that through 
 their relatives at Rotorua they succeeded, from time to 
 time, in obtaining some muskets and ammunition, but 
 the quantity was not sufficiently large to afford them 
 the means of successfully resisting the probable attacks 
 of the tribes nearer the coast, whose opportunities of 
 trade with the whale ships enabled them to acquire an 
 abundant supply of both, as well as of tomahawks and
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPAEAHA 79 
 
 other iron weapons of the most deadly character. Te 
 Eauparaha, no doubt, represented to them the probability 
 of obtaining similar supplies from ships frequenting the 
 shores of Cook Strait, whilst the severe blow inflicted on 
 the tribes occupying the territory in question, by the 
 war party under Tamati Waka Nene, Patuone, and 
 himself, afforded a prospect of easy victory. It was 
 not however, until after he and his people had reached 
 Taranaki, in the course of their migration, that he 
 succeeded in inducing Whatanui, one of the principal 
 chiefs of the Ngatiraukawa, to concur in his project, 
 under circumstances which will be related hereafter. In 
 the meantime, he and his own tribe made up their minds 
 to leave, and finally departed from Kawhia in 1819 or 
 1820 ; but I reserve, for the next chapter, the account of 
 this highly interesting event, and of those which took 
 place during their subsequent journey southward.
 
 80 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 THE MIGEATION FEOM KAWHIA. 
 
 The voluntary migration, from their ancestral possess- 
 ions, of an independent and comparatively powerful 
 tribe like the Ngatitoa, with a view to the conquest 
 and settlement of a new territory, must, under any 
 circumstances, be looked upon as a remarkable event in 
 the later history of " Old New Zealand ; " but our 
 wonder at the undertaking ceases, when we reflect upon 
 the peculiar position occupied by this tribe and, in 
 fact, by all the tribes on the western coast of the North 
 Island, to the South of the Manukau at the period 
 when it took place, more especially with reference to the 
 opportunity of acquiring fire-arms, which had become 
 an absolute necessity to any tribe desirous of maintaining 
 a separate independent existence, whilst we are forced to 
 admire the sagacity of the chief who conceived, and of 
 the people who adopted, such a design. There can, 
 indeed, be litttle doubt that had the Ngatitoa attempted, 
 in the then changed circumstances of native warfare, to 
 retain possession of their ancient territory against the 
 increasing power of the Waikatos, more particularly after 
 the alliance of the latter with Te Waharoa, they would 
 certainly have been annihilated. 
 
 I ought to have mentioned in the last chapter, that in 
 the long period during which the Ngatitoa, Ngatiawa,
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 81 
 
 and Ngatitama occupied adjoining districts, frequent 
 intermarriages took place between members of these 
 tribes, so that the leading chiefs, especially, of each came 
 to be connected with those of the others by ties of blood. 
 Te Eauparaha himself was in this position, and this 
 circumstance, added to his great fame as a warrior and 
 statesman, gave him an influence in the councils of 
 Ngatiawa and Ngatimata, which was of much value and 
 importance to him in the furtherance of his immediate 
 projects, whilst they ultimately led to his example being 
 followed by those tribes, after the severe losses inflicted 
 upon them by Te Whero Whero and the Waikatos at 
 Puke-rangiora. 
 
 It appears, indeed, that long before this blow fell upon 
 them, Te Eauparaha had pointed out the danger to which 
 they would be exposed at the hands of the Waikato 
 chief, when he and his people no longer stood between 
 them and the latter. But the United Ngatiawa and 
 Ngatitama were at that time a very powerful tribe, their 
 ancient mana as warriors extending through the length 
 and breadth of the land, and they ridiculed the possibility 
 of serious defeat or disaster befalling them, and even 
 urged Te Eauparaha himself to abandon his design as 
 unnecessary and as being incompatible with the honour 
 of his tribe. But the sagacious chief of the Ngatitoa 
 had seen the change produced in the relative positions of 
 the Ngapuhi and Ngatiwhatua, on the one side, and of 
 Ngatimaru and other Thames people on the other, owing 
 to the opportunities possessed by the former of acquiring, 
 in abundance, the powerful European weapons, and he 
 had early appreciated the fact that, in all future contests 
 in New Zealand, the party which could bring only the
 
 '82 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 wooden spear and battle-axe into the field, against the 
 musket and bayonet, must eventually be destroyed. 
 
 On this point, very decisive testimony is given by 
 Major Cruise, of the 84th Eegiment, in his account of 
 his residence in New Zealand in 1819 and 1820. He 
 mentions that, on the arrival of the " Dromedary " store 
 ship at the Bay of Islands, for the purpose of taking in 
 a cargo of kauri spars, he found the people of the Bay 
 daily expecting the return of a numerous war party, 
 which had started some months previously for the 
 purpose of attacking the natives at the Eiver Thames. 
 Shortly afterwards, in effect, this party arrived at the 
 head of the Bay, and he and some of the other officers 
 of the "Dromedary," went to meet it. The returned 
 party occupied a fleet of about fifty canoes, many of 
 them seventy or eighty feet long, and few less than 
 sixty ; all of them were filled with warriors, who stood 
 up and shouted as they passed the European boat, 
 holding up numbers of human heads as trophies of their 
 success. 
 
 The barter of powder and muskets, he says, carried on 
 by the whalers, had already distributed some hundred 
 stand of arms amongst the inhabitants of the Bay, and 
 as the natives of the Thames were unprovided with 
 similar weapons, they made little opposition to their 
 more powerful invaders, who, in that instance, told him 
 that they had killed 200, whilst they returned with the 
 loss of only four men. Tui, one of the principal chiefs 
 of the Bay, in a conversation with Major Cruise on this 
 occasion, made one continued boast of the atrocities he 
 had committed during an excursion to the same place 
 about two months before, and dwelt with marked pleasure 
 upon an instance of his generalship, when, having forced
 
 84 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 a small party of his enemies into a narrow place, whence 
 there was no egress, he was enabled, successively, to 
 shoot twenty-two of them, without their having the 
 power of making the slightest resistance. 
 
 Now, such facts as these were well known to Te 
 Rauparaha, and satisfied him that the utmost valour, 
 backed even by very superior numbers, must be of no 
 avail against a weapon of so deadly a character as the 
 musket, when wielded by so daring and bloodthirsty a 
 people as the New Zealanders. He, therefore, never 
 wavered in his design, and, from the time when Tamati 
 Waka Nene pointed out the ship sailing in Cook Strait, 
 until his actual departure from Kawhia at the head of 
 his people, his mind and his energies were constantly 
 engaged in devising the means of carrying it to a 
 successful issue. It was not, however, until upwards of 
 two years after the return of the war party, mentioned 
 in the last chapter, that the necessary arrangements for 
 the migration were completed. During this interval he 
 frequently visited the Ngatiraukawa, at Maungatautari, 
 for the purpose of urging them to join him, whilst 
 he also held constant intercourse with the chiefs of 
 Ngatitama and Ngatiawa, in regard to the assistance his- 
 people would require from them, whilst passing through 
 their territory. 
 
 I must caution my readers from inferring from the 
 relationship and general friendliness which existed 
 between the Ngatitoa and Ngatiawa, that either of these 
 tribes would have felt much delicacy or compunction in 
 destroying the other. At the period in question, more, 
 perhaps, than during any other in the history of the 
 race, moral considerations had but little weight in 
 determining the conduct either of the individual or of
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 85 
 
 the tribe. The ruthless wars which were then being 
 prosecuted all over the North were rousing, to the highest 
 pitch, the savage instincts of the race, and even the 
 nearest relatives did not hesitate in destroying and 
 devouring each other. Of this utter abandonment of 
 all moral restraint many frightful instances might be 
 quoted, but the fact is too well known to those who are 
 acquainted with the history of the New Zealanders 
 during the thirty years preceding the colonization of the 
 Islands by the Europeans to require demonstration here. 
 
 But however essential to the success of the enterprise 
 were the friendship and co-operation of Ngatiawa, it was 
 no less necessary that Te B/auparaha should be enabled 
 to effect his object without danger of molestation from 
 his old enemies, the Waikatos, who would naturally be 
 disposed to take advantage of any favourable circumstance 
 in connection with the event in question, in order to 
 wreak their vengeance upon a foe from whom they had 
 received many disastrous blows. 
 
 In the last chapter, I mentioned that the Ngati- 
 maniapoto, then occupying the country extending along 
 the coast to the northward of Kawhia, were connected 
 by common descent, as well as by intermarriages, with 
 the Ngatitoa ; and I may now add that, although 
 occasional disputes took place between these two tribes, 
 they had always lived on terms of friendship, and usually 
 made common cause against an enemy. But the 
 Ngatimaniapoto were also in a considerable degree, 
 connected with the Waikato tribes, under the leadership 
 of Te Whero Whero ; and Te Eauparaha, determined to 
 make use of this double connection in order to establish 
 a firm peace between himself and the great Waikato 
 chief before he commenced his movements towards the
 
 86 THE STIRRING TIMES OP TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 south. Through the influence of Kukutai and Te 
 Kanawa, with both of whom Te Ruaparaha was on good 
 terms, he succeeded, very soon after his return from the 
 expedition under Waka and himself, in inducing Te 
 Whero Whero to agree to a cessation of hostilities, whilst 
 he also informed them of his intention to leave Kawhia, 
 with his people, and promised to cede it to Te Whero 
 Whero on his departure. 
 
 The easy acquisition of so valuable a territory was 
 naturally looked upon by this chief as a matter of great 
 moment to his people, besides the even more important 
 circumstance attaching to it, namely, that the removal 
 of a powerful enemy would enable him to concentrate 
 his forces along his eastern frontier, so as to keep in 
 check the increasing power of Te Waharoa, whom he 
 dreaded, notwithstanding that an alliance then existed 
 between them. The proposed peace was accordingly 
 made, and Te Rauparaha and his people being thus as 
 secure as could be expected against attack on the part of 
 the Waikatos, and having made satisfactory arrangements 
 with Ngatitama and Ngatiawa for their passage through 
 the territory of the latter, proceeded to make final 
 preparations for departure. 
 
 The principal point in this respect was the necessity 
 of providing for a supply'of food during the journey, 
 which must obviously be a slow one on account of the 
 aged, and of the women and children, whilst the distance 
 was too great to be accomplished within a single season, 
 and it was essential, therefore, to establish resting 
 places where cultivations could be carried on in order to 
 provide for the continuation of the march in the ensuing 
 year.
 
 88 THE STIRRING TIMES OP TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 In the next place, Te Rauparaha knew that he could 
 not conceal his intentions from the tribes whom he was 
 about to invade ; and that, although their power had been 
 greatly shaken during the previous raid, he could scarcely 
 hope to occupy their territory without further resistance. 
 It was, therefore, necessary to provide for the con- 
 tingencies which the possibility of such resistance 
 naturally involved, and this could be done only by a 
 careful management and disposition of the forces under 
 his command, and by securing the co-operation of some 
 of his more immediate relatives and allies. 
 
 Testing his foresight in all these matters by the 
 ultimate success of his enterprise, we are entitled to 
 believe that the arrangements he made were well 
 calculated to ensure the safe accomplishment of his 
 design ; and we know, at all events, that during the 
 interval which took place between the peace with Te 
 Whero Whero and the actual departure of himself and his 
 people from Kawhia, Te Rauparaha took care to provide 
 for such supplies of food as would carry them through 
 the first stage of their intended journey, whilst he also 
 determined in detail the principal arrangements for the 
 entire march. 
 
 These preparations having all been satisfactorily 
 completed by the beginning of the year 1819, he visited 
 Waikato, for the last time, in order to bid farewell to 
 Kukutai, to Pehikorehu, to Whero Whero, to Te Kanawa, 
 and to all the chiefs of Waikato, saying to them, 
 " Farewell; remain on our land at Kawhia; I am going 
 to take Kapiti for myself, do not follow me." He then 
 returned to Kawhia, where he at once assembled his 
 tribe and started for the South, the number leaving 
 Kawhia itself, including persons of all ages, being about
 
 THE STIREING TIMES OP TE RAUPAEAHA 89 
 
 400, of whom 170 were tried fighting men. On the 
 morning of the day of their departure, he and his people 
 came out of their pa at Te Arawi, having previously 
 burned the carved house named Te Urungu-Paraoa-a-te- 
 Titi-Matama. They then ascended the hill at Moeatoa, 
 and looking back to Kawhia were very sad at leaving the 
 home of their fathers. They cried over it, and bade it 
 farewell, saying, " Kawhia remain here ! The people of 
 Kawhia are going to Kapiti, to Waipounamu." 
 
 Savage, even ruthless, as those people may have been, 
 we can still understand their sorrow at leaving their 
 ancestral possessions. " The love of the New Zealander 
 for his land is not," says White (from whom I have 
 before quoted on this point), " the love of a child for his 
 toys. His title is connected with many and powerful 
 associations in his mind ; his love for the homes of his 
 fathers being connected with the deeds of their bravery, 
 with the feats of his own boyhood, and the long rest of 
 his ancestors for generations." Every nook and inlet of 
 the beautiful harbour of Kawhia was endeared to the 
 departing people, not only by its picturesque beauty, 
 which the New Zealander fully appreciates, but also by 
 its association with the most ancient traditions of the 
 tribe. Every hill, every valley, was connected, in their 
 memory, with scenes of childish joy, whilst many of the 
 singular and gloomy caverns in which the district 
 abounds, were crowded with the remains of their 
 ancestors, and were the subjects of their reverence and 
 awe ; and from these circumstances, not less than from 
 the uncertainty which necessarily hung over the future 
 of the tribe, we may estimate the strength of their faith 
 in the sagacity of the chief who had induced them to 
 embark in so remarkable a project.
 
 90 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 The march was at length commenced, and at the end 
 of the third or fourth day the people arrived at the pa of 
 Puohoki, where Te Eauparaha determined on leaving, 
 under a sufficient guard, a number of the women, 
 including his own wife, Akau, who, by reason of 
 pregnancy, was unfit for travel. The remainder of the 
 tribe continued their journey, and settled for the season 
 at Waitara, Kaweka, and Taranaki, living in the pas of 
 the Ngatiawa and Ngatitama. 
 
 Shortly after this, Te Eauparaha determined to return 
 to Te Puohu's pa, in order to bring up the women who 
 had been left behind, and he selected twenty of his 
 warriors to accompany him. His tribe were unwilling 
 that he should undertake this expedition with so small 
 a number of men, urging him to go in force in order to 
 prevent the risk of any treacherous attack upon his 
 party. Te Euaparaha, however, insisted on limiting his 
 followers to the twenty men he had chosen, and started 
 on his journey. 
 
 On crossing the Mokau Eiver, he found the body of 
 Eangihaeata's only child, who had been drowned from 
 Topiora's canoe as she and part of the tribe came down 
 the coast during the general migration. It was in order 
 to commemorate this circumstance that the name Mokau, 
 as a nickname, was assumed by Te Eangihaeata. Te 
 Eauparaha wrapped the body of the child in his clothing, 
 and carried it with him to Puohu's pa, where it was 
 interred with due solemnity. On his arrival, he found 
 the women and the people he had left all safe, and at 
 once made arrangements for removing them to Waitara. 
 In the meantime his wife, Akau, had given birth to 
 Tamihana, who was living at Otaki in 1872.
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 91 
 
 On the third day after his arrival the party left the pa, 
 Te Eauparaha carrying his infant child on his back in a 
 basket. Just before reaching Mokau, it being dusk, they 
 were threatened by a considerable war party of Ngatimani- 
 apoto, who had crept down the coast after the evacuation 
 of Kawhia and the surrounding district, and Rauparaha 
 
 Te Rangihaeata. 
 
 had strong reason to fear that he and his people would be 
 attacked and cut off. By a clever stratagem, however, 
 he imposed upon the enemy. After clothing twenty of 
 the women in men's mats, and placing feathers in their 
 hair, and arming them with war clubs, he sent them 
 forward under the charge of his wife, Akau, a woman of
 
 92 THE STIRRING TIMES OP TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 commanding stature, and who, on this occasion, wore a 
 red mat named Hukeumu, and brandished her weapon and 
 otherwise acted as if she were a redoubtable warrior, 
 whilst Te Eauparaha himself covered the retreat with 
 the men, the remainder of the party marching between 
 these two bodies. 
 
 The Ngatimaniapoto, mistaking the strength of Te 
 Rauparaha's force, commenced a retreat, but were 
 attacked by him, and five of their number killed, amongst 
 whom was Tutakara, their leader, who was slain by 
 Rangihoungariri, a young relative of Te Rauparaha, 
 already renowned as a warrior. The party then con- 
 tinued their march and reached the Mokau River at 
 dark, but were unable to cross it in consequence of its 
 being swollen by rain and the tide being high. 
 
 Ruaparaha knew T that the danger was not over, and 
 that the Ngatimaniapoto would, under cover of night, 
 attempt to take revenge for their loss. He therefore 
 ordered twelve large fires to be made, at some distance 
 from each other, and three of the women of the party, 
 still disguised as men, to be placed at each fire, to which 
 he also assigned one of his warriors, whilst he, with the 
 remainder, acted as scouts. The men near the fires 
 were to keep watch during the night, and occasionally 
 to address the others, saying, " Be strong, oh people, to 
 fight on the morrow if the enemy return. Do not consider 
 life. Consider the valour of your tribe." Besides this, 
 the women were directed to make much noise with their 
 speeches, so that Haiki even might hear their voices. 
 This further stratagem appears completely to have 
 deceived Ngatimaniapoto, who did not attempt to molest 
 them any further.
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAIJPARAHA 93 
 
 During the night, however, a peculiar incident, 
 illustrative of Maori life, occurred, which might have 
 been productive of disaster but for the course taken by 
 Te Eauparaha. Amongst the women who were with 
 the party was Tangahoe, the wife of the chief, who had 
 an infant with her. This child in its restlessness began 
 to cry, and Te Rauparaha, fearing that his stratagem 
 would be betrayed by the cries of the child, told its 
 mother to choke it, saying, " I am that child." The 
 parents at once obeyed the command, and killed the 
 child. 
 
 Towards midnight the river fell considerably, and at 
 low tide the party left their fires and crossed it, continuing 
 their march until they reached a pa of the Ngatitama, 
 greatly rejoicing at their escape. Early on the following 
 morning Rauparaha's party, with a reinforcement of 
 Ngatitama and Ngatiawa, returned to the spot where 
 the fight of the previous afternoon had taken place, and 
 secured the bodies of Tutakara and the others who had 
 been killed. These were taken to Mokau, were they 
 were cut up and eaten, amidst great rejoicings on the 
 part of Ngatiawa and Ngatitama at the chance thus 
 afforded them of paying off some old grudge which they 
 had against Ngatimaniapoto. 
 
 The success of the stratagems employed by Te 
 Rauparaha on this occasion, added greatly to to his 
 renown as a warrior, and, moreover, invested him with 
 an attribute of almost sanctity, not only in the eyes of his 
 own tribe, but also in those of the allies. Te Rauparaha 
 then joined the main body of his people, who were 
 engaged in the necessary preparations for the resumption 
 of their migration.
 
 "94 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 Shortly after this, it would appear that Te Whero Whero 
 and Te Waharoa, deeming the opportunity a good one 
 for striking a deadly blow against Te Rauparaha, had 
 collected a large force at the head of the Waipa, with 
 which they marched upon Taranaki, intending to attack 
 the Ngatitoa at Motunui, before the latter could obtain 
 any material assistance from Ngatiawa or Ngatitarna, the 
 main body of whom wen^Stationed chiefly at Te Kawaka, 
 Urenui, and other places. 
 
 The plans of the Waikato leaders were so carefully 
 laid in this resp^it, that Te Rauparaha received no 
 intimation of the*ir advance -phtil they were close upon 
 him, but he at once sent intelligence to Kaiaia, the 
 leading chief of the Ngatitama, since better known by the 
 name of Ta Ringa Kuri, with instructions to join him at 
 Motunui. However, before Kaiaia could come to his 
 assistance he assembled his own forces, including a small 
 body of Ngatiawa ; and, having a better knowledge of the 
 country than the enemy, he fell upon them suddenly, his 
 forces attacking in a compact body. 
 
 After encountering an obstinate resistance, he succeeded 
 in completely routing them with a loss of nearly 150 men, 
 including the principal chiefs, Hiakai and Mama, whilst 
 many other chiefs, and a large number of inferior people, 
 were taken prisoners. The latter were hung, and their 
 bodies, as well as those of the men who had fallen in 
 battle, were duly devoured, with all the ceremonies 
 attendant upon such a feast after a great and successful 
 battle. 
 
 Te Whero Whero arid Waharoa were the only great 
 chiefs of note who escaped on this occasion, the slaughter 
 of leaders having been peculiarly heavy, and even they 
 owed their lives to the connivance of Te Rauparaha,
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 95 
 
 who, apparently for reasons of his own of which I am 
 not informed, but possibly to avoid driving them to 
 desperation, did not care to attack them on the following 
 day. 
 
 It is said, whether truly or not I cannot decide, that 
 Te Waharoa did not exhibit his usual bravery on this 
 occasion, but fled early in the day. vlt appears, too, that 
 had Kaiaia's portion of he Ngati'tama arrived in time to 
 take part in the battle, the whole of the Waikato force 
 would have been destroyed. Be this as it may, during 
 the night after the battle, Te Whero Whero approached 
 the camp of the Ngatitoa, and cried out to Te Eauparaha, 
 " Oh, Raha, how am I and my people to be saved ? " Te 
 Rauparaha replied, " You must run away this night. Do 
 not remain. Go, make haste." Te Whero Whero and 
 his men fled during the night, leaving their fires burning ; 
 and, when Kaiaia's forces came up on the next morning, 
 they found the Waikato camp deserted, whilst the bodies 
 of many of those who had been wounded in the previous 
 day's engagement, and had died during the night, were 
 left behind. These bodies were at once cut up and 
 devoured by Ngatitama, Te Rauparaha and his people 
 joining in the feast. 
 
 After all danger of further attack on the part of 
 Waikato had ceased, Te Rauparaha determined, before 
 resuming the movement southward, again to visit his 
 friends at Maungatautari, in order to induce the latter, if 
 possible, to join him in the expedition. For this purpose 
 he travelled to Taupo taking the road from Taranaki by 
 the Upper Wanganui and Tuhua. At Tuhua he had a 
 long conference with Te Heuheu, who promised to afford 
 .him any assistance he could in effecting his settlement
 
 96 THE STIBKING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 at Kapiti and on the main land, but would not consent 
 to take any other part in the undertaking. 
 
 He then proceeded to Opepe, on Lake Taupo, where a 
 large number of the Ngatiraukawa had assembled, under 
 Whatanui, in order to discuss Te Eauparaha's proposals. 
 Here a great tangi was held, at which Whatanui made a 
 speech to Te Eauparaha, and gave him many presents, 
 as they had not met for a length of time. After the 
 ordinary ceremonies were concluded, Te Eauparaha again 
 opened his proposals to the assembled chiefs, representing 
 the many advantages that would accrue from adopting 
 them, and particularly insisting on the opportunity it 
 would give the tribe of obtaining abundant supplies of 
 fire-arms, as Kapiti and other parts of Cook Strait had 
 already begun to be visited by European ships. He also 
 dwelt on the rich and productive character of the land, 
 and the ease with which it might be conquered, whilst 
 there was nothing to prevent, at the same time a large 
 number of the tribe from remaining at Maungatautari, in 
 order to retain their ancient possessions there. To all 
 this, however, Whatanui gave no reply, and the meeting 
 broke up without any indication that any part of the 
 tribe would join in the proposed expedition. 
 
 Te Eauparaha then visited other sections of the tribe, 
 and another great meeting took place, at which he was 
 not present. At this meeting the chief objection raised 
 was, that by joining Te Eauparaha he would become 
 their chief, and there was an unwillingness on the part 
 of the tribe, notwithstanding what had occurred at the 
 death of Hape, entirely to throw off their allegiance to 
 their own hereditary arikis. This resolution was 
 communicated to Te Eauparaha by Horohau, one of the 
 sons of Hape, by Akau, then Te Eauparaha's wife, and
 
 THE STIREING TIMES OF TE EAUPARAHA 97 
 
 the reasons specially assigned for it grieved Te Rauparaha 
 very much. 
 
 Seeing the apparent impossibility of inducing 
 Whatanui's people to join him in his project, he went 
 on to Rotorua, and ultimately to Tauranga, where he 
 urged Te Waru to join him. Te Waru, however, refused 
 to leave Tauranga on account of his love for that place, 
 and for the Islands of Motiti and Tuhua. 
 
 Whilst Te Rauparaha was at Tauranga, news reached 
 that place that Hongi Heke, with the Ngapuhi, was 
 besieging the great pa of the Ngatimaru at the Thames 
 which, after some delay, they took, as mentioned in a 
 former chapter, slaughtering great numbers of the 
 inhabitants. Amongst others of the killed on this 
 occasion, were the infant children of Tokoahu, who had 
 married a grand niece of Te Rauparaha, He appears to 
 have been greatly exasperated at the absurd manner in 
 which the people of his pa had permitted it to be taken, 
 and at the destruction of his relatives, and at once went 
 over to Rotorua, whither another taua of the Ngapuhi, 
 under Pomare, had proceeded after the defeat of 
 Ngatimaru. Here he had an interview with Pomare, 
 and expressed his determination to kill some of the 
 Ngapuhi as a payment for the slaughter of Tokoahu's 
 children, to which Pomare consented, he being also in 
 some degree connected by marriage with Tokoahu. 
 
 The Ngapuhis, accompanied by Te Rauparaha, 
 proceeded to Paeoterangi, where Tuhourangi and some 
 others were duly sacrificed, with great solemnity, in order 
 to appease the manes of Tokoahu's children. Pomare 
 then gave over to Te Rauparaha a number of men who 
 had been under the leadership of Tuhourangi, who, from 
 that time, became attached to and incorporated with 
 
 G
 
 98 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 Ngatitoa, and accompanied him on his return to Taranaki 
 shortly after the sacrifice in question. 
 
 On reaching Taranaki, he made preparations for 
 continuing the migration, and succeeded in inducing Wi 
 Kingi Eangitake, since celebrated in connection with the 
 Waitara war, and his father, Reretawhangawhanga, with 
 many other chiefs, and a considerable number of the 
 Ngatiawa tribe, to accompany him, his followers then 
 consisting of his own people (the Ngatitoa), numbering 
 200 fighting men, of the Ngapuhis who had been 
 transferred to him by Pomare, and of Wi Kingi 's 
 Ngatiawas, numbering nearly 400 fighting men, and their 
 several families. 
 
 During the interval between the commencement of the 
 migration and its resumption from Taranaki, after Te 
 Rauparaha's last return thither, a large war party of 
 Waikatos, under Tukorehu, Te Kepa, Te Kawau (Apihai), 
 and other chiefs, had descended the East Coast, whence 
 they invaded the territory which Te Rauparaha was 
 about to seize. The Muaupoko, Rangitane, and 
 Ngatiapa were all attacked on this occasion, and again 
 suffered great loss, a circumstance which became known 
 to Te Rauparaha through some Ngatiraukawa men who 
 had joined the Waikatos in their expedition, and who 
 had communicated its results to him during his last visit 
 to Maungatautari. 
 
 It appears, moreover, that after he had left Taupo, 
 Whatanui and a large party of Ngatiraukawa made up 
 their minds to join him at Kapiti, but instead of 
 following the same route which he intended to take, they 
 determined to proceed via Ahuriri, having been invited 
 thither by the Ngatikahungunu, for some purpose which 
 I cannot clearly make out. On their arrival there,
 
 100 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 however, a dispute took place between the two parties, 
 and a battle ensued, in which the Ngatiraukawa were 
 defeated with considerable slaughter, the remainder of 
 the party being forced to retreat upon Maungatautari. 
 
 Late in the autumn of 1819, no doubt after the 
 ordinary crop of kumara had been gathered in, Te 
 Rauparaha resumed the march, which was uninterrupted 
 until they reached Patea, where five of the Ngatitoa men, 
 and a male slave of Topiora's named Te Ratutonu, who 
 had formerly been a chief, were murdered. To avenge 
 this murder, Te Rauparaha killed a number of the people 
 occupying Waitotara, and thence his party proceeded to 
 Wanganui, the greater portion of the women and children 
 travelling along the coast in canoes, whilst the warriors, 
 with most of the leading chiefs, travelled by land, 
 Te Rauparaha himself, however, travelling by water in a 
 large canoe taken from the Waitotara people. 
 
 I may here incidentally mention that his designs, at 
 this time, were not confined to the acquisition of Kapiti, 
 and the adjacent country ; he had also made up his mind 
 to invade the Middle Island after he had become well 
 settled in his new abode, in order to obtain the great 
 treasures of greenstone which were believed to be in 
 possession of the people of that Island. Of course, he 
 could only hope to affect this by obtaining a number of 
 large canoes, and, to use the words of his son, " canoes 
 were at that time his great desire, for by them only could 
 he cross over to the Island of Waipounamu." 
 
 Amongst the leading chiefs who accompanied Te 
 Rauparaha, was Rangihaeata, who, as will be remembered, 
 had, during the previous invasion, taken prisoner a 
 Ngatiapa woman of rank named Pikinga, whom he had 
 made his slave-wife. When her brothers heard of the
 
 102 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 arrival of Ngatitoa at Wanganui, they, with a party 
 numbering altogether twenty men, came to meet her, 
 and accompanied Ngatitoa as far as the Eangitikei Eiver, 
 for, as the weather continued extremely fine, Te 
 Eauparaha thought it desirable to push the advance 
 as rapidly as possible. 
 
 On arriving at the mouth of the Eangitikei the people 
 rested for some days, those in the canoes landing for 
 that purpose. During this rest, armed parties were sent 
 inland in various directions, for the purpose of capturing 
 any stray people whom they could find, in order that 
 they might be killed and eaten ; but these parties found 
 the country nearly deserted, the remnant of the 
 original tribes having taken refuge in the fastnesses of 
 the interior. 
 
 Te Eauparaha then pushed on to the mouth of the 
 Manawatu, where he and his people again halted, parties 
 here also going in search of Eangitane, with the same 
 intentions with which they had previously sought the 
 Ngatiapa, and with very much the same result. Their 
 next stage was Ohau, where Ngatitoa settled until after 
 they had taken Kapiti, as will be mentioned in the 
 sequel. During this time the Muaupoko occupied the 
 country inland of Ohau and stretching to the Manawatu 
 Eiver, having a pa on Lake Horowhenua, and on the 
 banks of Lake Papaitanga, which is close to it. 
 
 Shortly after Te Eauparaha had settled at Ohau two 
 of the chiefs of Muaupoko visited him, and offered, if he 
 would come over to their pa at Papaitanga, to make him a 
 present of several large canoes. He was extremely 
 delighted at this offer, and at once consented to go. 
 Eangihaeata however, endeavoured to dissuade him, 
 saying, " Eaha, I have had a presentiment that you
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 103 
 
 will be murdered by Muaupoko," but Te Rauparaha 
 laughed at his fears ; and, attracted by the prospect of 
 obtaining the canoes -- which had been glowingly 
 described to him by the two chiefs would not listen to 
 any suggestions against the proposed visit. He even 
 refused to take any large force wilih him, confining 
 himself to a few men, and to some of his own children. 
 
 It appears, however, that a plot had been laid between 
 Turoa and Paetahi (father -of Mete Kingi, afterwards one 
 of the Maori members of the Assembly), chiefs of the 
 Wanganui tribes, and the leading chiefs of the Muaupoko, 
 to murder Te Rauparaha, and the invitation to Papaitanga, 
 with the offer of the canoes, was only a step in the plot 
 for that purpose. It is quite clear that he apprehended 
 no danger, and that he fell into the trap laid for him with 
 wonderful facility. 
 
 It was evening when he and his companions arrived at 
 the pa, where they were received by Toheriri, at whose 
 house Te Rauparaha was to sleep. His people were all 
 accommodated in different parts of the pa, Te Rauparaha 
 alone remaining with Toheriri. The murder was to be 
 committed at night by a war party from Horowhenua, 
 and when Toheriri believed that his guest was fast 
 asleep, he rose and went out, intending to inform the 
 war party that Te Rauparaha was asleep in his house. 
 His movements, however, aroused Te Rauparaha, who at 
 once suspected some foul design, a suspicion which was 
 soon converted into certainty by the cries of some of his 
 people at the commencement of the bloody work. He 
 then escaped from the house, and, being entirely 
 unarmed, fled towards Ohau, which he succeeded in 
 reaching, but quite naked.
 
 104 THE STIRRING TIMES OP TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 During the attack Eangihoungariri, who, it will be 
 remembered, distinguished himself when Te Eauparaha's 
 party were attacked by Ngatimaniapoto, near the River 
 Mokau, had succeeded in getting well away, but hearing 
 Hira's sister calling out to him that she would be killed, 
 at once returned to her aid, but was soon overwhelmed 
 by numbers and slain, Te Poa, Hira's husband, having 
 been killed previously. Hira, and a girl named Hononga, 
 were not killed, but were carried off to Euamahunga, in 
 the Wairarapa, where the former afterwards married 
 Taika, a distant relation of Te Eauparaha. These two 
 girls were the daughters of that Marore whom I 
 mentioned in a former chapter as having been his boy 
 wife. 
 
 This treacherous murder provoked the wrath of 
 Ngatitoa, who, from that time, proceeded to destroy 
 Muaupoko without mercy. Toheriri was taken prisoner, 
 and afterwards hung and eaten, undergoing dreadful 
 tortures. Before this event Muaupoko were a somewhat 
 powerful tribe, but their power was utterly broken 
 by the Ngatitoa and their allies, in revenge for the 
 attempted murder of their great chief. 
 
 .After this escape Te Eauparaha settled in Ohau, and 
 occupied the main land as far as Otaki, his war parties 
 constantly hunting the people at Earigitikei, Manawatu, 
 and Horowhenua; but a remnant of these tribes still 
 held Kapiti, notwithstanding several attempts to take 
 possession of it.
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 105 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 THE OCCUPATION OF KAPITI. 
 
 Amongst the chiefs who accompanied Te Eauparaha in 
 the migration, was his uncle, Te Pehi Kupe, who, by 
 virtue of his seniority of age and rank, was undoubtedly 
 entitled to the leadership of the tribe; but, although not 
 deficient in talent, and admittedly a great warrior, he was 
 inferior to his nephew in those special qualifications, which 
 had enabled the latter to acquire the power he held over 
 bis own tribe, and the influence he exercised in the 
 councils of the Ngatiawa and Ngatiraukawa. It has, 
 however, been asserted that there are grounds for 
 believing that Te Eauparaha was somewhat jealous of 
 Te Pehi, and that dreading the possibility of an attempt 
 on the part of the latter to assume the leadership of the 
 tribe in virtue of his higher social position, he would not 
 unwillingly have sacrified him. Indeed, it is said, that 
 the taking of Kapiti was primarily due to a treacherous 
 act on his part, committed for the express purpose of 
 involving Te Pehi, and a number of other members of 
 the tribe, in destruction ; but it is difficult to suppose 
 that Te Eauparaha could have maintained his high 
 position if this charge, and others of a similar nature, 
 were in any degree well founded. My own impression is 
 that the whole affair was planned for the express purpose
 
 106 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 of throwing the defenders of Kapiti off their guard, and 
 so of securing a conquest which had. already been 
 several times attempted in vain, but which he felt to be 
 absolutely necessary for the success of his ultimate 
 designs. 
 
 It appears that one day he started with a large force of 
 Ngatitoa and Ngatiawa for Horowhenua, for the avowed 
 purpose of harassing the remnant of Muaupoko and 
 Rangitane who still wandered about that district, and 
 that before dawn of the morning after his departure 
 (which had been made known on the previous day to the 
 people on the Island through their own spies), Te Pehi, 
 and his own immediate followers, crossed the Strait and 
 attacked them. Thrown off their guard by the knowledge 
 of Te Rauparaha's absence with the bulk of the warriors, 
 they had neglected their ordinary precautions against 
 surprise, and were easily defeated, many being slain, 
 although the greater number escaped in their canoes to 
 the main land, and found refuge in the forests and 
 swamps of the Manawatu. On the return of Te 
 Rauparaha's war party, he at once passed over to 
 Kapiti, where he usually resided from that time till his 
 death. 
 
 Shortly after the taking of Kapiti, Wi Kingi and the 
 great body of the Ngatiawa returned to the Waitara, only 
 twenty warriors remaining with the Ngatitoa. Thus 
 weakened, they were ultimately compelled, by events 
 which I am about to relate, to abandon their settlements 
 on the main land, and to remove to Kapiti, where they 
 formed and occupied three large pas, one named 
 Wharekohu, at the southern end of the island ; another 
 named Rangatira, near the northern end ; and one 
 named Taepiro, between the other two, Te Rauparaha

 
 108 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 and Eangihaeata, with the main body of the people, 
 residing in the latter. 
 
 Before relating the events which took place after the 
 departure of the Ngatiawa, it is necessary that I should 
 call attention to many affairs of importance which 
 occurred between that event and the first settlement of 
 the Ngatitoa at Ohau. It will be remembered that at 
 the close of the last chapter I mentioned the attempt 
 made by the Muaupoko to murder Te Eauparaha, near 
 Lake Papaitanga, and the determination of himself and 
 his tribe to lose no opportunity of taking vengeance for 
 the slaughter which had taken place on that occasion. 
 
 At the time of this occurrence, the Muaupoko were 
 still numerous and comparatively powerful, having 
 suffered much less during the previous incursions of the 
 Ngapuhi and Waikatos, than the neighbouring tribes ; 
 but they were, nevertheless, no match for the better 
 armed and more warlike Ngatitoa, and therefore rarely 
 met them in the open field, relying for security rather 
 upon the inaccessibility of their fortresses and upon their 
 intimate knowledge of the fastnesses of the Manawatu 
 district, than upon their prowess in the field. They then 
 occupied a number of pas in the country around Lakes 
 Papaitanga and Horowhenua, as well as several which 
 they had erected upon artificial islands in the latter 
 lake, in the manner so interestingly described by 
 Taylor, in a paper read before the Wellington 
 Philosophical Society. Now, it appears, that in 
 pursuance of his intention to destroy these people, 
 Te. Eauparaha constantly detailed war parties to attack 
 them, as well as to harass the unfortunate remnant of 
 the Eangitane who still lurked in the country to the 
 northward of their territory.
 
 THE STIEEING TIMES OF TE EAUPAEAHA 109 
 
 Finding themselves unable to check these attacks, the 
 Muaupoko took refuge in the' lake pas, which the 
 Ngatitoa, however determined to attack. Their first 
 attempt was on that named Waipata, and, having no 
 canoes, they swam out to it, and succeeded in taking it, 
 slaughtering many of the defenders, though the greater 
 number escaped in their canoes to a larger pa on the same 
 lake, named Wai-kie-kie. This pa was occupied in such 
 force by the enemy, that the party which had taken 
 Waipata felt themselves too weak to assault it, and, 
 therefore, returned to Ohau for reinforcements. Having 
 obtained the requisite assistance, they again proceeded to 
 Horowhenua, and attacked Wai-kie-kie, using a number 
 of canoes, which they had taken at Waipata, for the 
 purpose of crossing the lake. After a desperate, but 
 vain resistance, they took the pa, slaughtering nearly 200 
 of the inhabitants, including women and children, the 
 remainder escaping in their canoes, and making their 
 way, by inland paths, in the direction of Paikakariki, 
 where they ultimately settled. 
 
 In the course of these several attacks, a number of the 
 leading Muaupoko chiefs were taken prisoners, all of 
 whom, except Eatu, who became the slave of Te Pehi, 
 were killed, and their bodies, as well as those of the 
 people slain in the assaults, duly devoured. It is matter 
 of note that, notwithstanding the occasional murder of 
 men of the Ngatiapa who happened to be found on the 
 south side of the Rangitikei River by the Ngatitoa and 
 Ngatiawa war parties, Te Rauparaha had, up to this time, 
 preserved friendly relations with that tribe, some of 
 whom occasionally fought in his ranks ; this was chiefly 
 owing to the connection of Rangihaeata with Pikinga, 
 but events which occurred shortly after the expulsion of
 
 110 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 the Muaupoko from the Horowhenua country, led to a 
 rupture of this friendship and to the ultimate complete 
 subjugation of the Ngatiapa. 
 
 It was after the defeat of the former at Wai-kie-kie 
 that the Ngatiawa returned to Waitara, but although, as 
 I have before observed, their departure greatly weakened 
 Te Eauparaha, he and his people still maintained their 
 settlements on the mainland, and continued their raids 
 against the remnants of the defeated tribes. Amongst 
 the expeditions thus undertaken one, in which a larger 
 force than usual was engaged, was directed against a pa 
 at Paikakariki, occupied by the Muaupoko who had fled 
 from Wai-kie-kie. It was taken after an obstinate 
 struggle, in which many of the occupants were slain, the 
 conquerors remaining in possession for nearly two months 
 for the purpose of consuming their bodies and the stores 
 of provisions they found in the pa. 
 
 They were there suddenly attacked by the Nga- 
 tikahungunu from Wanganuiatera and the surrounding 
 country, and driven upon Waikanae with considerable 
 loss. This event, coupled with the threatening attitude 
 assumed by that powerful tribe, and the fact that the 
 remnants of the Muaupoko, Eangitane, and Ngatiapa, 
 were again collecting in the vicinity of their former 
 settlements, determined Te Rauparaha to abandon the 
 mainland, and to withdraw the whole of his people to 
 Kapiti until he could obtain the assistance (which he 
 till confidently expected) of his kindred at Taupo and 
 Maungatautari. 
 
 He had no sooner retired to Kapiti, than the Eangitane 
 erected a large pa at Hotuiti, on the north side of the 
 Manawatu, within the tract subsequently known as the 
 Awahou Block, where they collected in force, and were
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 111 
 
 joined by three Ngatiapa chiefs of note. Te Rauparaha 
 hearing of this, determined to attack them, and he and 
 Rangihaeata marched to Hotuiti with a well appointed 
 tana, accompanied by Pikinga, who, on the arrival of the 
 party before the pa, was sent into it to direct the 
 Ngatiapa chiefs to retire to the district occupied by that 
 tribe on the north side of the Rangitikei river. This 
 they declined to do, and Te Rauparaha then sent 
 messengers to the Rangitane offering peace, and desiring 
 that their chiefs should be sent to his camp to settle the 
 
 Tongariro from Lake Taupo. 
 
 terms. Being advised by the Ngatiapa chiefs to accept 
 the offer, they sent their own head men to Te Rauparaha's 
 quarters, where they were at once ruthlessly slain, and 
 whilst the people in the pa, ignorant of this slaughter, 
 and believing hostilities were suspended, were entirely off 
 their guard, it was rushed by the Ngatitoa, and taken 
 after a very feeble resistance, the greater number of the 
 unfortunate people and their families, as well as the three 
 Ngatiapa chiefs, being slaughtered and devoured, such
 
 112 THE STIRRING TIMES OP TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 prisoners as were taken being removed to Waikanae in 
 order to undergo the same fate. 
 
 After this treacherous affair, Te Rauparaha and his 
 force returned to Waikanae, where they indulged in 
 feasting and rejoicing, little dreaming that any attempt 
 would be made to attack them. It appears, however, 
 that the Ngatiapa at Eangitikei, incensed at the slaughter 
 of their three chiefs, had determined to revenge their 
 loss, and for this purpose had collected a considerable 
 war party, which was readily joined by the refugees from 
 Hotuiti and by a number of Muaupoko from Horowhenua. 
 Led by Te Hakeke, they fell upon the Ngatitoa during 
 the night, killing upwards of sixty of them, including 
 many women and children, amongst the latter being the 
 four daughters of Te Pehi. At the commencement of 
 the attack, a canoe was despatched to Kapiti for 
 reinforcements, which were at once sent, and, upon their 
 arrival, the enemy fled, but without being pursued. In 
 consequence of this attack, Te Rauparaha and 
 Rangihaeata became (to use the words of Matene Te 
 Whiwhi) " dark in their hearts in regard to Ngatiapa," 
 and resolved to spare no efforts to destroy them, as well 
 as the remnants of Rangitane and Muaupoko. 
 
 Te Rauparaha had, of course, become aware of the 
 defeat of Whatanui and the Ngatiraukawa in their 
 attempt to reach Kapiti by the East Coast, but 
 immediately after the departure of the Ngatiawa he had 
 sent emissaries to Taupo, in order to urge upon the chiefs 
 to join him in the occupation of the country he had 
 conquered. In the meantime, however, a storm was 
 brewing which threatened utterly to destroy him and 
 his people. Ratu, the Muaupoko chief who had been 
 enslaved by Te Pehi, escaped from Kapiti and fled to the
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OP TE RAUPARAHA 113 
 
 Middle Island. Being anxious to avenge the destruction 
 of his tribe, he proceeded to organize an alliance between 
 the tribes occupying the southern shores of Cook Strait 
 and those which held the country from Patea to 
 Eangitikei, on the north, and the Ngatikahungunu at 
 Wanganuiatera and Wairarapa, on the south, for the 
 purpose of attacking Te Eauparaha with a force, which, 
 in point of numbers, at least, should be irresistible. 
 
 In the formation of the desired alliance he was 
 completely successful, and about the end of the fourth 
 year after the first arrival of the Ngatitoa, nearly 2,000 
 warriors assembled between Otaki and Waikanae, consist- 
 ing of Ngarauru, from Waitotara ; the people of Patea, 
 Wanganui, Wangaehu, Turakina, and Kangitikei, the 
 Eangitane of Manawatu, and the Ngatikahungunu, 
 Ngatiapa, Ngatitumatakokiri, Eangitane, and Ngatihuia, 
 from the Middle Island. They were provided with 
 ample means of transport, " the sea on the occasion of 
 their attack," to use the words of my informant, who 
 was present on the occasion, being covered with 
 canoes, one wing reaching Kapiti from Otaki, whilst the 
 other started almost simultaneously from Waikanae." 
 The landing of the warriors composing the right wing 
 was effected about four in the morning, but the alarm 
 having already been given by the chief Nopera, who had 
 discovered and notified their approach, the invaders were 
 at once attacked by the Ngatitoa, of Eangitira, with 
 great fury, whilst messengers were at the same time 
 despatched to Taepiri, where Te Eauparaha lay with the 
 bulk of his people, to inform him of the invasion. 
 Before he could reach the scene of the conflict, however, 
 the enemy had succeeded in pushing the Ngatitoa 
 towards Waiorua, at the northern end of the Island.
 
 114 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 Pokaitara, who was in command, being desirous of 
 gaining time in order to admit of the arrival of reinforce- 
 ments, proposed a truce to the enemy, which was 
 granted by Rangimairehau, a Ngatiapa chief, by whom 
 they were led, who hoped, on his side, during the truce, 
 to be able to land the rest of his forces, and then 
 effectually to crush the Ngatitoa. 
 
 Shortly after the truce had been agreed to, Te 
 Rauparaha and his warriors reached the scene of action, 
 and at once renewed the battle with the utmost vigour ; 
 and, after a long and sanguinary conflict, completely 
 defeated the invaders, with tremendous slaughter ; not 
 less than 170 dead bodies being left on the beach, whilst 
 numbers were drowned in attempting to reach the 
 canoes that were still at sea. The remainder of the 
 invading force made their way, with all speed, to 
 Waikanae and other points of the coast, where many of 
 them landed, abandoning their canoes to the Ngatitoa, 
 who had commenced an immediate pursuit. 
 
 After the battle Te Eauparaha composed and sang a 
 " song of triumph," the words of which I regret that I 
 have not been able to obtain. The result was in every 
 way advantageous to his people, for no further attempt 
 was ever made to dislodge them, whilst they, on the 
 other hand, lost no opportunity of strengthening their 
 position and of wreaking vengeance on the Ngatiapa, 
 Eangitane, and Muaupoko, the remnant of whom they 
 ultimately reduced to the condition of the merest tribu- 
 taries, many of the leading chiefs, including Te Hakeke, 
 becoming slaves. 
 
 It would be useless for me to give anything like a 
 detailed account of the incursions of the Ngatitoa into 
 the country on the mainland, often extending as far as
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 115 
 
 Turakina, in which numbers of the original inhabitants 
 were killed and eaten, or reduced to slavery ; but it is 
 perfectly clear that their power was completely broken, 
 and that after Waiorua, the Ngatitoa and their allies 
 found no enemy capable of checking their movements. 
 
 Maori Swings. 
 
 The news of the battle having reached Taranaki, with 
 rumours of Te Eauparaha's astounding success, Te 
 Puaha, with a detachment of Ngatiawa, came down to 
 Kapiti in order to learn the truth of the matter, and
 
 116 THE STIEEING TIMES OF TE RAUPAEAEA 
 
 having ascertained how completely Te Eauparaha had 
 defeated his enemies, he returned to Taranaki for the 
 purpose of bringing down a number of his people to join 
 the Ngatitoa in their settlement of the country, as well as 
 to take part in the prosecution of Te Eauparaha's further 
 designs. Accordingly, he shortly afterwards brought 
 with him, from Taranaki, a considerable number of 
 fighting men, with their families, consisting partly of 
 Ngatiawa proper, partly of Ngatihinetuhi, and partly of 
 Ngatiwhakatere, being members of a kapu of Ngatirau- 
 kawa, who had escaped from a defeat on the Wanganui 
 Eiver, and had incorporated themselves with the 
 Ngatiawa. This formed an important accession to the 
 force under Te Eauparaha, which received further 
 additions shortly afterwards from Te Ahu Karamu, a 
 Ngatiraukawa chief of high rank, who, against the feeling 
 of his people, had determined to join his great Ngatitoa 
 kinsman. 
 
 This chief, having heard from Te Eauparaha's emissaries 
 of the difficulties in which he was likely to be placed by 
 the defection of the Ngatiawa, had started from Taupo 
 with 120 armed men, of his own immediate following, 
 and arrived at Kapiti shortly after the battle of Waiorua, 
 and then took part in many of the raids upon the 
 original tribes which occurred after that event. After 
 remaining with Te Eauparaha for some months he 
 returned to Taupo with part of his followers, where he 
 reported the improved position of Ngatitoa, and urged 
 his own section of the tribe to join them. Finding them 
 still unwilling to do so, and being determined to effect 
 his object, he ordered the whole of their houses and 
 stores to be burned down, declaring it to be the will of 
 the atua or spirit, angry at their refusal to obey the
 
 THE STIEEING TIMES OF TE EAUPAEAHA 117 
 
 words of their chief. This being done the people gave 
 way, and he took the necessary measures for the 
 journey. 
 
 In the meantime Whatanui and Te Heuheu had also 
 determined to visit Te Kauparaha, in order to inspect 
 the country he had conquered ; the former chieftain 
 intending, if it met his approval, to carry out his original 
 design of joining the Ngatitoa in its occupation. In 
 pursuance of this determination they, with a strong 
 force of their own warriors, joined Te Ahu Karamu's 
 party, the whole travelling down the Eangitikei Kiver 
 along the route followed by Te Ahu on his previous 
 journey. During this journey they attacked and killed 
 any of the original inhabitants whom they happened to 
 fall in with. This migration is known amongst the 
 Ngatiraukawa as the heke whirinui, owing to the fact 
 that the whiri, or plaited collars of their mats, were 
 made very large for the journey. Amongst the special 
 events which occurred on the march was the capture of 
 a Ngatiapa woman and two children, on the south side 
 of the Bangitikei. The unfortunate children were sacri- 
 ficed during the performance of a solemn religious rite ; 
 and the woman, though in the first instance saved by 
 Te Heuheu, who wished to keep her as a slave, was 
 killed and eaten by Tangaru, one of the Ngatiraukawa 
 leaders. Shortly after this Te Whiro, one of the greatest 
 of the Ngatiapa chiefs, with two women, were taken 
 prisoners, and the former was put to death with great 
 ceremony and cruelty, as utu for the loss of some of Te 
 Heuheu' s people who had been killed by the Ngatiapa 
 long before ; but the women were spared. 
 
 On the arrival of this heke at Kapiti, Te Heuheu and 
 Whatanui held a long conference with the Ngatitoa
 
 118 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 chieftains, and Whatanui was at last persuaded to bring 
 down his people. For this purpose he and Te Heuheu 
 returned to Taupo, some of the party passing across the 
 Manawatu Block, so as to strike the Eangitikei Eiver 
 inland, whilst the others travelled along the beach to the 
 mouth of that river, intending to join the inland party 
 some distance up. The inland party rested at Eanga- 
 taua, where a female relative of Te Heuheu, named 
 Keremai, famed for her extreme beauty, died of wounds 
 inflicted upon her during the journey by a stray band of 
 Ngatiapa. A great tangi was held over her remains, and 
 Te Heuheu caused her head to be preserved, he himself 
 calcining her brains and strewing the ashes over the 
 land, which he declared to be for ever tapu. His people 
 were joined by the party from the beach road at the 
 junction of the Waituna with the Eangitikei, where the 
 chief was presented with three Ngatiapa prisoners, who 
 had been taken during the ascent of the river. These 
 were immediately sacrificed to the manes of Keremai, 
 after which the whole body returned with all speed to 
 Taupo. 
 
 Before the return of Whatanui and his people to 
 Kapiti, that place had been visited by some European 
 whale ships, and Te Eauparaha at once traded with 
 them for guns and ammunition, giving in exchange 
 dressed flax and various kinds of fresh provisions, 
 including potatoes. I may mention that until the arrival 
 of the Ngatitoa the potato had been unknown in the 
 Manawatu district, but at the time I now speak of, it 
 was extensively cultivated between that place and 
 Taranaki, and formed one of the staple articles of food 
 of the natives.
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 119 
 
 He had no sooner obtained a supply of fire-arms, and 
 ammunition than he resolved to carry out his long- 
 conceived intention of invading the Middle Island, a 
 design in which he was greatly aided by the capture of 
 the war canoes which had been abandoned by the allied 
 forces after the battle of Waiorua ; but, although he at 
 once made preparations for carrying out his project, he 
 postponed its actual execution till after the return of 
 Whatanui. 
 
 Shortly before the visit of the ships with which Te 
 Eauparaha had carried on his trade, Te Pehi, observing 
 one passing through Cook Strait, went out to her in a 
 canoe, and, having managed to conceal himself until the 
 canoe had left her, he succeeded ultimately in reaching 
 England, his design being, like that of E. Hongi, to 
 obtain a supply of fire-arms and ammunition. His visit 
 to England where he was known under the name of 
 Tupai Cupa, evidently a corruption of Te Pehi Kupe, is 
 described in the volume for 1830 of " The Library of 
 Entertaining Knowledge." We are enabled by means of 
 this incident to fix the dates of some of the principal 
 events in Te Rauparaha's career, for we know that it 
 was in 1826 that Te Pehi managed to secrete himself on 
 board the vessel above referred to. 
 
 Te Eauparaha's immediate designs were in the mean- 
 time somewhat interfered with by a rupture between a 
 section of his people and the Ngatitama, under Puaha, 
 some fighting taking place, which resulted in loss to both 
 sides ; but he at once peremptorily ordered peace to be 
 made, an order which was obeyed by both sides. It 
 seems that this dispute arose out of the occupation of 
 some of the conquered land, which was claimed by 
 both parties, and Waitohi, a sister of Te Eauparaha,
 
 120 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 foreseeing that constant disputes were likely to arise 
 from the same cause, more especially when their 
 numbers were increased by the expected arrival of the 
 main body of the Ngatiraukawa, unless there was some 
 definite arrangement as to the division of the country 
 between them, suggested to Te Rauparaha that the 
 Ngatiawa should all remove to Waikanae, and should 
 occupy the land to the south of the Kukutawaki stream, 
 whilst the. country from the north bank of that stream as 
 far as the Wangaehu should be given up to the Ngatirau- 
 kawa. 
 
 This suggestion was adopted by all parties, and it was 
 determined that the Ngatiraukawa, already with Te 
 Eauparaha, should at once proceed to occupy Ohau, then 
 in the possession of the Ngatiawa. Having been 
 assembled for this purpose they were escorted to their 
 new location by Te Eauparaha and all the principal 
 chiefs of Ngatitoa, travelling along the beach. On their 
 way up they were feasted by Ngatirahira (a hapu of 
 Ngatiawa) upon the flesh of black-fish, a large school of 
 which had been driven ashore at low water, where the 
 natives ingeniously tethered them by their tails with 
 strong flax ropes, killing them as they were wanted for 
 food. The Ngatiraukawa having been put into quiet 
 possession of the houses and cultivations of the Ngatiawa, 
 the latter removed to Waikanae, which continued for 
 some time afterwards to be their principal settlement. 
 The wisdom of Waitohi's suggestion above referred to is 
 apparent from the fact that no further land disputes 
 occurred between the several tribes until the fighting at 
 Horowhenua many years afterwards, as will be related 
 in the sequel.
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE EAUPARAHA 121 
 
 Between this event and the date of Whatanui's return 
 to Kapiti with the main body of his people, a heke 
 composed of 140 fighting men with their families called 
 the heke kariritahi, from the circumstance that the 
 warriors armed with muskets, had enlarged the touch- 
 holes so as to be enabled (shrewd fellows as they were) 
 to keep up a more rapid fire upon an enemy by saving 
 the trouble of priming came down from Maungatautari 
 under the command of Taratoa. Whatanui accompanied 
 this heke for the purpose of conferring with Te 
 Rauparaha on matters of importance, but finding that the 
 chief was absent, he at once returned to Taupo in order 
 to bring down his people. 
 
 The constant arrival of these armed bodies, and the 
 manner in which they roamed over the Manawatu and 
 Eangitikei districts, treating the remnant of the Ngatiapa 
 and other original tribes with the greatest rigour, induced 
 the latter to throw themselves upon the hospitality of the 
 Ngatikahungunu at Wairarapa. In pursuance of this 
 resolve, some 300 of them, including women and children, 
 proceeded thither, but in consequence of a murder, 
 followed by an act of cannibalism, which had been 
 committed by some of the Eangitane upon a Ngatika- 
 hungunu man not long before, that tribe not only refused 
 to receive the refugees, but attacked and drove them back 
 with slaughter. The Ngatiapa then formally placed 
 themselves at the mercy of Eangihaeata, whose con- 
 nection, so frequently alluded to, with a chief of their 
 tribe induced him to treat them with leniency, and they 
 were accordingly permitted to live in peace, but in a state 
 of complete subjection. 
 
 The remnant of the Muaupoko, in like manner, sought 
 the protection of Tuauaine, a chief of the Ngatiawa, who
 
 122 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 agreed to defend them against the long standing wrath of 
 Te Rauparaha, but, as it appears, in vain ; for it seems 
 that having been informed by some of the Ngatiraukawa 
 that these people were again settling at Papaitangi and 
 Horowhenua, Te Rauparaha and Rangihaeata, with a war 
 party of Ngatitoa and Ngatiraukawa, proceeded thither 
 and attacked them, killing many and taking a number of 
 others prisoners, amongst whom was Toheriri, their 
 chief. Toheriri's wife composed a lament on the occasion 
 of the death of her husband, which is still recited amongst 
 the Maoris. In this song she reflected on the broken 
 promise of Tuauaine, who, though very sad at this 
 slaughter, was entirely unable to prevent it. I merely 
 mention this incident here, in order to show that lapse of 
 time had in no degree weakened the revengeful feelings 
 of Te Rauparaha, and that he considered the manes of his 
 murdered children insufficiently appeased by the 
 slaughter of the hundreds whom he had already 
 sacrificed. 
 
 In about a year after the visit of Whatanui with Te 
 Heuheu the former returned to Kapiti with the main 
 body of his tribe, this migration being known as the heke 
 mairaro, or " heke from below," the north point being 
 always treated by the Maoris as downward. From that 
 time forth for some years, parties of the same tribe 
 constantly recruited their countrymen in their settle- 
 ments on the Manawatu, gradually extending their 
 occupation over the whole country between Otaki and 
 Rangitikei, although their chief stations were in the 
 Horowhenua and Ohau districts : whilst the Ngatiapa, 
 under the protection of Rangihaeata and Taratoa, 
 occupied some country on the north of the Rangitikei, 
 yielding a tribute to both of these chiefs as a condition of 
 their being left in peace.
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 123 
 
 Not long after the arrival of Whatanui with the heke 
 mairaro, Te Eauparaha put in execution his long 
 meditated project of invading and permanently occupying 
 the northern coasts of the Middle Island. It appears 
 that his fame as a warrior had reached the ears of 
 Eerewhaka, a great chief of the Ngaitahu, whose 
 principal settlement was at the Kaikoura Peninsula. 
 This chief had been excessively indignant at the defeat of 
 
 The Kaikoura Mountains. 
 
 the allies at Waiorua, and on hearing of the song of 
 triumph, chanted by Te Eauparaha on that occasion, in 
 which the latter indicated his intention of attacking and 
 subduing the Ngaitahu, he had declared " that if Te 
 Eauparaha dared set a foot in his country he would rip 
 his belly with a niho-manga, or shark's tooth," a curse 
 which was reported to Te Eauparaha by a runaway 
 slave, and which his memory for small matters being
 
 124 THE STIRRING TIMES OP TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 remarkably tenacious would afford him, at any distance 
 of time, ample pretext and indeed justification for attack- 
 ing Eerewhaka and his people. 
 
 In 1828, having accumulated a considerable quantity 
 of fire-arms and ammunition, he started with 340 picked 
 warriors, comprising Ngatitoa, Ngatiawa, Ngatitama, and 
 Ngatiraukawa, under Niho, the son of Te Pehi, Takerei, 
 Te Kanae, Te Koihua, Te Puoho, and other chiefs of 
 note, and first made for D'Urville Island, at the north- 
 east of Blind Bay. At this time D'Urville Island, the 
 Pelorus and Queen Charlotte Sounds, the Wairau and 
 the Awatere, were all occupied by a numerous section of 
 the Eangitane tribe, which had settled in these places 
 after destroying the Ngatimamoe some 200 years before. 
 But though numerous, and in that sense powerful, so 
 long as their warfare was carried on with the ordinary 
 New Zealand weapons, they were no match for the 
 chosen warriors of Te Eauparaha, more particularly when 
 armed with the more deadly European weapons. The 
 consequence was that they w r ere everywhere disastrously 
 defeated, hundreds of them being killed and devoured on 
 the spot, whilst numbers of the prisoners were taken 
 to Kapiti to undergo the same fate, the wretched 
 remnant being kept in abject slavery by such of their 
 conquerors as settled in the newly acquired district. 
 
 Whilst Te Eauparaha was engaged in these operations 
 Te Pehi returned from England, and at once joined him 
 with a considerable number of followers. Shortly after 
 this the main force divided, a sub-division of the Ngatitoa 
 named the Ngatirarua hapu, under Niho and Takerei, the 
 Puketapu and Nutiwai hapus of Ngatiawa, under Te 
 Koihua, and the Ngatitama, under Te Puoho, proceeding 
 to Blind and Massacre Bays whose exploits will be
 
 125 
 
 hereafter referred to whilst Te Eauparaha, Te Pehi, and 
 other chiefs, with 300 well armed men, flushed with 
 victory, and grown strong upon human flesh, left 
 Eangitoto for the Kaikoura Peninsula, in order to afford 
 to Rerewhaka the opportunity of putting his long made 
 
 Te Pehi. 
 
 threat into execution. But the Ngatitoa chief felt sure 
 of a comparatively easy victory, for notwithstanding a 
 great numerical superiority on the part of the enemy, he 
 knew that they were indifferently, if at all, supplied with 
 fire-arms, whilst the great bulk of his own men were well 
 furnished with guns, powder, and ball.
 
 126 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 It will be observed that, in accordance with the well 
 known habit of the New Zealanders, Te Rauparaha had 
 never forgotten Rerewhaka's curse, and he felt highly 
 elated at the prospect of a revenge, which the force at his 
 command rendered almost certain. But besides this 
 prospect of vengeance, and the anticipated additional 
 gratification of devouring the bodies of the slain, he 
 expected to acquire large quantities of greenstone 
 weapons and ornaments, in which, as he had been 
 informed by the slave who had reported Rerewhaka's 
 foolish boast, the Ngaitahu of the Kaikoura and the 
 Amuri were especially rich, for notwithstanding the 
 introduction of fire-arms into their system of warfare, 
 the mere pounamu, or greenstone battle-axe, and other 
 implements of war manufactured from that substance, 
 was then, and indeed always has been, held in great 
 estimation by the Maoris. Te Rauparaha, therefore, 
 longed to add the acquisition of such treasures to the 
 gratification which he would derive from wreaking 
 vengeance upon the Ngaitahu chieftain, for the insult 
 under which he had so long suffered. 
 
 As my readers are probably aware, the greenstone or 
 nephrite, from which the more valuable of the weapons 
 in question are made, is found exclusively on the West 
 Coast of the Middle Island, and it appears that the 
 Ngaitahu of Kaikoura and Amuri especially, had long 
 been in the habit of sending war parties across the 
 island, for the purpose of killing and plundering the 
 inhabitants of the district in which it was obtained. 
 These expeditions sometimes passed through the Tarn- 
 dale country to the Upper Waiauua, and from thence 
 through the Kopiokaitangata, or Cannibal Gorge, at the 
 head of the Marina River, into the valley of the Grey,
 
 127 
 
 whence they ran down the coast to the main settlements 
 from the mouth of that river to Jackson Bay, and at 
 other times passed from the Conway and other points on 
 the East Coast through the Hanmer Plains to the valley 
 of the Ahaura, a tributary of the Grey, and so to the 
 same localities. 
 
 The line of route by the Cannibal Gorge runs partly 
 .through a tract of country which I now occupy as a 
 
 Tatooing on Te Pehi's face. 
 
 cattle-run, and my men have frequently found stone 
 axes, pawa shells, remains of eel-baskets, and other 
 articles, left on the line of march ; similar articles being 
 also found on the line through the Hanmer Plains. The 
 scenery of the upper country on the line by the Cannibal 
 Gorge is very grand and beautiful, the valley of Ada, the 
 head waters of which rise within half a mile of those of
 
 128 
 
 the Marina, running through an immense cleft in the 
 Spencer Mountains, the summits of Mount Una and the 
 Fairy Queen, capped with perpetual snow, rising abruptly 
 on each side of the stream, to a height little under 6,000 
 feet, whilst the valley itself is rarely more than a quarter 
 of a mile in breadth. The Cannibal Gorge is extremely 
 rugged, and the fall of the river tremendous, its waters, 
 when swollen by rain and melting snow, pouring down 
 the gorge for miles in a perfect cataract of foam, and 
 with a roar, which, echoed from the rocky glens on each 
 side, rivals that of Niagara. 
 
 During their journeys to the coast through these 
 rugged scenes the war parties lived entirely on eels, 
 wekas, and kakapos, which, at that time, were numerous 
 in the ranges ; whilst on their return, after a successful 
 raid, human flesh was often carried by the slaves they 
 had taken, and the latter were, not unfrequently, killed 
 in order to afford a banquet to their captors. During 
 these expeditions large quantities of greenstone, both in 
 rough blocks and in well-fashioned weapons an art 
 especially known to the West Coast natives were often 
 obtained, if the invaders was not discovered in time to 
 permit the inhabitants to conceal themselves and their 
 treasures, and it was the accumulated wealth of many 
 years which Te Eauparaha expected to acquire in case 
 he should prove victorious in his projected attack upon 
 Rerewhaka and his people.
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 129 
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 THE STEUGGLE WITH THE NGAITAHU. 
 
 IT was not till the morning of the fourth day after 
 leaving D'Urville Island that the war party reached the 
 Kaikoura Peninsula, and as they had arrived before 
 daylight they anchored a short distance from the shore, 
 in order that they might be enabled at dawn to recon- 
 noitre the position of the enemy before landing. It 
 would appear that the Ngaitahus at that time expected a 
 visit from a southern chief of their own tribe, with a 
 considerable following, and that on the morning in 
 question, seeing the canoes of Te Eauparaha's party at 
 anchor, and not having noticed the direction from which 
 they had come, they mistook them for those of their 
 friends, and large numbers of the people of the pa ran 
 down to the shore, shouting the cry of welcome to the 
 supposed visitors, who, at once seeing the advantage 
 which the mistake would afford them in their intended 
 attack, made for the shore with all possible speed, and 
 having reached it jumped out of the canoes, and immedi- 
 ately commenced the attack. 
 
 The unfortunate people being quite unarmed, and 
 taken by surprise, endeavoured to escape by retreating 
 towards the pa, which, in the general confusion, was 
 taken without difficulty, some 1,400 of the people, 
 including women and children, being killed or taken 
 
 I
 
 130 THE STIRRING TIMES OP TE RAUPAKAHA 
 
 prisoners, amongst the latter of whom was the chief 
 Rerewhaka, whose threat Te Rauparaha was then 
 avenging. After remaining for some time to feast upon 
 the bodies of the slain, and to plunder the pa of its 
 treasures, the victorious Ngatitoa returned with their 
 prisoners to Kapiti, where the greater number of the 
 latter, including Rerewhaka himself, were put to death 
 and eaten, the chief having been sacrificed with great 
 cruelty on account of the threat which had been the 
 prime cause of the attack. In consequence of this 
 circumstance Te Rauparaha named the battle the " niho 
 manga, or battle of the shark's tooth." 
 
 At the time of this event another section of the Ngai- 
 tahu tribe occupied an extensive pa called Kaiapohia, about 
 fourteen miles north of Christchurch, with the inhabi- 
 tants of which Te Rauparaha made up his mind to pick 
 a quarrel at the first convenient opportunity, but he felt 
 that the force he had under his command at Kaikoura 
 was too small for the purpose of any attack upon it, 
 particularly after the enemy had received notice of the 
 fall of the latter place, and had had time to make 
 preparations for defence. 
 
 In the following year, before he had had an opportunity 
 of devising any particular scheme for the purpose of 
 bringing about a quarrel between himself and the Kaiapoi 
 people, he was induced again to attack upon the remnant 
 of the Ngaitahu at Kaikoura, in consequence of an insult 
 put upon Rangihaeata by a Ngatikahungunu chief 
 named Kekerengu, who, dreading the consequences, had 
 fled across the strait and taken refuge with them. Te 
 Rauparaha collected a considerable band of Ngatitoa and 
 their allies, under his own leadership, with Te Pehi, Pohai- 
 tara, Rangihaeata, and other principal chiefs under him,
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OP TE RAUPARAHA 131 
 
 and started for the Wairau, whence he made his way 
 along the coast to Kaikoura. On his arrival there he 
 found that the pa had been evacuated on their approach, 
 the inhabitants flying down the Amuri. They were 
 overtaken by the war party at a pa called Omihi, where 
 
 Decorated Head of Te Rauparaha's War Canoe. 
 
 they were attacked and routed with great slaughter, 
 numbers of prisoners being also taken. 
 
 These were left in charge of a detachment, whilst the 
 rest of the force pushed with all speed for Kaiapohia, in 
 order that Te Bauparaha might put his design against its 
 inhabitants into execution. The pa of that name was 
 situated just within the line of the coast dunes of
 
 132 THE STIRRING TIMES OP TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 Pegasus Bay, about a mile to the south of the Eiver 
 Ashley, and was erected upon a promontory about nine 
 or ten acres in extent, which extends into a deep swamp 
 lying between the sand dunes and the bank of the river. 
 This swamp, which is very deep, nearly surrounds the 
 site of the pa, and prevented it from being attacked 
 at any point except in front ; and along the line of the 
 front, extending from one branch of the swamp to the 
 other, a distance of about 250 yards, it was defended by 
 a double line of heavy palisading and a deep ditch, with 
 two large outworks, from which a flank fire could be 
 maintained on any party attempting to scale the 
 palisades. 
 
 I have frequently visited the site of this pa, which 
 still exhibits unmistakeable evidences of the conflict 
 which took place there, including many relics of the 
 special festivities with which the Maoris invariably 
 celebrated their victories. I was informed that after its 
 fall (which will shortly be fully detailed) the principal 
 defenders threw large numbers of their choicest green- 
 stone weapons and ornaments into the deepest part of 
 the swamp, where they still lie, to reward any enter- 
 prising person who will drain it for the purpose of 
 recovering them. 
 
 When Te Eauparaha and his people arrived at the pa, 
 they at once opened intercourse with the chiefs, 
 pretending that they had come to seek their friendship, 
 and desired to barter fire-arms and ammunition in 
 exchange for greenstone, in which the people of Kaiapoi, 
 like their kinsfolk at Kaikoura, were extremely rich, but 
 the latter, having been informed by some refugees of the 
 slaughter at Omihi, distrusted the good intentions of 
 their visitors. In order, however, to remove all pretext
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 133 
 
 for hostilities they received them with great appearance 
 of cordiality, and treated the chiefs who visited their 
 houses with ostentatious hospitality. Te Eauparaha 
 himself, however, could not be induced to enter the pa, 
 the wily chief feeling that he had too surely earned their 
 animosity by the slaughter of their kinsfolk, and, there- 
 fore, could not justly place much trust upon their 
 professions of friendship. 
 
 It appears, according to the Ngatitoa account of the 
 affair, that Te Pehi, who in order to keep up the 
 deception had carried on a trade with some of the 
 people, let the cat out of the bag ; for a Ngaitahu chief 
 having expressed great unwillingness to part with a 
 coveted greenstone weapon, was told by Te Pehi, in 
 anger, " Why do you, with the crooked tatoo, resist my 
 wishes; you, whose nose will shortly cut off with a 
 hatchet." This confirmation from the lips of one of the 
 chiefs in command of the Ngatitoa of their preconception 
 of the real designs of Te Eauparaha's party, determined 
 the people in the pa to strike a blow which would prevent 
 Te Eauparaha from further prosecuting his design, at 
 least at that time ; and, for this purpose, they resolved to 
 kill the chiefs then in the pa, amongst whom, besides Te 
 Pehi, were Pokaitara, Te Aratangata, of Ngatiraukawa, 
 and others of note. 
 
 Pokaitara had taken to wife from amongst the 
 prisoners at Kaikoura the daughter of Eongatara, one of 
 the Ngaitahu chieftains then in the pa, and having been 
 invited to the house of the latter under pretext of 
 receiving a present of greenstone, proceeded thither 
 without suspicion of foul play. As he stooped to enter 
 the house the old chief, Eongatara, took hold of his mat, 
 saying, ' Welcome, welcome, my daughter's lord," at the
 
 134 
 
 same time killing him by a blow on the head with the 
 greenstone club which he expected to have received as a 
 gift. The death of Pokaitara was the signal for a general 
 slaughter of the Ngatitoa chiefs, who were at once 
 despatched, their bodies being destined to the umus of 
 their murderers. 
 
 The slaughter of his uncle, and of so many of his 
 leading chiefs, was a severe blow to Te Rauparaha, who, 
 with the rest of his party, at once fell back on Omihi, 
 where he re-united his forces. In part revenge for the 
 murder, he at once slew all the prisoners, and, after 
 devouring their bodies, returned to the Wairau, whence 
 they crossed over to Kapiti. 
 
 The Ngaitahu account of the origin of the quarrel is 
 different, and I give it from a petition presented, in 1869, 
 to the House of Eepresentatives, by Patterson, then 
 Maori member for the Southern Maori Electoral Dis- 
 trict. The petition refers to a letter addressed to 
 Patterson by the runanga, or local council, of the Maoris 
 living near the European village of Kaiapoi, which is 
 situated on the banks of the Waimakariri Eiver, some 
 miles south of the pa above referred to. 
 
 The following is the text of the letter, which I give 
 nearly entire, as being of much interest in connection 
 with my story : 
 
 " To Patterson, 
 
 " friend, salutations to you, and to the Assembly, 
 that is to say, the great chiefs who work for justice and 
 truth. 
 
 " sir, this is the matter which we submit to you, do 
 you publish it to the Assembly, so that the great doctors 
 may examine this disease. The disease is the sale by 
 Ngatitoa of this land.
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE HAUPARAHA 133 
 
 " After you had left, the runanga gave their attention 
 to the question of the affliction under which they are 
 suffering, and now it is submitted to the great doctor to 
 be prescribed for by him. Had the defeat of the people 
 at this land been equal to that of the people of Rangitikei 
 and Manawatu by Te Eauparaha and Ngatiraukawa, 
 where the people were killed and the land was taken 
 possession of, and has been kept up to this time, then it 
 would have been right that we should suffer under this 
 affliction. But, as for the defeat of the natives of Kaiapoi, 
 the Maori runanga consider that is very clear that the 
 battles in which the Kaiapoi natives were defeated were 
 not followed up by occupation on the part of the victors. 
 
 " According to our view the killing of the Kaiapoi 
 natives was caused by the Rangitane, who said that Te 
 Rauparaha was to be killed, with a stick used for beating 
 fern-root. He then attacked the Rangitane, and defeated 
 them. When Rerewhaka heard that his relatives had 
 been slain, he said that he would rip Te Rauparaha's 
 belly up with the tooth of a barracoota : it was through 
 that that this evil visited this place. Rerewhaka was 
 living amongst the people of Kaiapoi when he said that. 
 Te Rauparaha should have killed that man, for he was 
 the cause of the crime ; he spared him, but killed the 
 descendants of Tuteahuka. O friends, the men of 
 Kaiapoi were in deep distress on account of the killing 
 of their relatives at Kaikoura and at Omihi. Now these 
 two pas were destroyed by Te Rauparaha ; then Ngati- 
 tuteahuka and Ngatihikawaikura, the people of Kaiapoi, 
 bewailed their defeat. Te Rauparaha should have borne 
 in mind that the flesh of our relatives was still sticking 
 to his teeth, and he should have gone away and left it to 
 us to seek payment for our dead after him ; but he did 
 not, he came to Kaiapoi.
 
 136 THE STIEEING TIMES OF TE EAUPAEAHA 
 
 "When he came the old chiefs of Kaiapoi wished to 
 make peace, and sent Tamaiharanui to Te Eauparaha. 
 On their meeting they made peace, and the talk of 
 Tamaiharanui and Te Pehi was good. After Tamai- 
 haranui had started to come back, Te Eauparaha went 
 to another pa of ours, called Tuahiwi, and there 
 sought for the grandmother of Tamaiharanui. They dug 
 her body up and ate it, all decomposed as it was. 
 Tamaiharanui was greatly distressed, and threatened to 
 kill the war party of Te Eauparaha. Then his elder 
 relatives, the great chiefs of Kaiapoi, said to him, ' son, 
 do not, lest further evil follow in your footsteps.' He 
 replied, It would not have mattered had I been away 
 when this decomposed body was eaten, but, as it is, it 
 has taken place in my very .presence.' Well, as the 
 chief gave the word, Te Pehi, a great chief of Ngatitoa, 
 and others were killed. Then Te Eauparaha went 
 away." 
 
 Such is the Ngaitahu account of the origin of the 
 quarrel, which I am inclined to accept. It will be 
 thought strange that Te Eauparaha did not, without 
 seeking any pretence for the act, attack the pa in force, 
 but to have done so would have been a violation of the 
 Maori etiquette in matters relating to war. He had 
 taken vengeance for the threat of Eerewhaka, and it was 
 for the relatives of the latter to strike the next blow, 
 which it appears they were unwilling to do, dreading the 
 very results which afterwards followed in revenge for the 
 killing of Te Pehi. 
 
 Te Eauparaha brooded much over this murder of his 
 relative, who, having accepted a secondary position in 
 the tribe, no longer excited his jealousy, and had greatly 
 assisted him as a wise counsellor and valiant leader.
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 137 
 
 After full consultation with the other chiefs of the tribe, 
 he resolved that his revenge should be carried out by an 
 act as treacherous as that by which the death of Te Pehi 
 and 'his companions had been brought about ; and whilst 
 still revolving in his mind the best means of accom- 
 plishing this design, a European vessel arrived at Kapiti, 
 from Sydney, after having passed through Foveaux Strait 
 and visited the Auckland Islands for the purpose of 
 leaving a party of sealers at the latter place. 
 
 Amongst the passengers by this vessel was Hohepa 
 Tamaihengia, a near relative of Te Bauparaha, who, on 
 leaving Foveaux Strait, had heard of the murder of Te 
 Pehi and his companions from the Maoris there. Hohepa 
 himself at once conceived the project of seizing and 
 killing some of the Ngaitahu chiefs in utu for their 
 death, and entered into arrangements with the master 
 of the vessel to proceed to Akaroa for that purpose. 
 This plan, however, having become known to some 
 European passengers who were about to join a whaling 
 party in Queen Charlotte Sound, they dissuaded the 
 master from carrying it into effect, and the vessel 
 proceeded direct to Kapiti. 
 
 Hohepa communicated his design to Te Rauparaha, 
 who determined to follow it out on the first convenient 
 opportunity. Some time after the departure of this 
 vessel, the English brig " Elizabeth " arrived at Kapiti. 
 This vessel was commanded by a person named Stewart, 
 to whom Te Rauparaha offered a large cargo of flax if he 
 would carry him and a chosen party of warriors to 
 Akaroa, for the purpose of seizing Tamaiharanui, the 
 principal chief of the Ngaitahu, who had been present at 
 Kaiapoi, at the time of the murder of Te Pehi, and had 
 indeed taken an active part in counselling it.
 
 138 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 Stewart assented to the proposal, and conveyed Te 
 Eauparaha and his warriors to Akaroa, where the 
 European scoundrel, at the instigation of his charterer, 
 opened communication with the unsuspecting Tamai- 
 haranui, and ultimately induced him, with his wife and 
 daughter, by the promise of some guns and powder, to 
 come on board, where he was at once seized by Te 
 Eauparaha, who, with his men, had up to this time 
 remained concealed in the hold of the vessel. Having 
 bound the captured thief, they remained quiet until 
 nightfall, and then landing in the ship's boats, attacked 
 the Ngaitahu in their village, of whom they killed large 
 numbers. The bodies of the slain were taken on board 
 the vessel, which at once set sail for Kapiti. 
 
 On the passage up the successful taua feasted on these 
 bodies, using the ship's coppers for cooking them. It 
 may be that when Stewart engaged his vessel for thi& 
 expedition he was not made aware of the intentions of Te 
 Eauparaha, or did not foresee the results which followed, 
 whilst he was certainly unable to prevent the atrocities 
 which were perpetrated on board of her, but his name 
 will always be infamous for his connection with this 
 atrocious affair. It appears that the unfortunate 
 Tamaiharanui attempted to commit suicide, in con- 
 sequence of which he was chained in the cabin, but his 
 hands being free, he managed to strangle his daughter, 
 and push her body through one of the after ports, in 
 order to save her from the indignities to which she would 
 be subjected by her ruthless captors. But he himself 
 was taken alive to Kapiti, where he was delivered over to 
 the widows of Te Pehi, who subjected him to frightful 
 tortures, until at length he was put out of his misery by 
 a red-hot ramrod being passed through his neck.
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARA.HA 139 
 
 The following is the account given to me by Tamihana 
 Te Eauparaha of the mode in which the unfortunate 
 chief was delivered over to his death : " When the 
 vessel arrived at Kapiti it was proclaimed that 
 Tamaiharanui was on board, and the people were 
 delighted. Ngaitahu had thought there was only the 
 flowing sea (i.e., that there was no one going to attack 
 them), but they were deceived, and Tamaiharanui was 
 taken. There were not many people left in charge of 
 Kapiti when the ship returned; they were at Waikanae 
 and Otaki scraping flax as cargo for the vessel. Te Pehi's 
 widows were at Waitohu, near Otaki, scraping flax. 
 Tamaiharanui was then taken to Otaki in Te Bauparaha's 
 canoe to be shown to those widows, as it was to be left 
 to them to determine whether he was to be killed or 
 allowed to live. 
 
 " When they arrived at Otaki he asked Te Eauparaha 
 to spare him, but Te Bauparaha replied : ' If the party 
 killed, that is, Te Pehi, belonged to me, I would save 
 you, but as the dead belonged to Ngatitoa, I cannot save 
 you.' He was then taken to Waitohu, to be seen by the 
 widows, and by Tiaia, the chief wife Te Pehi, and was 
 then delivered over to them. They hung him on a tree 
 and killed him with great torture, and he died when a 
 red-hot ramrod was put through his neck by Tiaia. Te 
 Eauparaha did not witness his death." 
 
 It is impossible to conceive that women could descend 
 so low in the scale of humanity as to commit such 
 atrocities without any sentiment of compassion or of 
 remorse, but those who are familiar with the history of 
 the times of which I write, may recall many frightful 
 instances of barbarity of the same kind.
 
 140 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 Amongst these, one of the most cruel which has come 
 under my notice is the following, related by Wilson in 
 his " Three Chapters in the Life of Te Waharoa " : " We 
 may here mention a tragedy all are tragedies in this 
 chapter of horrors. Mr. Knight was accustomed, every 
 morning about sunrise, to attend a school at Ohinemutu 
 Pa, but as there were no scholars on the morning of the 
 12th May, he went to the place where he was told they 
 would be found. There he perceived a great number of 
 people sitting in two assemblages on the ground one 
 entirely of men, the other of women and the chief Pango. 
 The former company he joined, and conversed with them, 
 as well as he was able, on the sin of cannibalism, but 
 Korokai and all laughed at the idea of burying their 
 enemies. 
 
 " Their conversation ceased, however, on Knight hearing 
 the word patua (kill) repeated several times ; and looking 
 round toward the women, he was horrified to see the 
 widow of the late chief Haupapa, who had been killed at 
 Maketu, standing naked and armed with a tomahawk, 
 whilst another woman, also nude, and Pango were 
 dragging a woman taken prisoner at Te Tumu, that she 
 might be killed by Mrs. Haupapa, in the open space 
 between the men and the women. Mr. Knight 
 immediately sprang forward, and entreated them not to 
 hurt the woman, but Mrs. Haupapa, paying no attention, 
 raised her hatchet ; on this, Knight caught the weapon 
 and pulled it out of her hand, whereupon the other 
 woman angrily wrenched it from his grasp, and would 
 have killed him had not Pango interposed by running at 
 him and giving him a blow and thrust that nearly sent 
 him into the lake. He was, however, about to return 
 when the natives seized him and held him back.
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 141 
 
 " Just then, the poor woman slipping out of the 
 garments which she was held by, rushed to Knight, and 
 falling down, clasped his knees convulsively, in an agony 
 of terror. Her murderers came, and abusing the pakeha 
 the while for pokanoaing (interfering or meddling), with 
 difficulty dragged her from her hold. The helpless 
 pakeha says, ' It would have melted the heart of a stone ' 
 to hear her calling each relative by name, beseeching 
 them to save her, for though a Tauranga woman, she was 
 connected with Eotorua, and to see her last despairing, 
 supplicating look, as she was taken a few yards off and 
 killed by that virago Mrs. Haupapa. 
 
 " Now this scene occurred simply because Haupapa's 
 widow longed to assuage the sorrow of her bereaved 
 heart, by despatching, with her own hand, some prisoner 
 of rank as utu for her lord. The tribe respected her 
 desire; they assembled to witness the spectacle, and 
 furnished a victim by handing over a chief's widow to 
 her will." 
 
 It may, as I have before observed, seem strange that 
 Te Eauparaha did not at once take the bolder and more 
 manly course of attacking the Ngaitahu at Kaiapoi, in 
 the ordinary way of warfare, for the purpose of avenging 
 the murder of Te Pehi and his brother chiefs, but I was 
 informed by his son that the course he adopted was 
 strictly tika, or in other words, in accordance with Maori 
 etiquette in such matters, and that, indeed, any other line 
 of action would not properly have met the exigencies of 
 the case. 
 
 That Te Eauparaha was not limited to the adoption of 
 what we should consider the treacherous plan of revenge 
 above related is clear from the events which I am about 
 to refer to, for in about a year after the capture of
 
 142 THE STIREING TIMES OF TE RAUPABAHA 
 
 Tamaiharanui our chief determined, in furtherance of his 
 original design, to attack the great pa at Kaiapoi. For 
 this purpose he assembled a large force, comprising 
 Ngatitoa, Ngatiawa, and Ngatiraukawa, part of whom 
 made their way through the Wairau Gorge and the 
 Hanmer Plains to the Waipara River, which flows into 
 the sea near the north head of Pegasus Bay ; whilst he 
 with the main body of his forces passed over to the 
 East Coast, and from thence down that coast to the 
 mouth of the Waipara, where they were joined by the 
 inland party. 
 
 The inland line of march runs through some of the 
 most picturesque country in New Zealand, the gorge of 
 the Wairau, especially, being rugged and grand in the 
 extreme. I was the first European who ever passed 
 through this gorge, which I did in 1859 or 1860 for the 
 purpose of determining whether it would afford a 
 practicable line of communication between Nelson and 
 Canterbury, and on that occasion I was accompanied by 
 a Ngatitoa man, who had been one of the inland war 
 party on the occasion above referred to. Singular to 
 state, however, I found, after passing through the gorge, 
 that he had entirely forgotten the line of route between 
 Tarndale and the pass into the Hanmer Plains, and the 
 season was, unfortunately, too far advanced to permit of 
 my attempting to discover it independently. Indeed, 
 my party was snowed up for several days, and as we ran 
 some risk of getting short of food for the return journey, 
 I was reluctantly compelled to give up the design. 
 
 This was, however, of little importance, as Mr. Weld, 
 afterwards Governor of Western Australia, had, a few 
 days before my passage through the upper part of 
 the gorge, found his way into Tarndale over the mount
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 143 
 
 near the junction of the Wairau and Kopiouenuku 
 Elvers, and had established the connections between that 
 place and the pass known as Jollie's Pass, leading from 
 the Clarence River into the Hanmer Plains. Subsequent 
 explorations of my own resulted in the discovery, of 
 the country in the Upper Waiauua and the line of the 
 Cannibal Gorge, and of a shorter and easier pass from 
 Tarndale into the Hanmer Plains, being probably the one 
 used by the native party above referred to. 
 
 After the junction of the two bodies Te Eauparaha 
 proceeded at once to Kaiapohia for the purpose of 
 attacking the pa. The Ngaitahu were evidently quite 
 unprepared for this fresh invasion, a large number of 
 their warriors being absent at Port Cooper, whither they 
 had accompanied Taiaroa (father of the member of the 
 House of Eepresentatives of that name), who was then 
 the leading chief of that portion of their tribe, which 
 occupied the country in the neighbourhood of the present 
 site of Dunedin, and who was returning home after a 
 visit to his kinsfolk at Kaiapohia. Others of the people 
 were engaged in their cultivations outside of the pa, 
 which was, in fact, only occupied by a small number of 
 able-bodied warriors and a few of the older men, and 
 some women and children. 
 
 So carefully had Te Eauparaha concealed the approach 
 of his war party that the first intimation which the 
 inhabitants of the pa received of it was the sound of the 
 firing as his force attacked the people in the cultivations, 
 and the cries of the dying and wounded ; and they had 
 barely time to close the gates of the outworks and to 
 man the line of defences before a number of the enemy 
 appeared in front of it. The Ngatitoa at once sprang to 
 the assault, hoping to carry the defences by a coup de
 
 144 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 main, but were repulsed with some slaughter ; and after 
 renewing the attempt and finding them too strong to be 
 thus overcome, they determined to commence a regular 
 siege. 
 
 For that purpose they intrenched themselves on the 
 ground in front of the pa, at the same time occupying 
 some sand-hills which commanded it on the eastern side, 
 
 but from which 
 it is separated 
 by a branch 
 of the great 
 swamp before 
 referred to. In 
 the meantime, 
 some of the 
 Ngaitahu who 
 had escaped 
 from the first 
 attack, favour- 
 ed in so doing 
 by their intim- 
 ate knowledge 
 of the line of 
 swamps which 
 occupies the 
 the sea coast 
 
 Taiaroa. 
 
 between the sand-dunes and 
 
 intervals 
 
 as far as Banks Peninsula, managed to reach Port 
 Cooper, where they informed their people of the attack 
 upon the pa, arriving there in time to stop Taiaroa 
 and those who were about to accompany him to Otago. 
 
 After collecting reinforcements from the villages on 
 the peninsula, Taiaroa and his forces made their way 
 along the coast line as far as the Waimakariri, availing
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 145 
 
 themselves of the swamps above referred to, for the 
 purpose of concealing their march from any detached 
 parties of the Ngatitoa. On reaching the Waimakariri 
 they crossed it on rafts (commonly called mokihi by the 
 natives) made of dried stalks of the flax, and concealed 
 themselves until dark. 
 
 Finding the hostile forces encamped along the front of 
 the pa, and warned by their watch-fires that they were 
 on the alert, they determined to ford the swamp at a 
 narrow point on its western side, and to enter it through 
 an outwork erected there, that being the only point 
 along the line of the swamp which was at all weak. 
 Using the utmost caution in their approach to this point 
 they succeeded in reaching it without having attracted 
 the notice of the besiegers, and at once plunged into the 
 swamp, trusting to be able to struggle through it and 
 enter the pa without being attacked by the Ngatitoa. 
 Knowing, however, that the defenders would also be on the 
 alert, they shouted the name of Taiaroa as they plunged 
 into the water, in the hope that their friends would 
 recognise their voices and take the necessary steps to 
 admit them ; but the latter, believing it to be a ruse of the 
 Ngatitoa, opened fire upon them, which was kept up 
 vigorously for some time. The error having at last been 
 discovered, and little damage having fortunately been 
 done, the main body of the warriors were admitted into 
 the pa, to the great joy of the handful of people by whom, 
 up to that time, the defence had been maintained. 
 
 The siege operations were, however, in but a slight 
 degree affected by this accession of strength to the 
 besieged, for although they made frequent sorties against 
 the works of the Ngatitoa, these experienced warriors 
 held them without difficulty, and repulsed them all with 
 
 K
 
 146 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 loss to the assailants. The Ngaitahu, dispirited by their 
 failures, soon abandoned these tactics, and, trusting in 
 the impregnable nature of the pa, confined themselves to 
 purely defensive operations. I ought to mention that 
 at the time the siege commenced the pa was well 
 provisioned, besides which the lagoon yielded large 
 supplies of eels, so that the defenders ran little risk of 
 being obliged to surrender on account of famine, whilst 
 the besiegers, on the other hand, were compelled to 
 depend on foraging parties for supplies, and frequently 
 ran short of provisions. Indeed, the difficulty of feeding 
 his men was the chief cause which led to the adoption 
 of a plan of attack which, so far as I am aware, was then 
 adopted for the first time in Maori warfare. 
 
 A council of war having been held, it was determined 
 to sap up to the two outworks, and as soon as the head 
 of the sap had been carried up to them, to pile up in 
 front of them immense quantities of dried brushwood, 
 which were to be set ori fire when the wind blew in the 
 direction of the pa, and to rush it so soon as the 
 palisading had been burned down. This plan was carried 
 out, and the two lines of sap exist to this day, and are as 
 well carried out as if done by the most experienced 
 European engineers. 
 
 At first Te Rauparaha suffered considerable loss, for 
 the enemy, foreseeing that the pa must be taken if this 
 plan of operation was successfully carried out, made the 
 most strenuous efforts to prevent it, but having been 
 defeated in every encounter, and Te Rauparaha having 
 taken precautions to prevent future loss, they allowed 
 the saps to be pushed close up to the outworks. So 
 soon as the besiegers, however, had piled the brushwood 
 in position it was fired by the people of the pa, the wind
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RATJPARAHA 147 
 
 at the time blowing from the north-west ; but a sudden 
 change occurring, both the outworks, as well as the 
 general line of defences, were soon enveloped in a mass 
 of flame and smoke, from which the defenders were 
 compelled to retreat. 
 
 When the palisading had thus been destroyed, the 
 Xgatitoa rushed through the burning ruins, and a general 
 massacre ensued. Many endeavoured to escape by 
 swimming across the lagoon, and some few succeeded in 
 doing so, whilst others were interrupted by bodies of 
 Ngatitoa detached for that purpose. The slaughter was 
 tremendous, whilst numbers of prisoners also fell into- 
 the hands of the victors. Some conception may be 
 formed of the numbers slain and eaten, when I mention 
 that some time after the settlement of Canterbury the 
 Eev. Mr. Eaven, Incumbent of Woodend, near the site 
 of the pa in question, collected many cartloads of their 
 bones, and buried them in a mound on the side of the 
 main road leading from the present town of Kaiapoi to the 
 north. Ghastly relics of these feasts still strew the same 
 ground, from which I myself have gathered many. 
 
 Having thus captured the main stronghold of the 
 Ngaitahu, Te Eauparaha sent detached parties of his 
 warriors to scour the plains as far south as the Eakaia, 
 as well as to ravage the villages on the Peninsula, 
 by whom hundreds of the unfortunate people w r ere 
 slaughtered ; after which he made his way back to the 
 shores of Cook Strait, and from thence to Kapiti, laden 
 with spoil, and accompanied by large numbers of 
 captives, some of whom were kept in slavery, whilst 
 others w 7 ere used in the ordinary manner in the festivities 
 by which his triumph was celebrated.
 
 148 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 THE LAST PHASE. 
 
 Te Eauparaha having thus completed his design of 
 conquering the Middle Island, next turned his attention, 
 at the earnest request of the Ngatiraukawa, to avenging 
 a defeat which the latter had sustained some time 
 previously at the hands of the tribes occupying the line 
 of the Wanganui Eiver. In this defeat only a few of 
 the chiefs had escaped the general slaughter, amongst 
 whom were Te Puke and his younger brother Te Ao, 
 both of whom succeeded in making their way to Kapiti. 
 
 In consequence of this resolution, a war party number- 
 ing nearly a thousand fighting men, under the most 
 distinguished chiefs of the three tribes, then united under 
 the general leadership of Te Rauparaha, was despatched 
 to lay siege to Putikiwaranui, a great pa of the Wanganuis, 
 which was occupied and defended by nearly double the 
 number of the attacking force. The siege lasted upwards 
 of two months, during which many sorties were made, 
 but the besiegers maintained their ground, and ultimately 
 carried the enemy's works by assault, slaughtering an 
 immense number of them. 
 
 Turoa and Hori Te Anaua (afterwards known as Hori 
 KingiJ the head chiefs, however, escaped, but the fact 
 that no attempt was even made to avenge this serious 
 disaster, is of itself the strongest evidence of the power
 
 149 
 
 of Te Eauparaha and his allies, and of the absurdity of 
 supposing that his occupation of the country he had 
 conquered could for a moment have been disturbed by 
 the remnant of the Ngatiapa, Eangitane, and Muaupoko 
 tribes which had still escaped the general destruction of 
 their people. 
 
 Soon after the year 1835, the great body of the 
 Ngatiawa, under the chiefs E Puni, Warepouri, Wi 
 Tako, and others, and accompanied by numbers of the 
 Taranaki and Ngatiruanui tribes, came down the coast, 
 many of them settling around and to the southward 
 of Waikanae, whilst others took possession of Port- 
 Nicholson and the Hutt country, from which they drove 
 the section of the Ngatikahungunu, which up to this 
 time had occupied those districts. This migration took 
 place after the destruction of the great Ngatiawa pa of 
 Pukerangiora, inland of the Waitara. 
 
 It appears that many years before this event the 
 Waikato tribes, under Te Whero Whero and Taiporutu 
 (father of Waharoa and grandfather of William Thompson 
 Tarapipi, so celebrated in connection with our own 
 Waikato wars) had suffered severely at the hands of the 
 Ngatitama under the leadership of Kaeaea, by whom 
 Taiporutu was crucified in the gateway of a pa defended 
 by this ruthless w r arrior. It was indeed from this 
 circumstance that Waharoa took his name, which 
 signifies the large gateway of a pa. 
 
 This defeat, as well as that which they had suffered at 
 the hands of Te Eauparaha and his allies, during the 
 migration of the Ngatitoa from Kawhia, naturally 
 rankled in their minds, and in one of the intervals of the 
 wars of Te Waharoa against the Ngatimaru, he and Te 
 Whero Whero concerted a campaign against the Ngatiawa.
 
 150 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 There is liittle doubt, however, that but for the great 
 superiority in the weapons of the Waikato force they 
 would have thought twice before attacking their old foes, 
 who had always been notorious for their bravery, and 
 who in their frequent migrations had proved themselves 
 more than a match for even the most warlike tribes to which 
 they became opposed. But the possession of a large 
 supply of fire-arms gave to the Waikato chieftains an 
 almost irresistible offensive power, and they did not 
 hesitate, therefore, in attacking the Ngatiawa, even in 
 the midst of their own country and in their principal 
 stronghold. 
 
 The pa was defended by a large number of warriors, 
 and withstood for many months the most vigorous 
 assaults, only falling at last after the unfortunate 
 inhabitants had suffered much from famine. When taken, 
 hundreds of prisoners fell into the hands of the victors, 
 and it is related of Te Where Whero that upwards of 250 
 of them were slain with his own hands, in order that 
 they might be prepared for the ovens. 
 
 It is said that, as he sat on the ground after the 
 assault, the unfortunate wretches were one by one 
 placed alongside of him, their heads within his reach, 
 and that he despatched them successively with a single 
 blow on the skull with a celebrated mere pounamu, 
 afterwards in the possession of his son, the Maori King. 
 After killing this great number he threw the mere down, 
 exclaiming, " I am tired, let the rest live," and 
 accordingly their lives were spared, but they were kept 
 in slavery until some time after the establishment of the 
 European settlement of New Plymouth. 
 
 The heavy blow thus inflicted upon the tribe, and the 
 fear of complete annihilation, determined those who still
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 151 
 
 remained to join Te Eauparaha and the Ngatiraukawa> 
 whose forces, thus increased, would be more than a 
 match for any war party which the Waikatos could 
 bring against them, even if the chiefs of the latter tribes 
 felt disposed to carry hostilities into Te Eauparaha's 
 country. It appears that, shortly after the arrival of the 
 Ngatiawa on the coast, they formed the design of taking 
 possession of a large part of the country occupied by the 
 Ngatiraukawa, and particularly that in the neighbour^ 
 hood and to the north of Otaki. It would seem, 
 moreover, that there was dissension amongst the 
 Ngatitoas themselves, a portion of them taking part 
 with the Ngatiawa, out of jealousy at some apparent 
 favouritism extended by Te Eauparaha to the great 
 Ngatiawa chieftains, and more particularly to Whatanui, 
 whose relationship to Te Eauparaha, together with his 
 high character as a chief and warrior, gave him great 
 influence with the latter. 
 
 The immediate cause of the fighting to which I am 
 about to refer, however, was a robbery committed by a 
 party of Ngatiruanui, who were caught by the Ngatirau- 
 kawa in the very act of plundering their potato pits near 
 Waikawa. A conflict at once took place, in which a 
 leading chief of the Ngatiruanui, named Tawhake, was 
 killed, and this led to hostilities being carried on between 
 the two tribes at various points on the line of their 
 settlements between Manawatu and Waikanae. This 
 state of affairs continued for a considerable time, the 
 forces engaged on each side being numerous and well 
 armed, the result being that large numbers were killed 
 on both sides. 
 
 Soon after this civil war had commenced Te Eauparaha 
 who at once saw the disastrous results which must
 
 152 
 
 follow from it, sent messengers to Te Heuheu, urging that 
 chief to bring down a force sufficiently strong to enable 
 him to crush the Ngatiruanui, who were the most 
 turbulent of the insurgents, after which he hoped to be 
 able to bring about a peace between the remainder of 
 the contending parties. He was much grieved, more- 
 over, at the dissension in his own tribe, part of which, as 
 I have before mentioned, had joined the Ngatiawa 
 leaders, and had taken an active part in the numerous 
 engagements which had already occurred. The loss on 
 both sides had been severe, and Te Eauparaha knew full 
 well that he required the whole strength at his command 
 to maintain his position against the Wanganui and 
 Ngatikahungunu tribes, who would have been but too 
 ready to attack him if they saw any reasonable prospect 
 of success. 
 
 In this connection, I may observe at this period the 
 shores of Cook Strait were frequented by numbers of 
 whale and other ships, and the tribes along the coast 
 found no difficulty in obtaining fire-arms and ammuni- 
 tion, which were the principal articles received in barter 
 for flax, then largely used in Australia for the manu- 
 facture of wool-lashing. This facility of obtaining 
 European weapons placed the tribes in question upon a 
 footing of comparative equality in their contests, and 
 Te Eauparaha could no longer reckon upon the con- 
 tinuance of the advantages which his own earlier 
 possession of them had given him in his wars, and it- 
 was, therefore, of the utmost moment to him that 
 nothing should take place which would tend to weaken 
 his influence or his numbers. 
 
 It was, therefore, with great satisfaction that he 
 received intimation from Te Heuheu of his intention to
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 153 
 
 bring a large force to his aid : and, in effect, within two 
 or three months after the commencement of hostilities, 
 that chief, accompanied by other chiefs of note from 
 Maungatautari and Taupo, amongst whom were Tariki 
 and Taonui, reached Otaki with nearly 800 well-armed 
 fighting men. No sooner had they arrived than they 
 proceeded to attack the Ngatiawa at Horowhenua, a 
 pa close to the Otaki Eiver. But even with this great 
 accession to his forces, the contest raged for several 
 months with varying success, the slaughter in some 
 instances being very great. In one of the battles 
 Papaka, a favourite brother of Te Heuheu, was killed, and 
 in another Te Tipi, a son of Te Eauparaha. 
 
 At length a great battle was fought at Pakakutu, in 
 which the Ngatiruanui were defeated with serious loss, 
 their chief Takerangi being killed and their pa taken. 
 This battle put an end to the war, for soon afterwards 
 the whole of the leading chiefs on both sides met, and 
 upon the advice and urgent entreaty of Te Heuheu and 
 Whatanui, a peace was made, which was not again 
 broken until the fighting at Kirititonga, which (as will be 
 mentioned in the sequel) took place on the day before 
 the arrival of the " Tory." 
 
 Immediately after peace had been solemnly ratified 
 the parties divided, the Ngatiraukawa proceeding to 
 re-occupy their former settlements around Ohau and 
 Horowhenua, and also the district between the Mana- 
 watu and Rangitikei Rivers, whilst the Ngatiawa retired 
 below Waikanae, occupying the various points, including 
 Port Nicholson, in which they were ultimately found by 
 the Agent of the New Zealand Company. 
 
 Te Rauparaha, however, was so much grieved at what 
 had taken place, and more particularly at the defection
 
 154 THE STIRLING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 of that part of his own tribe which had joined the 
 Ngatiawa during the recent struggle, that he determined 
 to accompany Te Heuheu back to Maungatautari, and 
 settle there for the remainder of his days. In pursu- 
 ance of this resolve, he collected his more immediate 
 followers and proceeded as far as Ohau, where, however, 
 he was overtaken by messengers from Otaki and Kapiti, 
 urging him to abandon his resolution and to remain with 
 his people. In this request they were joined by Te 
 Heuheu, and after much discussion and persuasion he 
 consented to their request, returning to Kapiti, after 
 taking leave of his great ally. 
 
 This was the last great struggle in which Te Rauparaha 
 was engaged, but it seems that during the intervals of 
 rest between his various more important undertakings, 
 he was ever mindful of the treacherous attempt of the 
 Muaupoko to murder him, and of the actual slaughter of 
 his children, and had unceasingly persecuted the 
 remnant of this tribe, until at last they, as well as the 
 Ngatiapa and Eangitane, sought the protection of Te 
 Whatanui. In the words of Te Kepa Eangihiwinui 
 (better known as Major Kemp), son of Tunguru, one of 
 the chiefs of the Muaupoko, who had been concerned in 
 the murder, "Whatanui took them under his protection, 
 and promised that nothing should reach them but the 
 rain from heaven;" meaning that he would' stand 
 between them and the long-nursed and ever-burning 
 wrath of Eauparaha. 
 
 The latter unwillingly yielded to the wishes of his 
 great kinsman, and from that time ceased directly to 
 molest these unfortunate people, who were suffered 
 again to occupy part of their original territory in the 
 neighbourhood of Lake Horowhenua ; not as a tribe,
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OP TE RAUPARAHA 155 
 
 however, but simply in the character of tributaries, if 
 not actual slaves, to Whatanui. In the words of Matene 
 Te Whiwhi, " Te Eauparaha was anxious to exterminate 
 the Muaupoko, but Whatanui interfered. Some had been 
 taken prisoners, but others were living dispersed in the 
 mountains. When they came to Horowhenua, they 
 came like wild dogs ; if they had been seen, they would 
 have been caught and killed. There was one there, a 
 woman of rank whose possessions had covered all Otaki, 
 and who had been a slave of mine. She was the wife of 
 Te Kooku. They had been taken but not killed." 
 
 But it is clear, nevertheless, that although Te 
 Eauparaha refrained from directly molesting them, he 
 was not unwilling to join in any indirect attempt to 
 exterminate them, for we find that on one occasion Wi 
 Tako, in conjunction with some of the Ngatitoa chiefs, 
 having been instigated by Te Eauparaha to do so, invited 
 the whole Muaupoko people to a great feast to be held at 
 Ohariu upon some one of the numerous pretexts which 
 the Maoris knew so well how to use for engaging in festiv- 
 ities, it having been arranged beforehand that these 
 guests should all be murdered and eaten. 
 
 The bait took, notwithstanding the advice of Whatanui, 
 who, distrusting the reasons assigned for the festival, 
 cautioned the Muaupoko not to attend, predicting some 
 disaster to them. Notwithstanding this caution, up- 
 wards of 150 attended the festival, all of whom were 
 slaughtered, and their bodies duly consigned to the 
 ovens ; but this was the last great act of slaughter of the 
 kind which took place. 
 
 Shortly after the close of the civil war to which I 
 have lately alluded, a section of the Ngatiawa tribe, 
 known as the Ngatimutunga, which had taken up their
 
 156 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 quarters in Port Nicholson, chartered the English 
 brig "Rodney" to carry them down to the Chatham 
 Islands, which had been reported to them by a member 
 of their hapu, who had visited the islands in a whaling 
 ship, as being thickly peopled with an unwarlike and 
 plump-looking race, who would fall an easy prey to such 
 experienced warriors as his own people. This occurred 
 about the year 1836, and within less than two years after 
 the expedition reached the islands the aboriginal in- 
 habitants were reduced from 1500 to fewer than 200 
 people, the greater number having been devoured by 
 their conquerors. In one of the cases in the Wellington 
 Museum may be seen a bone spear, which formerly 
 belonged to Mokungatata, one of the leading chiefs of 
 the Ngatimutunga, who was known to have lived for a 
 considerable time almost exclusively on the flesh of 
 young children, as many as six of them being sometimes 
 cooked in order to feast himself and his friends. 
 
 Harking back to the division of Te Eauparaha's forces, 
 just before he left D'Urville Island for the purpose of 
 attacking the Kaikoura Pa, that portion that remained 
 under the leadership of Niho, Takerei, Te Koihua and 
 Te Puoho, proceeded to attack the settlements of the 
 Rangitane and Ngatiapa in Blind and Massacre Bays, 
 which they entirely destroyed. Te Koihua settled near 
 Pakawau, in Massacre Bay, where I frequently saw the 
 old man, prior to his death. Strange to say, his love for 
 greenstone was so great that even after he and his wife 
 had both reached a very advanced age, they travelled 
 down the West Coast in 1858, then a very arduous task, 
 and brought back a large rough slab of that substance, 
 which they proceeded diligently to reduce to the form of 
 a mere.
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 157 
 
 Niho and Takerei, leaving Te Koihua in Massacre Bay 
 at the time of their original incursion, proceeded down 
 the coast as far as the Hokitika Eiver, killing and taking 
 prisoners nearly all the existing inhabitants. Amongst 
 the prisoners was'Tuhuru, who was afterwards ransomed 
 by the Ngaitahu for a celebrated mere called Kai Kanohi, 
 now in the possession of the descendants of Matenga Te 
 Aupori. 
 
 Niho and Takerei settled at the mouth of the Grey, 
 whilst detached parties occupied various points along the 
 coast, both to the north and south of that river. I do 
 not think it necessary to refer in any detail to the events 
 which took place between the Horowhenua war and the 
 arrival of the " Tory " with Colonel Wakefield in 1839. 
 
 On the 16th November in that year this ship reached 
 Kapiti, and Colonel Wakefield was informed that a 
 sanguinary battle had just been fought near Waikanae 
 on that morning between large forces of the Ngatiawa on 
 the one side, and of Ngatiraukawa on the other. This 
 fight is commonly known as the kirititonga, and was 
 caused by the renewal, at the funeral obsequies 
 of Te Bauparaha's sister Waitohi, of the land feuds 
 between the two tribes. The forces engaged were large, 
 and the killed on both sides numbered nearly eighty, 
 whilst considerable numbers were wounded. Te Eaupa- 
 raha himself took no part in the battle, reaching the 
 scene of action after the repulse of the Ngatiraukawa, 
 and narrowly escaping death by swimming off to his 
 canoe, his retreat being covered by a vigorous rally on 
 the part of his allies. This was the last contest which 
 occurred between the natives along the coast in question, 
 the arrival of the European settlers entirely changing the 
 aspect of affairs.
 
 158 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 I need not here detail the arrangements made by 
 Colonel Wakefield for the purchase of the country in the 
 neighbourhood of Wellington, and along the coast to the 
 northward, . but it is worth while to extract from E. J. 
 Wakefield's " Adventures in New Zealand " the account 
 he gives of, the Colonel's first meeting with Te Rauparaha, 
 of the appearance of the latter, and of the impression 
 which he made upon his European visitors. 
 
 " We had just made up a boat's crew," he says, "from 
 the cabin party, to go over and see the field of battle, the 
 surgeons taking their instruments with them, when a 
 message arrived from Te Rauparaha. He was on Evans 
 Island, the nearest to the ship of the three islets, and 
 expressed a desire to see Colonel Wakefield. We there- 
 fore pulled round and went to see him. He had just 
 returned from the scene of bloodshed, whither he asserted 
 that he had gone to restore peace ; and seeing the arrival 
 of our ship, which was taken for a man-of-war by many 
 even of the Europeans, he had betaken himself, with all 
 his goods, to the residence of an English whaler, named 
 Thomas Evans, on whom he relied for protection from 
 some imaginary danger. 
 
 " We had heard, while in Cloudy Bay, that Te 
 Eauparaha had expressed himself in somewhat violent 
 terms towards us for purchasing Port Nicholson without 
 his sanction ; and he was described by the whalers as 
 giving way to great alarm when told what the ship was, 
 and as having inquired anxiously what natives we had on 
 board. As we leaped from our boat he advanced to meet 
 us, and, with looks of evident fear and mistrust, eagerly 
 sought our hands to exchange the missionary greeting. 
 
 " During the whole of the ensuing conversation he 
 seemed uneasy and insecure in his own opinion, and the
 
 THE STIBEING TIMES OF TE EAUPAEAHA 159 
 
 whalers present described this behaviour as totally at vari- 
 ance with his usual boastfulness and arrogance. He made 
 us a pious speech about the battle, saying that he had had 
 no part in it, and that he was determined to give no 
 encouragement to fighting. He agreed to come on board 
 the next day, and departed to one of the neighbouring 
 islands. 
 
 " He is rather under the average height, and very 
 dignified and stately in his manner, although on this 
 occasion it was much affected by the wandering and 
 watchful glances which he frequently threw around him, 
 as though distrustful of everyone. Although at least 
 sixty years, old he might have passed for a much younger 
 man, being hale and stout, and his hair but slightly 
 grizzled. His features are aquiline and striking, but an 
 overhanging upper lip, and a retreating forehead on 
 which his eyebrows wrinkled back when he lifted his 
 deep sunken eyelids and penetrating eyes, produced a 
 fatal effect on the good prestige arising from his first 
 appearance. The great chieftain, the man able to lead 
 others, and habituated to wield authority, was clear at 
 first sight ; but the savage ferocity of the tiger, who 
 would not scruple to use any means for the attainment 
 of that power, the destructive ambition of a selfish 
 despot, was plainly discernible on a nearer view. 
 
 "Innumerable accounts have been related to me of Te 
 Rauparaha's unbounded treachery. No sacrifice of* 
 honour or feeling seems to have been too great for him, 
 if conducive to his own aggrandizement or security. He 
 has been known to throw one of his own men overboard 
 in order to lighten his canoe when pursued by the 
 enemy, and he had slaughtered one of his own slaves at 
 the late feast at Mana to appear opulent in the eyes of
 
 160 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 his assembled guests. This was one of the poor, 
 submissive, hard-working tributaries whom we had seen 
 at the Pelorus. 
 
 " In his intercourse with the white whalers and traders 
 and the shipping in the Strait, he had universally dis- 
 tinguished himself by the same qualities. By dint of 
 cringing and fawning upon those who showed power and 
 inclination to resist his constant extortions, and the most 
 determined insolence and bullying towards those whom 
 he knew to be at his mercy, he succeeded in obtaining a 
 large revenue from the white population, whether 
 transient or permanent, which he invariably applied to 
 the extension of bis power among the natives. 
 
 " He was always accompanied in these marauding 
 excursions, which he frequently extended over to Cloudy 
 Bay and Queen Charlotte Sound, by Eangihaeata, who 
 had become his inseparable companion since his rise in 
 authority. Their respective stations were pithily 
 described by one of the whalers, who told us that ' the 
 Eobullar ' as he mispronounced his name, ' cast the 
 bullets, and the Eangihaeata shot them.' Te Eauparaha 
 was the mind, and his mate the body, on these blackmail 
 gathering rounds. They had both acquired a violent 
 taste for grog, and this, with fire-arms and powder, were 
 the principal articles demanded." 
 
 Such is the account given by a writer, by no means 
 favourable to Te Eauparaha, of the impressions he had 
 formed of the chief upon their first interview, and 
 although in some respects the picture he draws is not a 
 favourable one, we may clearly see that its worst features 
 are owing to the intercourse of Te Eauparaha with the 
 class of European traders who then frequented the coast. 
 Master as he was of all the treacherous arts practised by
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 161 
 
 the Maori warrior, and ruthlessly as his designs were 
 carried out, and fearful as the results may have been, it 
 must be remembered that he was doing no more than his 
 great countrymen, E Hongi, Waharoa, Te Whero Whero, 
 and other leading chiefs who, during the same period, 
 carried on wars in various parts of the islands. 
 
 Those who knew Te Whero Whero Potatau will recall 
 the peculiar dignity of his manner, and certainly no 
 one would have supposed that the tall, graceful-looking 
 man in the full dress of an English gentleman, who 
 conversed with quiet ease with those whom he met in 
 the drawing-rooms of Government House, at Auckland, 
 was the same person as the savage who sat naked on 
 the ground at Pukerangiora smashing the skulls of 
 hundreds of defenceless prisoners, until he was almost 
 smothered with blood and brains. 
 
 Nor can I believe that Te Eauparaha was ever guilty 
 of the treacherous conduct towards his own people with 
 which he is charged by Mr. Wakefield. Their love and 
 respect for him were very great, and the influence he 
 acquired with such men as Te Heuheu and Whatanui 
 indicates that he possessed the highest qualities as a 
 chief. 
 
 I had not intended to carry my story beyond the 
 arrival of the " Tory," but I think it is as well to give 
 Te Eauparaha's own view of the disastrous affair at the 
 Wairau in 1843, and of its results as related to me by 
 his son. 
 
 " I will now," he says, " leave my account of the 
 battles of Te Eauparaha at this end of the island, and 
 speak of the folly of the Europeans and Maoris at 
 Wairau, where Wakefield met his death. The fight, and 
 death of Wakefield and the other European gentlemen
 
 162 THE STIRRING TIMES OP TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 in 1843, were caused by the deceit of Captain Piringa- 
 tapu (anglice Blenkinsopp). He deceived Te Eauparaha 
 in giving him a big gun for the purchase of Wairau. He 
 wrote some documents in English, which said that he 
 had bought that land. Te Eauparaha did not know 
 what was in those documents, and signed his name in 
 ignorance. Captain Piringatapu told Te Eauparaha that 
 when he saw the captain of a man-of-war he was to show 
 him the documents that he might know that they were 
 chiefs. Te Eauparaha thought that it was all correct. 
 
 " When Te Eauparaha returned from Cloudy Bay, near 
 Wairau, he gave the documents to Hawea* to read ; 
 when he had read them, he told Te Eauparaha that all 
 his land at Wairau had passed away to Captain Piringa- 
 tapu, and that he had received a big gun for it. Te 
 Eauparaha was angry, and tore up the documents and 
 threw them in the fire, also the documents held by the 
 chiefs of Ngatitoa at Kapiti, and Ngatitoa of the other 
 island. 
 
 " When Wakefield arrived, and the settlements of Nel- 
 son and Wellington were formed, he (Wakefield) went to 
 Wairau for the purpose of surveying. Te Eauparaha 
 did not consent, as he had not been paid for it, since he 
 had been deceived by Captain Piringatapu. Te Eaupa- 
 raha' s thought was that the land ought not to be taken 
 by Wakefield, but that they should consider the matter 
 before the land was handed over. Trouble and wrong 
 was caused by the hurried attack of Wakefield and party 
 upon Te Eauparaha. Te Eauparaha has told me a good 
 deal about this matter. It was not his desire that the 
 Europeans should be killed : his love to Wakefield and 
 party was great. Eangihaeata, Te Eauparaha's nephew, 
 
 * Hawea, or Hawes, was a European trader [residing at Kapiti at the 
 time of the transaction.
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 163 
 
 was misled by his own foolish thought and want of 
 attention to what Te Eauparaha had said. 
 
 " When Wakefield and party were dead, Eauparaha 
 rose and said, ' Hearken Te Eangihaeata, I will now 
 leave you as you have set aside my tikanga, let those of 
 the Europeans who have been killed suffice ; let the 
 others live, do not kill them.' Eangihaeata replied, 
 ' What about your daughter that has been killed ? ' Te 
 
 Porirua Bay. 
 
 Eauparaha replied, ' Why should not that daughter die ? ' 
 Te Eauparaha also said, ' Now I will embrace Christianity, 
 and turn to God, who has preserved me from the hands 
 of the Europeans.' This was the time when he 
 embraced Christianity. 
 
 " I was absent when the fight took place at Wairau, 
 having gone to preach to Ngaitahu. I went as far as 
 Eakaia. I was there one year, and was the first person 
 that went there to preach. It was on this account that
 
 164 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPAEAHA 
 
 my father did not go there to fight. When Eangihaeata 
 again occasioned trouble to the Europeans at the Hutt, 
 Te Eauparaha was sad at the folly of Rangihaeata in 
 withholding the land that had been purchased from him 
 and Te Eangihaeata by the Europeans for 200. Te 
 Eauparaha endeavoured to persuade Eangihaeata to 
 cease causing trouble about that land, but he would not 
 hearken. 
 
 "Te Eauparaha w r as afterwards taken prisoner by 
 Governor Grey at Porirua without sufficient pretext. The 
 following is the reason why he was taken : A letter was 
 written by some one, to which the name of Te Eauparaha 
 was signed ; it was then sent to the chiefs of Patutokotoku 
 at Wanganui. It is said that Mamaku and Eangihaeata 
 wrote the letter and signed the name of Te Eauparaha to 
 give it force. I was at school at this time with Bishop 
 Selwyn at Auckland, together with my wife Euth, and 
 did not see the capture of my father. 
 
 " When I returned and arrived in Wellington, I went 
 on board the ' Calliope,' the man-of-war in which my 
 father was a prisoner, to see him. When I saw him we 
 cried together, and when we finished he said to me, 
 Son, go to your tribes and tell them to remain in peace. 
 Do not pay for my arrest with evil, only with that which 
 is good. You must love the Europeans. There was no 
 just cause for my having been arrested by Governor 
 Grey. I have not murdered any Europeans, but I was 
 arrested through the lies of the people. If I had been 
 taken prisoner in battle, it would have been well, but I 
 was unjustly taken.' 
 
 " I returned on shore with Matene and went to Porirua, 
 and there saw Ngatitoa and Eawhiri Puaha. We told 
 them the words of Te Eauparaha respecting good and 
 our living at peace. We then went on to Otaki and
 
 THE STIRRING TIMES OF TE RAUPARAHA 165 
 
 Interior of the Church at Otaki.
 
 166 THE STIRRING TIMES OP TE RAUPARAHA 
 
 repeated the same words. At this time we (two) caused 
 the town of Hadfield to be built at Otaki. From this 
 time Ngatiraukawa came to Ngatiwakatere at Manawatu 
 this was the tribe that befriended Eangihaeata 200 
 of the tribe came on to Otaki, and when they arrived we 
 assembled. 
 
 " Rangihaeata invited these people that they might 
 know the thoughts of Matene and myself respecting 
 Te Eauparaha, who was held as a captive on board the 
 vessel. He wished to destroy Wellington and kill the 
 Europeans as a satisfaction. I told them the words of 
 Te Rauparaha when we (two) went to see them (i.e., the 
 chiefs) and the young men. I told them they must put 
 an end to this foolish desire, and not hearken to the 
 tikanga of Rangihaeata, but that they must live in peace 
 and cease that bad desire. They consented. The 
 Ngatiraukawa consented to build that town, that they 
 might obtain a name. 
 
 "When Te Rauparaha was liberated in the year 1846, 
 he urged Ngatiraukawa to build a large church in 
 Hadfield Town, at Otaki. Had he not returned, the 
 church would not have been built. He had a great 
 desire to worship the great God. He was continually 
 worshipping until he died at Otaki on the 27th 
 November, 1849." 
 
 Such is the history of the life and times of a very 
 remarkable man, and of habits and customs which have 
 already become so much things of the past that in the 
 course of another generation there will be scarcely an 
 aboriginal native left who will have the slightest 
 knowledge of them. Indeed, the memory of the events 
 I have related is already becoming indistinct, even to 
 those of the principal actors in these events who are 
 still living.
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 BY THE REV. J. W. STACK.
 
 THE SACKING OF 
 KAIAPOHIA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 KAIAPOI OF TO-DAY. 
 
 THE pa of Kaiapoi, after which the English town 
 of that name in the Provincial District of Canterbury is 
 called, was the chief fortress and stronghold of the 
 Maori tribe of Ngaitahu ; and the story of its siege and 
 capture by a hostile force from the North Island, under 
 the command of the famous warrior chief, Te Rauparaha, 
 forms the most important chapter in the modern history 
 of the natives residing in the South Island of New 
 Zealand. The facts narrated in the following pages 
 were told the writer more than thirty years ago, by 
 persons who had either taken part in the defence of the 
 pa, or had once resided within its walls. 
 
 The growth and development of the English com- 
 munity in this country has been so rapid that only a 
 small percentage of persons in it have any conception of 
 the marvellous change which has taken place in the 
 appearance of New Zealand, and in the character of its 
 inhabitants within the short period of sixty years. No
 
 170 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 one passing to-day through the busy towns, and along 
 the well-kept highways and railroads, which traverse 
 a country studded in all directions with comfortable 
 homesteads, surrounded by cornfields and well-stocked 
 pastures, could imagine that persons still living have 
 only to close their eyes to the scenes around them to 
 enable them to recall to mind the appearance of the 
 country when there was not a sign of civilized life to be 
 found anywhere within a thousand miles of it, when 
 everything was in a state of nature, and the only people 
 to be seen were fierce, untamed barbarians. 
 
 No two parts of the world were then more unlike each 
 other than highly cultivated, highly civilized England 
 and wild, uncouth, barbaric New Zealand ; they had 
 nothing in common ; the physical features of both 
 countries, the vegetation, the animal life, and the 
 people were altogether different. But so rapid has been 
 the process of transformation, that persons who have 
 come to these shores within the last twenty-five years 
 have found everything about them so like what they left 
 behind in the Old World, that the change of residence 
 has proved to them more like a removal from one 
 English county to another than removal to a foreign 
 land. Seeing no traces anywhere around them of 
 barbarism, they have failed to realise that things have 
 not always been here what they are now ; that whilst 
 the barbaric age is separated from the civilization of 
 Europe by an interval of nearly two thousand years, 
 it is separated from the colonists of New Zealand 
 only by the short period of sixty ; and that, in this 
 short period, the pioneer settlers have passed through 
 all the phases of experience, from barbarism to a high 
 state of civilization. We have only to compare the
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 171 
 
 Kaiapoi of the present with the Kaiapoi of the near 
 past to realise this fact. 
 
 The Kaiapoi of to-day is a borough town, twelve miles 
 north of the city of Christchurch, presided over by a 
 mayor and councillors, and is the centre of a large 
 and flourishing agricultural district. The site of the 
 town was fixed upon in 1853 ; but the first building,, 
 which was a thatched cottage of wattle and daub, was 
 not put up till 1855. Since that date hundreds of 
 substantial dwellings have been erected, and the popu- 
 lation of the town and neighbourhood, which is entirely 
 European, has grown from one inhabitant to five 
 thousand. The main trunk line of railway passes through 
 the town, and the telegraph puts the place in communica- 
 tion with all parts of the world. 
 
 Shops of various kinds and hotels are found in the 
 main thoroughfares, as well as warehouses for the storage 
 of grain, and wool, and other produce, which is either 
 exported by rail or by water in coasting vessels, which 
 can easily load at the wharves along the bank of the 
 river that flows through the centre of the town. The 
 river is spanned by two bridges, one for wheel traffic 
 and the other for foot-passengers. The most conspicuous 
 public buildings are the churches belonging to the 
 Anglican, Presbyterian, Wesleyan, and Eoman Catholic 
 communions, the Borough Schools, the Oddfellows' 
 Hall, the Masonic Hall, the Bank, the Eesident 
 Magistrate's Court, Borough Council Chamber, a Library 
 of several thousand volumes, the Drill Shed, and the 
 Fire Brigade Station. 
 
 But the largest building of all is the woollen factory, 
 on which the welfare of the town mainly depends. 
 It occupies a very picturesque situation on the banks
 
 172 
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 of the Cam, and covers a large space of ground, having 
 attained to its present dimensions from very small 
 beginnings. It was started in 1866 for the preparation 
 of the fibre of native flax, which grew over thousands 
 of acres in the immediate neighbourhood ; but as it did 
 not prove a paying concern, it was converted, in 1873, 
 into a flannel and blanket factory. It changed hands 
 for the third time in 1880, when the range of its 
 operations was very greatly extended. The newest 
 
 The Kaiapoi Woollen Factory. 
 
 machinery was imported from Home, and the manu- 
 facture of every kind of woollen fabric undertaken. 
 Being in a position to secure the choicest kinds of New 
 Zealand wool, the managers of the Kaiapoi factory are 
 able to turn out as good work as any of the looms in the 
 Old Country. The mill uses up about 1,300,000 Ibs. of 
 wool during the year, and employs 285 hands on the 
 premises, and 510 in the clothing factory at Christchurch. 
 The borough adjoins the Native Keserve of Kaiapoi, 
 on which the Maoris reside. This Reserve contains two
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 173 
 
 thousand six hundred and forty acres, and forms part of 
 the land which the Maoris reserved for their exclusive 
 use, when in 1848 they conveyed upwards of twenty 
 million acres to the Crown for the small sum of two 
 thousand pounds, an amount which was afterwards 
 slightly added to. Six hundred acres in the centre of 
 this block was covered at that time with fine forest 
 trees, consisting mostly of black and white pine, and 
 totara. 
 
 When the existence of this forest became generally 
 known to the colonists, many persons who were in 
 search of employment purchased from the Maoris the 
 right to use the timber, and for many years a brisk trade 
 was carried on in building and fencing materials, and 
 firewood about two hundred sawyers being engaged in 
 it, besides a large number of bullock-draymen, and sea- 
 faring people who were employed in conveying the 
 timber to Lyttelton and Christchurch. 
 
 Before the days of wool and grain, it was the timber 
 from the Maori Bush which supported the township 
 of Kaiapoi. For many years past there has not been a 
 tree, or even a stump to mark the site of the forest, 
 which is now the richest arable land, yielding as much 
 as sixty bushels of wheat to the acre. Every tree 
 was cut down, and the stumps and roots were all 
 removed for firewood, the high price obtainable for 
 fuel making their removal profitable. 
 
 The Maoris held their land in common till 1860, when 
 it was divided amongst them, each man receiving a 
 section of fourteen acres which was Crown-granted to 
 him. For a time some of them farmed their sections, 
 employing Europeans to do all the work from the 
 fencing in of the ground to the grinding of the corn
 
 174 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 grown upon it, the money to pay them for their labour 
 being obtained by the sale of some part of the bush. 
 But when this source of revenue was exhausted they had 
 nothing to pay wages with, and so the Maoris took to 
 leasing their sections to Europeans, receiving at first 
 a rental of about five shillings an acre ; but competition 
 has improved the letting value of their land, for which 
 they now receive an average rental of thirty shillings 
 an acre. 
 
 About the same time that the sub-division of the land 
 took place, the Church Mission Station was formed at 
 St. Stephens, the site being chosen near the centre of the 
 reserve. Gradually the Maoris moved from the vicinity 
 of the English township where they were settled, along 
 the banks of the Cam, and built their houses round the 
 Church and Boarding School, where they formed a 
 village, the counterpart of the neighbouring English 
 hamlets. They were satisfied at first with anything 
 in the shape of a w r eather- board house, but as soon 
 as the settlers around them began to improve the style of 
 their residences the Maoris copied their example, sub- 
 mitting to great privations in order to procure the 
 necessary funds wherewith to make the desired improve- 
 ments, often pledging their rents which furnished their 
 only source of income for years for the purpose. 
 
 One old gentleman who found great difficulty in 
 procuring enough money to secure the erection of his 
 house, having got together in the course of a few years 
 the sum of forty pounds, proceeded to interview all the 
 builders in the Christchurch district, hoping to induce 
 one of them to put up a dwelling house for that sum ; 
 but as he insisted that it should contain a "parlour 
 room," with a fire-place, and that the building should be
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 175 
 
 match-lined throughout, and varnished, and painted, he 
 could never come to terms with any of them, and had to 
 content himself at last with such a house as he could get 
 put up by a journeyman carpenter for the money : but he 
 never took kindly to it, and always spoke of it in 
 contemptuous terms as the " white man's dog kennel." 
 
 The most striking contrast to be found in the native 
 village between the old and the new style of Maori 
 dwelling is the house built by the late chief Te Aika, 
 who was formerly an inhabitant of the old Kaiapoi Pa 
 and fought in its defence. The building is a neat villa 
 i-esidence with verandah in front, and contains five or six 
 rooms of fair dimensions comfortably furnished. The 
 sitting room has a piano in it on which the old chief's 
 grand-daughter played for his amusement any English 
 tunes with which he was familiar. A short distance 
 behind the house stands a stable with accommodation 
 for several horses, and a coach-house containing a good 
 buggy. There is an orchard stocked with fruit trees, 
 and in front of the section a garden plot full of English 
 flowers. A shed close by shelters one of Eansom and 
 Sim's steam threshing machines owned by a company of 
 young Maoris who work it together. All young Maoris 
 can now speak English, and apart from their complexion 
 there is nothing in the dress or manners and customs of 
 the Kaiapoi Maoris of the present day to distinguish 
 them from their English fellow-citizens. 
 
 Some details of the historical narrative contained in 
 these pages may appear to the reader rather revolting, 
 and calculated to produce an unfavourable impression of 
 the Maori people; but, before adopting any adverse 
 opinion about them upon such evidence as that which is 
 herein supplied, the reader should bear in mind that it is
 
 176 THE SACKING OP KAIAPOHIA 
 
 not fair to judge the habits and actions of these people 
 by our standard of the 20th century culture and refine- 
 ment, and that if we wish to deal fairly with them we 
 ought to go back to the days of our own Saxon fore- 
 fathers when they first appear on the page of European 
 history for the standard by which to estimate their 
 habits and actions ; and if we do this we shall find that 
 the difference between the two races is after all very 
 small indeed. 
 
 In a work written by Professor Gummere, and pub- 
 lished in 1893, the aim of which is to give an 
 account of the founders of our race," we find evidence of 
 the humbling fact that our own forefathers were guilty 
 at times of perpetrating quite as blood-curdling deeds of 
 ferocity as the Maoris that they were just as cruel, 
 and almost as backward in their civilization. Their 
 dwelling-house consisted of one chamber which was used 
 for all purposes. Adults wore but scanty clothing, and 
 young children none at all. As late as the 6th century 
 of the Christian era, infanticide was practised, and the 
 sick and aged and useless people were killed without 
 compunction. Scandinavian traditions contain allusions 
 to the practice of drinking the blood of a slain enemy, in 
 order to acquire his courage and spirit. " Eating the 
 heart " is a tradition deep rooted in Germanic mythology. 
 The German warrior's favourite drinking vessel was one 
 fashioned from the skull of a slaughtered enemy. The 
 famous Alboin, King of the Lombards, after killing his 
 father-in-law, Cunimund, caused a drinking cup to be 
 made from his skull. This cup he had the inhumanity 
 to send, filled with wine, to his queen, telling her " to 
 drink with her father " an insult which deservedly 
 cost him his life.
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 177 
 
 The following story of the siege and capture of Kaia- 
 pohia is published in the hope that it will prove interest- 
 ing not only to the general public, but especially so to 
 those who have been born in the vicinity of Kaiapoi, and 
 who may learn, perhaps for the first time, from these 
 pages, the interesting nature of the locality with which 
 they are so closely identified. And if the story has the 
 good fortune to survive long enough in print, it may 
 prove of some service hereafter to the historian and the 
 archaeologist, when time has done for Pakeha and Maori 
 history what it has done for that of Saxon, Norman, and 
 Briton. 
 
 M
 
 178 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 THE KAIAPOI PA. 
 
 The pa of Kaiapohia was originally built by Tu 
 Eakautahi, about the year 1700, after the expulsion from 
 the district of the Ngatimamoe. Tu Rakautahi was the 
 head chief of the 'tribe known as Ngatikuri, or Ngai- 
 tahu, a tribe which first settled in the neighbourhood of 
 Poverty Bay on its arrival from Hawaiki in the canoes, 
 Taki-timu, Kara-haupo, and Mata-horua. It afterwards 
 removed to the shores of Cook Strait, and fixed its chief 
 settlement near Evans' Bay, in Port Nicholson. From 
 there it migrated, in 1677, to Queen Charlotte Sound, 
 and commenced at once a war of extermination against 
 the Ngatimamoe, a tribe which about a hundred years 
 previously had crossed over from the North and destroyed 
 the Waitaha, who were the preceding Maori occupants 
 of the South Island. The Waitaha came originally from 
 Hawaiki, in the canoe Arawa, and gradually made their 
 way south from the Bay of Plenty, and crossed Cook 
 Strait about the year 1570. Freed from the alarms of 
 war, and nourished by the exhaustless supplies of food 
 furnished by a region where the finest sorts of fern -root 
 and choicest ti palms grew, and field rats, and wekas 
 swarmed in the open country, where the woods were full 
 of kakas, pigeons, and other birds suitable for food, 
 where the lakes and rivers were covered with water-fowl,
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 179 
 
 and teemed with eels, and silveries, and whitebait, 
 where, along the sea-coast, shell-fish, seals, mutton birds 
 and fish of every sort were obtainable, the Waitaha 
 increased and multiplied so rapidly, that they are 
 described in the ancient traditions as " covering the face 
 of the country like myriads of ants." 
 
 The Ngaitahu fought their way under the leadership 
 of Tu Eakautahi's sons from Queen Charlotte Sound to 
 Stewart Island, and the remains of their pas may be 
 traced all along the coast from the mouth of the Wairau 
 Eiver to Foveaux Strait. The conquest of the country 
 occupied the Ngaitahu about thirty years ; and it was 
 towards the close of that period that Tu Rakautahi fixed 
 the head-quarters of the tribe at Kaiapohia. The site 
 was well chosen for defensive purposes on a small tongue 
 of land containing about five acres, jutting out into the 
 Tairutu Lagoon, a sheet of water of considerable size, 
 and deep enough to afford protection on three sides of 
 the pa. Adjoining the lagoon were swamps which 
 stretched away north and south along the coast and for 
 many miles up the plain in a westerly direction. These 
 swamps served a double purpose : they added to the 
 difficulties of a hostile force trying to approach the 'pa, 
 and at the same time afforded facilities for the escape of 
 the inhabitants, in the event of its being captured by 
 enemies. 
 
 The fortifications consisted of earth-works, surrounded 
 by strong palisades. The defences on the land side 
 were strengthened by a broad, deep ditch, which ex- 
 tended across the entire front of the pa. Behind 
 the wall of earth there was a double row of strong 
 palisades, eighteen to twenty feet high, bound at the 
 top and bottom to cross ties with a tough kind of wood-
 
 180 THE SACKING OP KAIAPOHIA 
 
 bine called Aka. The cross ties were fastened to large 
 totara posts, erected at intervals along the wall ; and on 
 the top of each post was carved a grotesque figure, inlaid 
 with pearl shell, and painted with red ochre. The walls 
 were pierced by three openings, two on the land side, 
 and one on the western side adjoining the lagoon, which 
 was connected with the opposite shore by a bridge. The 
 pa was considered so impregnable, that it became a 
 proverbial saying in allusion to it, " who can scale the 
 inaccessible cliff of God." 
 
 The space within the walls nearest to the gates, 
 Kaitangata and Huirapa, was occupied by the houses of 
 some of the principal chiefs. They were all built facing 
 the north, and were large structures capable of accom- 
 modating a hundred persons, and some of them even a 
 greater number. They were ornamented both inside and 
 out with carving and scroll work. Close beside each of 
 these dwelling houses stood the Kauta or kitchen, and 
 the Whata or storehouse belonging to it. The rest of 
 the space was mostly occupied by the houses of the 
 commonality, who formed the majority of the population. 
 There were two burial grounds within the pa ; and a 
 large open space between the gates Hiaka-rere and 
 Huirapa, where public meetings and sports were held. 
 At the north end of this space stood the large Whata 
 erected by Tamati Tikao's father, and called the Matuku 
 rangi. The stump of the large totara post which 
 supported the Whata is still visible. The " Tuahu," or 
 shrine of the guardian Atua, was placed at the northern 
 corner of the fortress, in the safest and most secluded 
 spot, and the house of the Ariki, or chief priest, adjoined 
 it.
 
 From survey by 
 A.V. MACDONALD C.E, 
 and a Field sketch by 
 ALEX. LEAN.
 
 182 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 The timber required for the construction of the pa was 
 procured from the neighbouring forests, which covered 
 the greater part of what is now known as the Maori 
 Keserve, and extended from Woodend to Eangiora. The 
 trees were cut down with stone axes, a long and tedious 
 operation where they were of any size, and wooden 
 wedges were employed to split them up when slabs were 
 required for house building. These materials were 
 conveyed to the place where they were to be used either 
 on men's shoulders or they were dragged along the 
 ground with ropes, skids being placed underneath to 
 lessen the friction. 
 
 When timbers had to be hauled from the forest, a 
 general invitation was given to the people by the chiefs 
 in charge of the work to come and assist them ; an 
 invitation which was always readily responded to, as the 
 business of hauling was always the occasion of much 
 feasting and fun. Women as well as men were welcome 
 to bear a hand in pulling the ropes ; and to ensure their 
 pulling together one man was told off to chant a song, 
 to each verse of which there was a chorus. While the 
 solo part was being sung the haulers rested and took 
 breath, but immediately the chorus began they joined in 
 it and commenced to pull with all their might and main 
 causing the woods to ring again with the echo of their 
 loud song. With successive pauses and pulls they 
 proceeded on their way till called off to rest and feast. 
 
 The pa got its name Kaiapoi, or rather Kaiapohia, 
 (meaning "food depot,") from the answer given by 
 Turakautahi to those who criticised his choice of the site 
 for it, and who asked him how he expected the inhabitants 
 of a place so situated to escape starvation, seeing that they 
 were too far removed from the permanent sources of
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 183 
 
 food supply. ' Kai ' must be ' poi ' or swung to the 
 spot," he replied, " potted birds from the forests of 
 
 Kaikoura i n 
 the north; fish 
 and mutton 
 birds from the 
 sea-coasts of 
 the south ; 
 kiore and weka 
 and kauru 
 from the plains 
 and mountain 
 ranges of the 
 west." The 
 ready wit of 
 the chief silenced 
 the objections of his 
 critics, and his pa 
 was henceforth 
 known as Kaiapoi, a name 
 destined to become famous 
 in the future annals of the 
 country. 
 
 In order to provide 
 themselves with the 
 means of exchange for 
 the commodities they 
 stood in need of, the 
 inhabitants of Kaiapoi 
 were obliged to devote 
 much of their time to the 
 cultivation of the kumara, 
 or sweet potato, and to 
 the preparation of kauru,
 
 184 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 or cabbage tree stems, which they bartered with the 
 inhabitants of other parts of the island for whatever else 
 in the shape of food they stood in need of. 
 
 The kumara being a native of a tropical climate they 
 found great difficulty in growing it so far south, where 
 frost was likely to prove fatal to its existence. To 
 regulate the temperature of the soil, and to secure 
 perfect drainage, they covered the surface of the kumara 
 plantations with fine gravel, to a depth of 6 inches, 
 which was afterwards formed into mounds about 2 ft. 
 in diameter, and arranged over the field with the pre- 
 cision of the squares on a chest- board, and in these 
 mounds the kumara tubers were planted. Breakwinds of 
 manuka branches, varying from two to four feet in 
 height, were erected every few yards apart, and in such 
 a way as to secure the largest amount of sunshine and 
 shelter to each plant. 
 
 Both the planting and gathering of this crop were 
 attended with peculiar religious rites, and only skilled 
 persons were allowed to take part in a work, every detail 
 of which was held sacred, and conducted under the 
 supervision of officers, chosen for their special qualifi- 
 cations at the annual meeting of Tohungas, or learned 
 men, held in the Whare Purakaunui on the rising of the 
 star Puaka (Rigel). It was the duty of these officers to 
 consecrate the kumara plantations each spring to the 
 service of Marihaka and Pani, the two divinities who 
 presided over the welfare of the sacred plant. Starting 
 from the left-hand corner of each field, they began this 
 ceremony by placing sprigs of koromiko or veronica in 
 the ground ; after doing this, they walked in a straight 
 line to the other side of the field, reciting together as 
 they went the appropriate prayers. At the top of each
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 185 
 
 mara or plot they gathered a handful of leaves or weeds 
 (pitau), which they carried in their hands to the nearest 
 Taumatua, or shrine. 
 
 There were two of these shrines at Kaiapoi, one 
 being situated at Waituere, nearly opposite Mr. Charles 
 Young's present residence, and the other near the Maori 
 village of St. Stephen's, in the centre of the reserve. 
 They each consisted of a small piece of ground a few feet 
 square, enclosed with a fence like a grave plot : within 
 the enclosure, which was called " the god's garden," four 
 mounds were made and planted with kumaras. After 
 consecrating the left side of the fields, the officials pro- 
 ceeded to consecrate the right side, gathering, as before, 
 the pitau offering, which was duly placed in one or other 
 of the shrines, and called the Whangainga, or feeding of 
 the Atuas. 
 
 The last persons who performed these important 
 duties at Kaiapoi were Te Auta, Te Whaketu, Tina, 
 Takatakau and Karara ; these were all old and venerated 
 chiefs. Their youthful coadjutors were Takai, Popowai, 
 and Tikapakapa. The pits and gravel-strewn surfaces in 
 the Woodend district, which have puzzled the English 
 settlers there to account for, remain to remind this 
 generation that Canterbury once included amongst its 
 vegetable products a tropical plant which is now extinct, 
 but the cultivation of which for many generations 
 occupied much of the time and thought of the former 
 inhabitants of the country. The storing of the kumara 
 had to be conducted with the utmost care, as the slightest 
 bruise, or even abrasion of the skin, caused the immediate 
 decay of the tuber. 
 
 The kauru was prepared in the summer months from 
 the cabbage palms, which grew in great profusion on the
 
 186 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 upper parts of the plain. Young trees, about five feet 
 high, were selected. The stems were cut into two feet 
 lengths, and stripped of the bark and woody substance 
 which covers the fibrous core, the only part of which 
 was valued as food. These were tied in bundles and 
 stacked, till a sufficient quantity had been obtained, 
 when an oblong pit was dug, varying in size from four 
 to twelve feet in length, and about five or six in depth. 
 A quantity of stones was placed at the bottom, and 
 firewood piled upon them which was afterwards lit, and 
 when consumed, the pit was filled in with the prepared 
 ti palm stems, which were covered with matting and 
 soil. A quantity of water was then procured in buckets 
 formed with flax leaves, and poured into the pit, the 
 bottom of which was covered with the heated stones. 
 The steam generated was prevented from escaping by a, 
 sufficient quantity of soil being heaped upon the mat- 
 covering of the pit. After several hours the oven was 
 uncovered and the kauru was found to be cooked 
 sufficiently for use. It was then placed in flax baskets 
 and carried to the store-houses in the pa. When 
 required for food the fibre was either chewed for the 
 extraction of the saccharine matter it contained, or 
 pounded and mixed with water in a wooden dish till it 
 assumed the consistency of thin gruel, when it was 
 ready for use, being conveyed to the mouths of those 
 who partook of it either with a mussel-shell spoon or a. 
 sop of fern root ; or, wanting these, with the first two 
 fingers of the right hand. 
 
 The trade created by the system of food exchange 
 established by Tu Eakautahi, necessitated the employ- 
 ment of a large body of porters, who were constantly 
 employed carrying heavy loads to* and from the various
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 187 
 
 pas extending from the north to the south of the Island. 
 The labours of these men were greatly increased by the 
 practice which prevailed of giving each of them more 
 than one load to carry. This necessitated the formation 
 of depots, between which the carriers went backwards 
 and forwards, travelling over the same ground again and 
 again, until they reached their final destination. The 
 weight of an ordinary load was seldom short of a hundred 
 pounds. Attached to the lower end of each burden was a 
 sort of stool, to enable the porter to rest at any time 
 during the journey, without the trouble of disengaging 
 himself from his load. 
 
 When a band of porters were returning home, and had 
 reached the last stage, they sent forward one of their 
 number to inform the person to whom their burdens 
 were consigned of their arrival. Whereupon he gathered 
 a number of his friends and dependents together, and 
 went to meet the carriers ; and on reaching the place 
 where they were awaiting him, he directed the extra 
 loads to be taken up by those who had accompanied 
 him, and then the whole party started in procession in 
 the pa, where on entry, they were greeted with loud 
 acclamations of joy. 
 
 The population of Kaiapoi was considerable for a 
 Maori town, and very aristocratic, as most of the chief 
 families of Ngaitahu had their head-quarters there, 
 and owned what we would call a family mansion. In 
 peaceful times the inhabitants were dispersed over the 
 country from Waipara to Ashburton and from the 
 Western Eanges to Banks Peninsula, fishing, hunting, or 
 cultivating the land. They either dwelt during such 
 periods in partially fortified pas like those, the remains 
 of which may be seen near St. Stephen's Church, on the
 
 188 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 Maori Reserve, or in open kaingas, consisting of a few 
 unprotected whares. 
 
 As time went on the inhabitants of Kaiapoi acquired a 
 widespread reputation for wealth. In addition to the 
 spoils of the vanquished Ngatimamoe, they were known 
 to possess a large quantity of the highly-prized green- 
 stone, which they had obtained from the West Coast ; 
 and many covetous eyes in the North Island were fixed 
 upon their valuable possessions. Every tribe throughout 
 Maoridom prized greenstone above everything else, and 
 strove to acquire it. The locality in which it was found 
 was known by report to all, and the popular imagination 
 pictured untold wealth to be awaiting the adventurous 
 explorer of that region. But the difficulties which beset 
 the journey to this Maori Eldorado were practically 
 insurmountable, and frustrated the efforts of most of 
 those who attempted to reach it. The stormy straits of 
 Raukawa had first to be crossed, and then a land 
 journey of great length and difficulty undertaken, over 
 rugged and lofty mountain ranges, so steep in places that 
 the travellers were obliged to use ladders formed of 
 supplejack, or other tough woodbines, to enable them to 
 get past. Pathless and seemingly interminable forests 
 had to be traversed, whose dark shades were made still 
 more gloomy by the incessant rainfall, which kept the 
 thick undergrowth of moss and ferns always dripping 
 wet. Deep and rapid rivers had to be crossed, either on 
 rafts made of dried flax stalks, or on foot, the waders 
 being able to avoid being swept away by the swift 
 current, only by a number of them entering the water 
 together, and holding on tightly to a pole which they 
 bore across the river in their hands. The scarcity of 
 food throughout the whole region to be traversed by the
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 189 
 
 searcher after greenstone, added to the danger of the task, 
 for, beyond the small quantity they were able to carry 
 with them, travellers were entirely dependent for their 
 food upon the wekas and eels, which they were able to 
 catch as they went along. But besides all these 
 difficulties, they were in constant danger of encountering 
 hostile bands of men, bound on the same errand as 
 themselves. 
 
 But even where the journey was so far successful that 
 the treasure sought for was found, its great weight made 
 it impossible for the discoverer to carry back more than 
 a few fragments, and these were obtained by breaking 
 them off with stone hammers. In spite of the longing 
 desire of the northern Maoris to enrich themselves with 
 the treasures of greenstone which existed on the West 
 Coast of the South Island, the serious obstacles which 
 beset the approach to that region deterred them from 
 making the attempt to get there, and they had to content 
 themselves with what they were able to acquire from 
 their fellow countrymen in the south, in exchange for 
 mats and canoes, and such other manufactures as their 
 southern neighbours were willing to accept. 
 
 In spite, however, of the drawbacks and difficulties 
 attending the acquisition of greenstone, there were very 
 few Maoris in either island who did not possess some 
 tool, or weapon, or ornament formed of it. And the story 
 of the way in which the Maoris overcame the difficulties 
 which beset the finding of the greenstone, and its 
 conveyance on their backs across the Alpine ranges to 
 their distant homes, and the manufacture of its hard 
 material into useful and ornamental objects, will remain 
 a lasting monument of their enterprise, energy, and 
 industry.
 
 190 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 According to an ancient legend the reason why green- 
 stone is found in such an inaccessible region is that the 
 locality was chosen by the three wives of Tamatea the 
 circumnavigator, when they deserted him, as the hiding 
 place most likely to escape discovery. Tamatea's search 
 along the east coast was unsuccessful, and after passing 
 through Foveaux Strait he continued to skirt the shore, 
 listening at the entrance to every inlet for any sound 
 which might indicate the whereabouts of the runaways. 
 But it was not till he arrived off the mouth of the 
 Arahura river that he heard voices. There he landed, 
 but failed to find his wives, being unable to recognise 
 them in the enchanted blocks of greenstone, over which 
 the water murmured incessantly. He did not know that 
 the canoe in which his wives escaped from him had 
 capsized at Arahura, and that its occupants had been 
 changed into stone, and so he passed them by, and 
 continued his fruitless quest.
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 191 
 
 CHAPTEK III. 
 
 TE KAUPAEAHA'S FIEST VISIT TO KAIAPOL 
 
 When the celebrated warrior chief Te Rauparaha 
 found himself master of the northern shores of Cook 
 Strait, with only its waters separating him from the 
 people who were thought to possess fabulous quantities 
 of the precious greenstone, he began to scheme for their 
 conquest. 
 
 The development of his project was hastened by the 
 arrival in his camp of a runaway slave from Kaikoura, 
 who reported to him that the chief of that place, Eere- 
 whaka by name, on hearing an account being given of 
 Te Eauparaha's viciorious march from Waikato to 
 Kapiti, had given utterance to the foolish boast that " he 
 would rip his stomach open with a barracoota tooth 
 niJw manga, one of the Maori substitutes for a knife if 
 he dared to pursue his march any further south, and 
 ventured to invade the Kaikoura country." 
 
 Both Te Eauparaha and his followers were highly 
 exasperated when they heard of this insolent speech, 
 which amounted to a " kanga " or curse, a form of insult 
 which, according to the Maori code of honour, blood 
 alone could atone for. But as Eerewhaka was the head 
 of a community numbering three or four thousand 
 persons, and residing at a distance of more than a 
 hundred miles from Kapitij Te Eauparaha was forced to
 
 192 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 put a restraint upon his feelings, and to defer for some 
 time the prosecution of his project of revenge. He 
 resolved to wait till he was able to procure from the 
 Sydney trading vessels which frequented the harbour of 
 Port Nicholson a sufficient quantity of firearms and 
 ammunition with which to equip his whole force ; and 
 then with such superior weapons he might attack the 
 southern natives without the slightest risk of defeat, as 
 they could oppose him only with the ancient weapons of 
 the country. 
 
 When his plans were matured, Te Eauparaha embarked 
 at Kapiti a picked force of seven hundred men in several 
 war canoes, and sailed for Kaikoura. He timed his 
 movements so as to arrive off the pa at Omihi, near the 
 Amuri Bluff, about dawn. He anchored just outside the 
 surf, and watched from there the effect of his arrival. 
 He soon saw that he had nothing to fear from the 
 inhabitants of the place, whose conduct as soon as they 
 discerned the presence of the canoes, proved that they 
 were quite in the dark as to the character of the persons 
 who manned them. There was much running to and fro 
 on shore, and apparent consultation, which ended in a 
 general movement towards the beach, which was soon 
 crowded with men, women, and children who raised the 
 cry of welcome, " Haeremai ! " under the mistaken notion 
 that the new arrivals were the friends whom they 
 were expecting from Napier. Te Eauparaha gave orders 
 to lift the anchors and run the canoes ashore ; this was 
 immediately done, and part of his force proceeded at 
 once to the pa, which they no sooner got possession of 
 than a general slaughter of the inhabitants commenced. 
 Totally unprepared without arms of any sort in their 
 hands, the inhabitants of Omihi could offer no resistance
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 193 
 
 to the invaders. The beach was soon strewn with the 
 dying and the dead, and Eerewhaka himself was killed 
 before he knew that any enemy was near. Hundreds 
 were killed on the spot, and hundreds more were carried 
 away to be killed at Kapiti, or to be kept as slaves. 
 
 After resting ten days, Te Eauparaha sent back two- 
 thirds of his force to Kapiti in charge of the captives, 
 and with a hundred men he sailed as far south as the 
 mouth of the Waipara river, where he landed and drew 
 his canoes up on the beach out of reach of the tide. He 
 then marched along the coast to Kaiapoi, and pitched 
 his camp a few hundred yards to the south-west of the 
 pa. 
 
 Shortly after his arrival, Tamaiharanui, the principal 
 chief and high priest of Ngaitahu, accompanied by a 
 Ngapuhi native named Hakitara, visited Te Eauparaha for 
 the purpose of ascertaining the object of his coming, and 
 to negotiate terms of peace. During the interview Te 
 Eauparaha stood up and recited a " tau " or war song. 
 Hakitara, who understood the full import of it, advised 
 Tamaiharanui to retire at once to his own pa, as mischief 
 was brewing, proposing that he himself should remain to 
 get more information. This he sought to obtain from 
 the slaves who were likely to prove more communicative 
 than their masters. In the course of conversation with 
 some of them, he learnt that a party of the northern 
 visitors had that very day found a newly-made grave at 
 Tuahiwi (St. Stephen's), which they opened, and from 
 which they removed the body of a woman, which they 
 carried to a stream at Woodend, where they cleaned 
 it, and afterwards cooked and ate it. The body proved 
 to be that of Te Euaki, an aunt of Tamaiharanui, and its 
 treatment by the northern warriors left no doubt on the 
 
 N
 
 194 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 minds of the Kaiapoi natives that their own destruction 
 would be attempted whenever a favourable opportunity 
 occurred. 
 
 The arrival of fugitives from Omihi, who horrified them 
 with the details of the slaughter of its inhabitants, 
 increased their suspicions of foul play. But Te Eaupa- 
 raha kept assuring them that he was actuated by the 
 most friendly feelings towards them ; and to inspire them 
 with confidence in his assurances, he, with reckless 
 imprudence, allowed his nearest relatives and most 
 distinguished chiefs to enter the fortress whenever they 
 chose to do so, where they carried on a brisk trade in 
 greenstone, for which they gave firearms and ammunition 
 in exchange. Hoping to disengage Hakitara from the Ngai- 
 tahu, and to attach him to himself, Te Bauparaha 
 presented him with one of his female captives, Te 
 Aka by name. Shortly afterwards it happened that a 
 council of war was held just outside the hut occupied by 
 Hakitara, who overheard Te Eauparaha and Te Eangi- 
 haeata saying to each other, Soon we shall have our pa." 
 Suddenly a voice exclaimed, " Beware of the Ngapuhi 
 man." " Oh, he is fast asleep," was the reply. The 
 chiefs then proceeded with their deliberations, and 
 having decided what to do, they separated. 
 
 Just before dawn Hakitara put on a dog-skin mat 
 which he found lying near him, and went out, and 
 succeeded in passing through the camp without being 
 challenged. As soon as he got clear of the sentries, 
 he ran with all speed to the pa, and on reaching the 
 gate he called to the keeper to open it and let him 
 in. He was recognised, and at once admitted. Turning 
 to the person in charge of the guard, he directed him to 
 summon all the chiefs without delay to meet him in the
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 195 
 
 adjoining house, as he had a most important communica- 
 tion to make to them. A hurried meeting followed, 
 at which he disclosed the treacherous intentions of 
 the northern visitors. It was unanimously decided to 
 break the truce concluded with them the day before, and 
 to be the first to strike a blow. The most celebrated of 
 Eauparaha's friends were already within the pa driving 
 bargains, and it was thought not at all improbable that 
 the great chief himself might be induced to enter. 
 
 A crowd of men, women, and children were sitting in 
 the " Marae " or open space opposite the Hiaka-rere 
 gate when Te Pehi, Eauparaha's favourite friend and 
 most powerful ally, and a renowned warrior, a man of 
 such enterprise that he braved the perils of a voyage 
 to England in search of firearms, came forth from 
 Koroua's house dragging by a rope a block of green- 
 stone called Kaoreore, intending to take it out by the 
 gate to his camp. But as he passed the group of 
 onlookers who were watching his movements, one of 
 them named Moi Moi stood up and called out in a 
 loud voice, "Leave my greenstone! Leave my green- 
 stone ! " 
 
 Te Pehi, who was now within four or five paces of the 
 gate, turned and faced the speaker, and in the most 
 contemptuous terms derided him for daring to question 
 the actions of one so much his superior. " Badly tatooed ; 
 badly tatooed," he cried, "what use would your ugly 
 *head be to me if I were to carry it with me to Kapiti ; 
 it would be worth nothing towards the purchase of a 
 musket." " But here is a man," turning towards Te 
 Panihi who stood near him with a well tatooed face ; ' his 
 head would be worth having ; but you with a valueless 
 
 * Preserved human heads were saleable at that time to Europeans as 
 curiosities.
 
 196 THE SACKING OP KAIAPOHIA 
 
 head, how dare you call in question the doings of Pehi- 
 tu-a-te-rangi ! " 
 
 Whilst this altercation was proceeding, Eongotara, a 
 Kaiapoi chief, noticed that Pokaitara, a famous northern 
 warrior was standing outside the gate, evidently seeking 
 admission. He knew that his own brother, taken 
 prisoner at Omihi, had been allotted to this particular 
 chief. Approaching close to the gate Eongotara invited 
 him to come in, saying, " Welcome, my younger brother's 
 Lord ! " and begged Te Hapa the gate-keeper to admit 
 him. " Open the gate for my brother's Lord," he said, 
 and, as he did so, Pokaitara stooped to enter. But 
 no sooner was his head and neck past the portal than 
 Eongotara who was carrying a miti or stone club on 
 his shoulder brought it down with all his force on the 
 bent neck of the northern chief, and with one blow 
 crushed in the base of his skull and killed him. 
 
 Te Pehi, seeing what had happened, left the greenstone 
 and sprang towards the south-western angle of the wall, 
 and tried to scramble over the fence. Several shots 
 were fired at him without effect ; and he would probably 
 have succeeded in making good his escape, but for 
 Tangatahara, a man of great bodily strength, and a 
 courageous warrior, who grappled with him and succeeded 
 in dispatching him with a hatchet. The report of fire- 
 arms alarmed the rest of the northern chiefs who were at 
 the other end of the pa, and who at once rushed towards 
 the walls, hoping to scale them and escape to their camp. 
 
 Te Aratangata, who had gone to the extreme end of the 
 pa to try and secure the Pounamu, called Teruahikihiki, 
 ran towards the gate, Huirapa. He was a very tall 
 and powerfully-built man, and brave as a lion. He was 
 attacked by fully twenty persons armed with a variety of
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 197 
 
 weapons ; but with nothing but his greenstone mere, Te 
 Kaoreore, he defended himself with such success, that 
 he was able not only to keep them at bay for some 
 minutes, but to lessen materially the distance between 
 himself and the gate through which he hoped to force 
 his way. Te Pa's shot was the first wound he received, 
 but it did not touch a vital part ; then three spears were 
 plunged into his body ; still he continued to run forward, 
 the spears trailing along the ground ; a shot then struck 
 his mere and broke it, leaving only the stump in his 
 hand. He was now practically defenceless, and his 
 movements were hampered by the spears firmly fixed 
 in the fleshy parts of his body. Emboldened by his 
 helpless condition, his assailants closed upon him, and 
 one named Te Koreke sprang upon his back and threw 
 him forward on his face, when Tuwhakarawa struck him 
 several blows on the head and neck with a tomahawk, 
 and killed him outright. 
 
 Te Kohi was despatched by Manahi Iri with a hatchet, 
 and the rest were either shot or tomahawked. 
 
 In all eight northern chiefs were killed, namely : 
 Te Pehi, Te Pokaitara, Te Eangikatuta, Te Euatahi, 
 Te Hua Piko, Te Aratangata, Te Kohi, and Te Kohua. 
 They were all tried friends and companions in arms 
 of Te Eauparaha, who had accompanied him in 
 all his wars, and contributed largely by their courage and 
 ability to his past victorious career. The destruction of 
 so many of his friends was a terrible blow to him. 
 Eauparaha never imagined that the Kaiapoi people would 
 dare to take the initiative, and provoke his vengeance by 
 killing his friends and relations, and the unexpected turn 
 of events took him completely by surprise. Only one 
 course remained open to him, and that was to retreat
 
 198 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 with all possible speed. He accordingly broke up his 
 camp and marched off to the mouth of the Waipara river 
 near Double Corner, where he had left his canoes, and 
 from there he sailed the next day for Kapiti.
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 199 
 
 CHAPTEK IV. 
 
 THE EAID ON AKAEOA LIFE AT KAIAPOI. 
 
 Two years passed without the Kaiapoi people hearing 
 anything further about Te Eauparaha, and they were 
 beginning to flatter themselves that he would never 
 return to trouble them again, when they were rudely 
 awakened from their false security in a way they least 
 expected. 
 
 Towards the close of 1830 an English brig, commanded 
 by Captain Stewart, entered Akaroa Harbour for the 
 avowed purpose of purchasing flax fibre for the Sydney 
 market. The first Maoris who approached the vessel 
 were told that no Maoris would be allowed on board 
 till their chief, Tamaiharanui had conferred with the 
 captain. The chief was absent at the time, and a 
 messenger was immediately despatched to Little Eiver 
 to fetch him ; but as he was busy preparing a cargo of 
 flax for one of his Sydney customers, he did not comply 
 with the first summons, and it was not till the eighth 
 day that he came alongside the brig, accompanied by 
 his wife and their little daughter Ngaroimata (tear- 
 drops). 
 
 He was cordially welcomed by the captain, who took 
 him below to the cabin, under the guise of hospitality ; 
 he was barely seated before a cabin door opened, and Te 
 Eauparaha and Eangihaeata, accompanied by several
 
 200 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 other Kapiti chiefs, entered. They at once seized and 
 bound Tamaiharanui, taunting him all the while with 
 his simplicity in falling so readily into the trap prepared 
 for him. After the seizure of the chief the Maoris, who 
 till then had not been allowed to come near the ship 
 were invited to come on board, and under one pretext or 
 another were induced to go below, where Rauparaha and 
 one hundred and seventy of bis warriors were secreted. 
 Canoe loads of people continued to come on board for 
 many hours, there being no suspicion of foul play, owing 
 to its being the practice of the people, when trading 
 with vessels visiting the port, to remain on board for 
 hours together. 
 
 On the dawn of the second day after Tamaiharanui's 
 capture, Te Eauparaha attacked his pa at Takapuneke. 
 The place was unfortified and undefended ; and after 
 killing a hundred of the inhabitants, he carried the rest, 
 numbering 50, away with him as prisoners. The 
 following day the brig sailed for Kapiti. 
 
 During the voyage Tamaiharanui smothered his little 
 daughter, appropriately named tear-drops, with his mat 
 as she slept beside him one night, lest she should ever 
 become the wife of one of his enemies. His captors 
 were very much enraged with him for doing what he did, 
 and fearing he might commit suicide and escape the 
 punishment in store for him, they bound his hands and 
 fastened him securely to a ringbolt in the hold. 
 His vindictive foes watched with cruel satisfaction 
 the suffering their precautionary measures occasioned 
 their prisoner. 
 
 On reaching the island stronghold of Kapiti, 
 Tamaiharanui was handed over to the widow of Te Pehi, 
 who put him to death by slow and nameless tortures.
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 201 
 
 Base as the means adopted for his capture were, and 
 cruel as his fate was, it is impossible to feel much pity 
 for Tamaiharanui. His punishment was hardly more 
 than he deserved. The treatment he received at the 
 hands of the Ngatitoa was little more than a repetition 
 of the cruelties which he had himself inflicted on 
 members of his own tribe. 
 
 To persons unacquainted with the social customs of 
 the Maori before European civilization obliterated the 
 distinction which prevailed between the noble and the 
 plebeian, and upset all social order, and reduced the 
 entire race to one dead level of social inferiority in the 
 presence of the Pakeha, it may appear strange to be told 
 that the Maoris were far more ceremonious in their social 
 intercourse with each other, and more attentive to 
 etiquette than Europeans generally are. But the Maoris 
 have long given up the polite courtesies which 
 distinguished their intercourse with each other, and the 
 respectful demeanour which their ancient customs 
 required them to manifest towards their superiors, for the 
 graceless familiarity of intercourse introduced by the 
 white man. It may be that the Maoris carried their 
 punctiliousness to excess, and that too great deference 
 was paid to chiefs of the highest rank ; but that only 
 makes their present mannerlessness the more apparent. 
 
 The behaviour of the Kaiapoi people to Tamaiharanui 
 who was the upoko ariki, chief priest and heir of the 
 ancestral honours of Ngaiterangiamoa, the noblest family 
 of Ngaitahu, illustrates the relation which existed 
 between a chief and his people, and the way in which 
 respect for his person was shown. 
 
 As the hereditary spiritual head of the tribe, he was 
 regarded with peculiar reverence and awe. The common
 
 202 THE SACKING OP KAIAPOHIA 
 
 people did not even dare to look upon his face, and his 
 equals felt his sacred presence an oppressive restriction 
 upon their liberty of action, for even an accidental breach 
 of etiquette while holding intercourse with him, might 
 involve them in serious loss of property, if not of life. 
 His visits were always dreaded, and his movements, 
 whenever he entered a pa, were watched with great 
 anxiety by the inhabitants : for if his shadow happened 
 to fall upon a whata or a rua (storehouses for food) while 
 he was passing through the crowded lanes of a town, it 
 was immediately destroyed with all its contents, because 
 it would be an unpardonable insult for a commoner to 
 eat food upon which the sacred shadow of an ariki noble 
 had fallen. 
 
 There was little in Tamaiharanui's personal appearance 
 to mark his aristocratic lineage. His figure was short 
 and thick set, his complexion dark and his features 
 rather forbidding. Unlike most Maori chiefs of exalted 
 rank, he was coivardly, cruel, and caparicious, an object 
 of dread to friends and foes alike ; and, however much 
 his people may have mourned the manner of his death, 
 they could not fail to experience a sense of relief when 
 he was gone. 
 
 After the shock caused by the startling news of Te 
 Eauparaha's raid on Akaroa, the Kaiapoi community 
 soon resumed their ordinary occupations. 
 
 Every morning shortly after dawn, a stream of persons 
 of all ages might have been seen issuing from the gates, 
 and wending their way along the narrow paths which led 
 to the kumara and other plantations, which were spread 
 over the district on the sheltered side of the forest which 
 stretched from Woodend to Eangiora. By ten o'clock 
 the women had cooked in the fields the first meal of the
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 20$ 
 
 day ; the smoke of their cooking fires, as it ascended in 
 the still morning air, being the signal to all who wanted 
 a meal to make for the spot. While the strong and 
 able-bodied were occupying themselves in the field, the 
 old people remained in and about the pa ; the women 
 engaged in weaving mats or baskets, or tidying up their 
 premises, and the men, seated singly or in groups, 
 occupied themselves with carving wood or rubbing 
 shapeless pieces of greenstone into meres, axes, or ear 
 ornaments. The chiefs of highest rank selected a 
 neighbouring sandhill, which was called after their names, 
 and known as So-arid- So's ' look out," where they sat 
 and worked in their solitary grandeur. 
 
 The boys and girls romped and played in the open 
 spaces round the buildings, after the manner of children 
 all the world over. In imitation of their elders, the boys 
 often engaged in mimic warfare using toy spears 
 and other weapons ; and in later times employing 
 occasionally in their encounters with each other korari 
 sticks, to represent firearms. Having scooped a hole in 
 the part of the stick representing the stock end of the 
 barrel, they filled it with fine wood ash ; and when they 
 discharged their imitation guns, they blew the light dust 
 out of the hole to represent powder smoke, and at the 
 same time made a sound to imitate the report of the 
 gun. 
 
 One boy who lived to sit as representative of the South 
 Island in the General Assembly of New Zealand, in one 
 of these encounters, was seen by his eldest sister to 
 enter a house where a tempting pile of soft wood ash lay 
 upon the hearth just suited for his purpose, forgetting in 
 the excitement of the moment, the wickedness of the act" 
 
 * The fire inside the dwelling-house was sacred, and used only to create 
 light and warmth. Fires for common use were lighted outside the 
 dwellings.
 
 204 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 according to the notions of his people, he sacrilegiously 
 appropriated the ashes and charged his gun with them ; 
 but he had hardly fired it before his sister seized him 
 and forced some detestable filth into his mouth, not so 
 much to punish him for the offence as to ensure his 
 cleansing his mouth from every vestige of the sacred ash, 
 which if left anywhere about him would probably have 
 caused his death ; and partly to impress upon his 
 youthful mind the enormity of the offence of which he 
 had been guilty, and so prevent his ever repeating 
 it. 
 
 But it must not be supposed that the children had 
 nothing else to do but to play, and were allowed to grow 
 up in unbridled liberty and ignorance. All boys of 
 rangatira rank were obliged to attend the classes taught 
 during the winter months in the Wharekura, by persons 
 learned in history, mythology, and the various branches 
 of knowledge possessed by the Maoris. Though the time 
 spent under instruction was short, the lessons were 
 difficult, and the discipline severe. 
 
 The following reminiscence of a Maori school-boy's 
 experience, communicated to the writer by one of the last 
 to receive instruction in the old-fashioned way, will give 
 some idea of what an ardent seeker after knowledge had 
 to face in olden times in his efforts to acquire it. The 
 disorganisation caused by Te Rauparaha's raids interfered 
 to such an extent with the regular routine of pa life, that 
 the usual classes for instruction were discontinued for a 
 while ; and the narrator of the following story, who was 
 then about fourteen years of age, seeing no immediate 
 chance of the instruction classes being resumed, and 
 dreading the thought of growing up in ignorance, begged 
 his father who was a very learned man, to impart to him
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 205 
 
 the knowledge he thirsted for. His father, however, 
 turned a deaf ear to his entreaties, telling him that the 
 " old fashion " was evidently about to pass away, that 
 the Pakeha would soon dominate the land, and then the 
 " Maori scholar's sacred back would be denied by having 
 to carry burdens for him." The Atuas would resent 
 the desecration of their consecrated servant, and put him 
 to death ; as he did not wish to have any hand in 
 shortening his own child's life, he would not consent to 
 initiate him. 
 
 The boy cried and pleaded so hard and so perseveringly 
 for the gratification of his cherished wish, that one old 
 chief, who was a sort of Maori college don, named 
 Taiarorua, took pity upon and agreed to become his 
 instructor. But before doing so, he subjected him to 
 very disagreeable treatment to test the sincerity of his 
 protested love of learning. The old Tohunga took him 
 first to a certain spot in the river-bed of the Selwyn. 
 On the way there, he wrapped up something very filthy 
 and disgusting in a cabbage leaf, which he told his pupil 
 to place on his head. 
 
 On reaching the river they both sat down in a part 
 where the stream was flowing rapidly, and the Tohunga 
 began to repeat various incantations, pouring water all 
 the time with the palm of his hand over the neophyte's 
 head, who was directed while this was going on to eat 
 the contents of the cabbage leaf ; but this he revolted 
 from doing, and after touching his teeth with it dropped 
 it into the stream. He was told that the object of the 
 lustration was that his ears might be opened to the 
 instruction he was about to receive. 
 
 This preliminary ceremony being over, they adjourned 
 to the whare Purakaunui,* or schoolroom, where the 
 
 * So called because used as an armoury.
 
 206 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 classes met during term time. When the pupils as- 
 sembled at the usual hour, the Tohunga told them to 
 disperse that evening, as he was busy initiating a new 
 pupil. After they had all gone he resumed the initiatory 
 ceremonies. The lad was sent to collect a few wild 
 cabbage leaves, which he was directed to give to his 
 mother to cook in a sacred oven. When it was prepared, 
 the old men formed a circle on the sacred ground near 
 the Atua's shrine, into the centre of which the boy was 
 led. The food was brought into the circle, and one of 
 the old men fed the boy, while his instructor repeated 
 incantations over him ; this concluded, the lad was free 
 to a-ttend the classes in the Wharekurat. 
 
 Occasionally there would be a tremendous uproar in 
 the pa, owing to some gossip while retailing the tittle- 
 tattle of her set to a select circle of her friends, letting 
 out that Mrs. Somebody had said that Mrs. Somebody 
 else need not assume such " airs " when it was well 
 known that her great grandfather had served to furnish 
 her own great grandfather with a very good meal. As 
 soon as the candid friend who always officiated on such 
 occasions had imparted to the disparaged lady the spite- 
 ful remarks of her jealous rival, with shrieks and screams 
 she immediately sought the presence of her traducer, at 
 whom she raved in unmeasured terms, flinging back the 
 aspersion cast upon her lineage, by asserting that her 
 family had eaten far more members of the families of 
 those who set themselves up as her equals, and defied 
 them to disprove her assertion. Working herself into a 
 perfect frenzy she would throw off all her clothes, and 
 rush about waving her arms like a maniac. Around her 
 
 t Same building sometimes called the Eed House, because painted 
 that colour.
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 207 
 
 would gather every soul within hearing, the women all 
 talking, and shouting, and screaming together, all giving 
 their opinions at once, and contradicting one another. 
 The men squatted round, watching the proceedings with 
 great amusement, occasionally interjecting a sarcastic 
 remark upon the personal defects of their lady friends 
 which only added fuel to .the fire, and increased the 
 confusion of a scene which could be compared only to 
 Bedlam let loose. 
 
 The " Artful Dodger " was not unknown in the native 
 community, by whom he was called the grandson of 
 Whanoke. The following is one of the many stories 
 which are told about the clever devices he resorted to in 
 order to gain his dishonest ends. Somewhere in the 
 neighbourhood of Bangiora there was a sort of military 
 storehouse, where provisions were kept for the use of 
 warriors who might be suddenly called upon to go out on 
 the war-path. Amongst other things was a large case of 
 potted wood-fowl ; Whanoke coveted the delicious con- 
 tents of the case, but the difficulty was to get rid of the 
 persons placed in charge of it. A happy thought 
 occurred to him one day, which led to the accomplish- 
 ment of his purpose. Eumours were abroad that a 
 neighbouring tribe was meditating an attack, but no one 
 thought that there was any immediate cause for alarm, 
 till one day Whanoke rushed up to the keepers of the 
 storehouse in great alarm, and informed them that he 
 had just met a large war party who would be upon them 
 in the course of a few minutes, and that their only 
 chance of escaping immediate death was to seek the 
 shelter of the nearest fortress. Scared by the statement 
 so cunningly devised, the guardians of the storehouse 
 ran away with all speed, leaving Whanoke to appropriate 
 . the contents of the whata at his leisure.
 
 208 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 About this period the Kaiapoi people became ac- 
 quainted for the first time with European food and 
 clothing, through the Sydney traders, who visited 
 Whangaraupo (Port Cooper) and other harbours on the 
 coast, to barter with them for flax fibre. It soon became 
 the ambition of every Maori of standing to secure some- 
 thing Pakeha ; but owing to the ignorance of the nature 
 of many of the things offered to them for sale, the 
 selection which they made sometimes led to very 
 amusing results. One chief chose a case of what he 
 understood contained the preserved fat of a large land 
 animal corresponding to the whale of the ocean which 
 was highly esteemed as an article of food by Europeans. 
 
 On the occasion of a great feast, to which the whole 
 pa was invited, the case was brought out from the 
 whata with a great parade of hospitality by the owner, 
 and opened amidst the plaudits of the guests who were 
 all eager to taste the Pakeha food. The host explained 
 that, like their own potted birds' flesh, this preserved 
 meat required no cooking and was fit for immediate use. 
 As the number of persons who wished to taste it was so 
 great, the contents of the box were broken up into small 
 pieces which were served out to the guests, who com- 
 menced to munch them at once ; but great was their 
 surprise on finding the meat difficult of mastication 
 owing to the froth which accumulated in their mouths. 
 Some, thinking themselves more knowing than the rest, 
 swallowed their portions without attempting to chew 
 them, but the after effects did not encourage them to add 
 soap to their dietary, and they continued to marvel how 
 the white man contrived to swallow and keep down the 
 fat of oxen, till further intercourse taught them the 
 proper use to which soap was put.
 
 THE SACKING OP KAIAPOHIA 209 
 
 Though the trade between the Pakehas and Maoris 
 was on the whole fairly conducted, the temptation to 
 take advantage of their ignorance sometimes proved too 
 strong to resist, and a cask of sugar on being landed 
 would sometimes be found to contain more sand than 
 sugar. These traders were the pioneer importers of 
 animal and vegetable pests. The Norwegian rat, which 
 they unwittingly introduced, soon overran the country, 
 and supplanted the native rat which was a harmless 
 creature, very like the field mouse of Europe. The 
 vegetable pest was knowingly introduced with the 
 intention of defrauding the Maoris, who having learnt 
 that tobacco was made from the leaf of a plant, became 
 very desirous to secure some seed, and the traders 
 promised to procure it for them, provided they were well 
 paid for their trouble. But as no tobacco plant grew in 
 Australia, something else had to be substituted, and docks 
 being plentiful, a supply of the seed of that plant was 
 collected and brought to New Zealand, where the 
 Maoris paid a high price for it, and cultivated it with the 
 greatest care, under the impression that it was the 
 " fragrant weed " they had learnt to love. 
 
 The Kaiapoi people knew nothing at this time about 
 any animals but dogs and native rats, never having seen 
 or heard of the Captain Cook variety of porker, which 
 up to that time had not appeared in the country districts, 
 where it afterwards became so numerous. From those 
 who boarded the trading vessels they heard a good deal 
 about some strange animals altogether unlike the only 
 quadrupeds they were familiar with. Great was the 
 excitement in the pa caused by the news that two of 
 these strange creatures were about to arrive, having been 
 purchased by an enterprising chief belonging to the
 
 210 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 place. Oh the day they were to reach the pa all business 
 was stopped, and the oldest and gravest persons in the 
 community were as excited and agitated as the youngest. 
 The whole population went outside and waited by the 
 road along which they understood that the pigs were to 
 come. Many hours passed, and the younger people 
 kept running backwards and forwards along the road 
 leading to the Waimakariri to try and get tidings of the 
 approaching strangers. 
 
 The patience of the crowd was well nigh exhausted 
 when loud shouts were heard in the distance, and the 
 news was soon passed along that Hinewaitutu and 
 Tahututua, the names bestowed by the owner on his 
 new purchases, had arrived. Immediately the cry 
 arose, " Come ! Come ! Come ! and see these strange 
 creatures." There was a general rush to the spot, and 
 the narrow path was soon completely blocked. The 
 exclamation of wonder and astonishment which those 
 who first caught sight of the pigs gave vent to, served to 
 heighten the curiosity of less fortunate persons in the 
 rear, who craned their necks and pressed with all their 
 might to catch a glimpse of what was causing those who 
 enjoyed a better view so much wonder. 
 
 As the pigs came waddling along from side to side, 
 jerking at every stride the string by which their drivers 
 held them, the crowd made way, and formed an admiring 
 circle round them. The old people gazed wonderingly 
 upon them, and expressed in warm terms their feeling of 
 satisfaction at having seen what former generations had 
 never seen. The excitement was intense, and the noise 
 caused by everyone shouting their comments at the 
 same time, deafening. All were remarking upon the 
 appearance of the strange creatures, drawing attention
 
 THE SACKING OP KAIAPOHIA 211 
 
 to the curious shape of their snouts and ears and tails 
 and feet, when the pigs began to grunt. " Silence, 
 silence," roared the immediate bystanders. " Silence, 
 that we may listen to the voice of the pig." The silence 
 was of very short duration, for no sooner did the crowd 
 hear the grunting than there rose from their lips the 
 simultaneous exclamation, ' Ananah ! Ananah ! verily 
 the voice and language of the pig are as strange as its 
 appearance."
 
 212 THE SACKING OP KAIAPOHIA 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 THE SIEGE OF KAIAPOL 
 
 The interest awakened by the newly developed trade 
 with white people, kept the minds of the Kaiapoi Maoris 
 occupied, and by diverting their thoughts from the 
 danger of invasion lulled them into a state of false 
 security. The difficulty of transporting a sufficient body 
 of men from Kapiti to make victory secure, would, they 
 hoped, prevent the northern natives from attacking them 
 in force. They had yet to learn what tough stuff their 
 enemy was made of, and what seemingly impossible 
 things his unconquerable energy and implacable spirit 
 would drive him to do. Unsatiated by the revenge he 
 had taken on Tamaiharanui, Te Eauparaha vowed to 
 destroy Kaiapoi, and to mingle the blood of its inhabi- 
 tants with the blood so dear to him spilt within its walls. 
 The execution of the scheme for its destruction was 
 hastened by mata or prophecy uttered by a seer at 
 Kapiti named Kukurarangi, who foretold the success of 
 his plans in words to the following effect : 
 
 He aha te hau 
 
 He uru, He tonga 
 
 He parera Kai waho E. 
 
 Nau mai ra e Raha 
 
 Kia kite koe i te 
 
 Ahi i Papa-kura ki Kaiapohia 
 
 What is the wind ? 
 It is north-west, it is south, 
 It is east in the offing, oh ! 
 Come then, Raha ! * 
 That you may see the fire 
 On tlie crimson flat of Kaia- 
 pohia 
 
 f Contraction for Te Eauparaha.
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 213 
 
 Ma te ihu waka 
 
 Ma te kakau hoe 
 
 A ka taupoki 
 
 Te riu o te waka 
 
 A Maui ki raro 
 
 Tuki tukia nopenopea Ha ! 
 
 Ha Taku pokai tara puka 
 
 E tu ki te muri wai 
 
 Ki Wai para ra i ia 
 
 Ka whaka pae te riri ki tua 
 
 Awhitia kia piri kia tata 
 Ka tara te ri kohi ti 
 
 By the prow of tlie canoe 
 By the handle of the paddle 
 The hold of the canoe of Maui 
 May be overturned to cover it ; 
 
 Then pound, pound the sea ! 
 And stir it with your paddles 
 Behold my flock of curlews 
 Hovering over the backwater 
 Of that Waipara there 
 The fight will be on the other 
 
 side 
 Embrace it, get closer and 
 
 closer 
 Fierce will rage the fight. 
 
 About a year after his raid on Akaroa, Te Rauparaha 
 embarked in a fleet of war canoes, a force of six hundred 
 warriors, selected from Ngatitoa, Ngatiraukawa and 
 Ngatiawa. As soon as his fleet were observed off the 
 coast of the South Island, messengers were despatched 
 to warn the inhabitants of Kaiapoi of his approach, but 
 the warning only reached them a short time in advance 
 of the enemy. The news quite unnerved the people, who 
 were totally unprepared. In their perplexity they resolved 
 to consult the guardian deity of their tribe, Kahukura. 
 This divinity was classed among the beneficent 
 Maori Atuas. His cultus was introduced by the 
 crew of Takitimu, who were the ancestors of the Kaia- 
 pohians. The staff used for divination purposes was 
 about eighteen inches in length ; the upper third 
 representing an elaborately tattooed face and body ; the 
 lower end being quite round and smooth. The image was 
 kept in a carved wooden box, in the centre of a clump of 
 flax bushes, called the ' pae " or resting place of the 
 Atua, and the box was further concealed from observation 
 by a covering of dry grass. This sacred place was about
 
 214 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 half an acre in extent, and was situated close to the 
 cemetery which now adjoins St. Stephen's Church. 
 
 A hurried summons brought representatives from the 
 outlying villages and food stations to take part in the 
 ceremony of " Toro," and Patuki, a fine tall man in the 
 prime of life, was chosen to " patai " or question the 
 divinity. The morning chosen for the ceremony seemed 
 propitious. The sun rose with resplendent glory as the 
 procession headed by Patuki, who was stark naked, issued 
 from the gate of the pa, followed by the old Tohungas, or 
 priests, his equals, whose only covering was a narrow 
 waist-band. Behind them came the rest of the inhabi- 
 tants, men, women, and children. They moved slowly 
 along and silently till they reached the " pae " at 
 Tuahiwi (St. Stephen's). Having removed the image 
 from the box, Patuki squatted on his heels on the 
 ground, the other Tohungas sitting in like manner in a 
 semi-circle behind him ; and the general public behind 
 them again. The first part of the ceremony consisted in 
 drawing a leaf of tussock grass from any plant growing 
 near where the Tohunga sat ; if it broke, that was a bad 
 omen, and they would not proceed any further, and 
 would defer the consultation. If it came up by the 
 root bringing the earth with it, that was a good omen ; 
 and the Tohunga proceeded to bind the Atua with a 
 mystic knot, made by passing the grass leaf with the 
 left hand over the thumb nail of the right hand (because 
 " e taha maui tia ana te hon o te Atua ") ; on forming 
 the knot the projecting part of the grass leaf was pulled 
 tight, and if it broke it was regarded as a bad omen, and 
 the consultation deferred. Three loops were made in 
 the manner described, incantations being repeated all the 
 time by the questioner and an assistant Tohunga.
 
 216 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 Patuki having successfully made the knots which 
 were to bind Kahukura to the image for a sufficient time 
 to secure an answer, proceeded to dandle the image in 
 his hand, continuing all the time to repeat the necessary 
 invocations to the Atua to enter the image and reveal his 
 presence. When the proper moment arrived the 
 Tohunga said to the Atua, Kai te haere mai tera pia au 
 ki te patu i tenei pia au "- " That people of yours is 
 coming to kill this people of yours." Three times he 
 repeated these words in a loud voice, swaying about and 
 gradually working himself into a state of frenzy. After 
 the third repetition of the words, the whole assembly 
 present took them up, and in loud and frantic tones 
 implored the Atua to reveal his presence. The Tohungas, 
 swaying their bodies about, contracted their stomachs 
 with a sudden movement, to quicken the expulsion of 
 the air from their lungs, and add to the shrillness and 
 violence of their cries. 
 
 At length the image gave evidence that the Atua 
 had entered it, being seen to rear itself up and sway 
 from side to side. The presence of attendant spirits 
 of inferior order was at the same time manifested by 
 the suppressed shrieks uttered by the surrounding 
 Tohungas, into whose bodies the spirits had entered; 
 the sounds emitted by them resembling the cries uttered 
 by a startled girl. The excitement now became intense, 
 and the whole crowd of worshippers cried aloud to the 
 God, ' That pia ' of yours is coming to kill this ' pia ' of 
 yours," and besought him to indicate in some way what 
 the result would be. The image reared up, and then fell 
 forward and struck the ground again and again, once, 
 twice, thrice (after the manner of Punch in the popular 
 show of that name). Again the people raised their
 
 THE SACKING OP KAIAPOHIA 217 
 
 voices and cried aloud, " This ' pia of yours is going to 
 kill that ' pia ' of yours." The image reared itself 
 up against Patuki's shoulder ; and while they continued 
 to repeat the question, the image fell forward and rapped 
 the ground. At that moment one of the Tohungas 
 squatting behind Patuki, struck him a smart blow on the 
 back of the head, with the palm of his hand ; that being 
 the recognised method of closing the ceremony of 
 consulting the Atua. 
 
 Instantly the image became perfectly still, for the 
 Atua went out of it, followed by his attendant spirits, 
 who up to that moment had possessed the bodies of 
 the Tohungas conducting the enquiry. The reason 
 why the consultation was so abruptly terminated was to 
 secure a favourable omen. The image striking the earth 
 was an intimation that there would be one defeat, 
 and that defeat, those who were consulting the oracle 
 interpreted to mean, would befall the northern forces. 
 After the close of the ceremony the image was replaced 
 in its box, amongst the flax bushes, and most of the 
 people returned to the pa. A few hours afterwards 
 Te Rauparaha's men were scouring the country and 
 putting all stragglers to death. 
 
 On reaching Double Corner, Te Eauparaha landed and 
 drew up his war canoes above high water mark ; he then 
 marched quickly on to Kaiapoi, hoping to surprise the 
 place ; but in this he failed, as news of his approach had 
 reached the inhabitants ; nevertheless, if he had assaulted 
 the pa whenever he arrived, he could easily have taken 
 it, as most of the young and able-bodied men were 
 absent, having gone as far as Port Cooper to escort 
 Taiaroa, who purposed embarking there in his canoes for 
 Otakou ; the rest of the inhabitants were scattered over
 
 218 THE SACKING OP KAIAPOHIA 
 
 the country attending to their cultivations. It was the 
 report of firearms, coupled with the warning cries of 
 those outside the fortifications, who had caught sight of 
 the approaching enemy, which warned the occupants of 
 the pa, who were mostly old men, boys and women, of 
 their danger. They immediately closed the gates, and 
 made a brave show of defence along the walls. 
 
 Fortunately some of those outside the fortress suc- 
 ceeded in reaching Port Cooper in time to stop Taiaroa, 
 who consented to return and relieve the besieged. 
 Having got all the available assistance he could from the 
 Peninsula natives, he marched along the coast to the 
 Waimakariri, which he crossed near the mouth on mokis, 
 or rafts made of dry flax stalks. But fearing his 
 relieving party might be discovered by the enemy if they 
 approached any closer by daylight, he concealed his men 
 in the scrub on the river bank till it was quite dark, 
 when they continued their march along the beach till 
 they got opposite to Kaiapoi, and then they turned 
 inland. 
 
 But as they approached the pa they noticed the 
 enemy's watch fires, and men standing and sitting 
 around them, and they saw at a glance, that to attempt 
 to enter the place on the land side, would be useless, 
 as the whole of the ground on that side of the pa was 
 occupied by the enemy in force. The only chance of 
 getting in was by wading through the lagoon ; but there 
 too they saw sentries posted every few yards on the 
 sand ridges bounding its margin, and how to pass them 
 without detection was a puzzle. Te Ata o Tu was 
 carrying his infant son on his back, and as he drew 
 nearer to the sentries his companions whispered to him 
 to strangle the infant rather than run the risk of its
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 219 
 
 foiling their efforts to escape the notice of the enemy, 
 but his parental instincts were too strong. It was his 
 only child, and a boy, and he could not kill it, but to 
 smother its cries in the event of its waking at a critical 
 moment, he rolled it up in a thick mat, and tied it 
 securely across his shoulders, and in that way carried the 
 little thing safely through all the dangers of that terrible 
 night ; but it was only spared to meet its death in 
 the waters of the lagoon a few months afterwards, when 
 its mother vainly tried to escape from the fallen pa. 
 
 Fortunately for Taiaroa's men a strong nor'-west wind 
 was blowing which waved the tall tussock grass and 
 sedge which covered all the ground about them violently 
 backwards and forwards, the constant wavy motion 
 concealing from the sentries the bodies of the men 
 who were creeping along under cover of the vegetation. 
 Whenever the wind lulled, the relief party kept perfectly 
 still, not daring to move, and disposed to hold their 
 breath for fear of detection by the sentries, who stood 
 talking within a few feet of their foes, of whose presence 
 they were quite unconscious, but who were yet near 
 enough to hear distinctly all that they said to one 
 another. The whole party having reached at last the 
 margin of the lagoon, they rose to their feet and plunged 
 into the water shouting "Taiaroa! to the rescue," and 
 warning their friends not to fire upon them. 
 
 For a moment the besieged thought that it was a 
 stratagem of the enemy, and poured volley after volley 
 amongst them, but as they were all struggling up to 
 their necks in water and mud no harm was done, the 
 bullets flying over their heads. As they drew nearer 
 their voices were recognized, and a warm welcome 
 accorded to them. And now the besieged took heart,
 
 220 THE SACKING OP KAIAPOHIA 
 
 and prepared not only for defence, but for carrying on 
 offensive operations against the enemy. Whakauira 
 was appointed to take charge of the gate Kaitangata, 
 and to head all the sorties made from it ; while Weka 
 held the same charge at Hiakarere. Other parts of the 
 defences were assigned to other chiefs, and night guards 
 were appointed. 
 
 Just outside the Kaitangata gate stood a watch-tower, 
 from which the besieged could look into the enemy's 
 camp. It was built like a whata, on a tall upright post, 
 and the walls were composed of slabs of wood which had 
 been tested and proved to be bullet proof. Small holes 
 were pierced on three sides to enable the look-out to take 
 observations, This watch-tower proved of great service 
 in guarding the besieged from sudden attacks, all the 
 enemy's movements being visible from it. 
 
 During the early part of the siege Taiaroa performed a 
 bold deed, which deserved to achieve greater success 
 than it did. Taking advantage of a dark stormy night he 
 sallied forth with a few companions, and made for the 
 spot near the mouth of the Ashley, where Te Bauparaha's 
 fleet, consisting of nearly thirty canoes, had lately been 
 brought and drawn up, with the intention of destroying 
 them ; but having only small, light hatchets they found 
 the task which they had undertaken beyond their power, 
 and had to content themselves with hacking the cordage 
 which fastened the cross ties, and seats, and side boards, 
 and so rendering them unseaworthy till repaired. But 
 the soaking rain defeated all their efforts to burn the 
 canoes, and so the brave fellows had to return without 
 effecting anything commensurate with the risk they had 
 run.
 
 222 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 Three months passed and still the siege continued. 
 Te Eauparaha then adopted different tactics, which were 
 probably suggested by the words of the Seer's song : 
 " Embrace it, clasp it tightly ; " and he commenced to sap 
 up to the walls and opened three trenches parallel to one 
 another. He lost a great many men at first owing to 
 their being exposed to a continuous fire from the pa, but 
 by covering the trenches and carrying them forward in a 
 zig-zag direction he got at last within a few feet of the 
 wall. 
 
 It was during the progress of this approach that Te 
 Ata o Tu known to the colonists as ' Old Jacob," and 
 much respected by them for his sterling qualities 
 increased his reputation for courage by his successful 
 encounter with Pehi Tahau, one of the northern warriors. 
 The narrative of the encounter is best told in Hakopa's 
 own words: "Towards the close of the siege, after 
 standing sentry at the foot of the watch-tower, all one 
 stormy night, during which heavy showers of rain had 
 fallen, and being very wet and very sleepy, I was dozing 
 with my head resting upon my hands, which were 
 supported by the barrel of my gun, when I was roused by 
 a hand on my shoulder, and a voice whispering in my 
 ear, ' Are you asleep ?' I confessed I was, and asked 
 if anything was the matter. My questioner, who was 
 one of our bravest leaders, said, Yes, the enemy have 
 planned an attack, and I wish a sortie to be made at 
 once to repel it, will you take command ?' I readily 
 consented on condition that I should choose my own 
 men. He agreed ; and I picked out six of the bravest 
 men I knew, and got them to the gate without arousing 
 the rest of our people. I told my men to wait while I 
 and another reconnoitred.
 
 THE SACKING OP KAIAPOHIA 223 
 
 " We entered the sap and approached the shed where 
 the attacking party, numbering about two hundred, were 
 sleeping awaiting the dawn. They were lying all close 
 together like herrings in a shoal. I motioned to my 
 men to come on. Just at that moment one of them who 
 had gone down another trench, called out, ' Let us go 
 back, I have taken spoil, a club, a belt, and a cartouche 
 box.' The result of this injudicious outcry was very 
 different from what might have been anticipated. 
 Startled by the sound of his voice, our sleeping foes 
 sprang to their feet, and immediately bolted panic struck 
 in the direction of their main camp. 
 
 ' The coast was now quite clear for me, and emerging 
 from the trench I proceeded cautiously in the direction 
 taken by the runaways. I had not gone far before I 
 noticed the figure of a man a short distance in front of 
 me. He had nothing on but a small waist-mat, and was 
 armed with a fowling piece ; and walking beside him 
 was a woman, who from the way he kept pushing her 
 forward, seemed unwilling to accompany him. Happen- 
 ing to look round, he caught sight of me, and immediately 
 cried out to his fleeing companions, ' Come back ! come 
 back and catch this man, he is all alone.' 
 
 But as no one did come back in answer to his appeal, 
 and as I heard no answering call made, I felt confident 
 that I had nothing to fear at the moment from his 
 comrades, who were not likely to come to his aid till it 
 was quite light ; and that if I could only close with him, 
 I might overcome him, and have the satisfaction of 
 carrying his dead body back with me into the pa. I 
 determined therefore to try and force an encounter at 
 -close quarters ; my only fear was that he might shoot me 
 before I could grapple with him. I had only a tomahawk
 
 224 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 on a long handle, having left iny own gun behind, 
 because the charge in it was wet from the previous 
 night's rain. The ground we were passing over was 
 covered with large tufts of tussock grass, and I leapt 
 from one to another to deaden the sound of my footsteps,, 
 squatting down whenever I saw the man turning round 
 to look at me. I kept following him in this way for 
 several hundred yards ; fortunately he did not keep 
 moving towards Te Rauparaha's camp, but in a different 
 direction. 
 
 " By dint of great agility and caution I got within a few 
 feet of him, when he turned suddenly round and pushed 
 the woman between us, and instantly fired. It seemed 
 to me at that moment as if I were looking down the 
 barrel of his gun. I squatted as quickly as I could on 
 the ground ; fortunately there was a slight depression of 
 the surface where I stood, and that saved my life. The 
 flame of the charge set fire to my hair, and the ball 
 grazed my scalp ; for a moment I felt stunned, and 
 thought I was mortally wounded. My opponent kept 
 shouting for assistance which never came ; for his panic- 
 stricken companions I afterwards learnt, were at the 
 very time up to their necks in water in an adjoining 
 swamp, clinging in their terror to the niggerheads for 
 support, their fears having magnified my little party 
 of followers into an army. 
 
 " The shouts of my opponent recalled me to my senses,. 
 and recovering from the shock I had received, I made a 
 second attempt to grapple with him, but without success ; 
 as before he slipped behind the woman again, and aimed 
 his gun at me ; I stooped, and the bullet flew over my 
 shoulder. We were now on equal terms, and I had no 
 longer to exercise such excessive caution in attacking
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 225 
 
 him. I struck at him with my hatchet, he tried to parry 
 the blow with the butt end of his gun, but failed, and I 
 buried my weapon in his neck near the collar bone. 
 He fell forward at once, and I seized him by the legs and 
 lifted him on to my shoulder, intending to carry him out 
 of the reach of rescue by his own people. 
 
 " It was now quite light enough to see what was going 
 on, and I could not expect to escape much longer the 
 notice of the sentries guarding Te Rauparaha's camp. 
 Just then, one of my companions, who had mustered 
 sufficient courage to follow me, came up to where I was ; 
 and seeing signs of life in the body I was carrying, ran it 
 through with his spear ; and at the same time drew my 
 attention to the movements of a party of the enemy ; 
 who were evidently trying to intercept our return to the 
 pa. Hampered by the weight of my prize, I could not 
 get over the ground as quickly as our pursuers, but I was 
 loathe to lose the opportunity of presenting to my 
 superior officers such unmistakable evidence of my 
 prowess as a warrior ; and I struggled on with my 
 burden till I saw it was hopeless to think of reaching 
 the pa with it, when I threw it on the ground, con- 
 tenting myself with the waist-belt, gun, and ear 
 ornaments of my conquered foe, and made the best 
 of my way into the fortress, where I was received with 
 shouts of welcome from the people, and very compli- 
 mentary acknowledgements of my courage from my 
 commanders. 
 
 ' I owed my life at the fall of Kaiapoi to that morning's 
 encounter ; for when I was lying bound hand and foot 
 along with a crowd of other prisoners after the capture 
 of the pa, Te Eauparaha strolled amongst us enquiring 
 whether the man whd killed his chief, Pehi Tahau, was 
 
 p
 
 226 THE SACKING OP KAIAPOHIA 
 
 amongst our number. On my being pointed out to him 
 as the person he was in search of, instead of handing me 
 over, as I fully expected he was going to do, to the 
 relatives of my late foe, to be tortured and put to death 
 by them, he addressed me in most complimentary terms, 
 saying I was too brave a man to be put to death in the 
 general massacre which was taking place ; that I had 
 fought fairly, and won the victory ; and that he meant 
 to spare my life, and hoped that I would in time to come 
 render him as a return for his clemency some good 
 service on the battle-fields of the North Island." 
 
 Finding it hopeless to think of taking Kaiapoi by 
 assault, in the ordinary way, Te Eauparaha conceived the 
 idea of burning down the defences of the pa on the land 
 side. To effect this object, he ordered his men to collect 
 the manuka bushes which grew in profusion all about 
 the neighbouring sandhills, and after tying them in small 
 bundles, to stack them in a convenient place to dry. 
 Having accumulated a quantity sufficient for his purpose, 
 the next step was to place the dry brushwood against 
 the wooden walls of the pa. But this proved a more 
 dangerous and difficult task than he had at first antici- 
 pated, and many of his men sacrificed their lives while 
 attempting to carry out his directions. The bundles of 
 manuka were carried as far as they could be under cover 
 of the trenches, and then thrown forward ; and it was 
 while in this act of throwing them that the besiegers 
 exposed themselves to the deadly fire of the defenders, 
 who, standing only a few feet away, were able to con- 
 centrate their aim upon the small space at the end of 
 each trench, where the person hurling the manuka was 
 obliged to stand. For awhile the besieged inhabitants 
 succeeded in scattering every night the work done by
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 227 
 
 their enemies at such a cost of life during the previous 
 day. But the accumulation of dried manuka all about 
 the front of the pa became so great at last that it was 
 altogether beyond their power to disturb it, and the huge 
 pile rose higher day by day till it filled the trench and 
 rested far up the stockade wall. The miserable in- 
 habitants now saw that their relentless enemy was 
 gaining upon them, and knowing that if he once got rid 
 of the protecting walls their lives would be at his mercy, 
 they became greatly depressed, and many of the younger 
 men began to discuss the advisability of escaping before 
 the impending catastrophe happened. Taiaroa was the 
 first to move, and under cover of darkness he withdrew 
 the contingent of Otakou men under his command, 
 promising his desponding friends whom he left behind 
 him, that he would try and create a diversion in their 
 favour by attacking Te Rauparaha's camp from without, 
 when an opportunity would be afforded them of getting 
 rid of the cause of their immediate alarm ; but this 
 promise he was never able to fulfil. Every hour after 
 he left the peril of the besieged increased, and the 
 suspense became intolerable. Southward rose the vast 
 pile of brushwood to be set fire to by their enemies 
 on the first favourable opportunity. 
 
 At length the fatal day arrived : a nor'-wester sprung 
 up, and blew with increasing violence for some hours. 
 Everyone felt certain that it would be succeeded by a 
 sou' -wester, as was then invariably the case, when the 
 fate of the pa would be sealed. There was just a chance 
 that if the manuka were lit from the inside, the flames 
 would be carried away from the pa, and the menacing 
 mass of inflammable material destroyed before it could 
 do any serious harm. Pureko, one of the chiefs in
 
 228 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 charge of the threatened portion of the defences, 
 determined to run the risk ; and seizing a firebrand, 
 thrust it into the heap. In a moment the flames shot 
 high up into the air, flaring and waving in the wind. 
 For a short time it seemed as if the experiment was 
 going to prove successful ; but all at once, with the 
 rapidity which usually characterizes the change of wind 
 from north to south on the Canterbury Plains, it veered 
 round to the opposite point of the compass, and drove 
 the fierce flames against the post and palisades, which 
 were soon ablaze and crashing to the ground. Blinding 
 smoke enveloped the whole place, and the defenders 
 were compelled to fall back from the wall to escape 
 suffocation. 
 
 Te Eauparaha and his men were on the alert, ready to 
 take advantage of the turn affairs had taken ; and before 
 the inhabitants of the pa could fully realize what had 
 happened, the northern warriors were in the midst of 
 them. The wildest confusion and disorder ensued. 
 Pureko, who was the immediate agent in causing the 
 disaster was the first to fall, being disembowelled by a 
 gunshot. The venerable Te Auta, the High Priest of the 
 tribe, whose long white hair and beard, and generally 
 imposing appearance had rendered him for many years 
 past an object of terror to the youth of the pa, fell at the 
 Tuahu, where with the image of Kahukura in his hands, 
 he vainly besought the patron divinity of the tribe to 
 help them in their hour of need. 
 
 Many of the inhabitants made for the Huirapa gate, 
 because the bridge which led from it gave access to the 
 swamps covered with flax, niggerheads, and raupo, under 
 cover of which lay their only hope of escape. Others 
 climbed over the fences, and plunging into the lagoon
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 229 
 
 waded or swam to the friendly shelter of the bordering 
 vegetation ; the smoke, driven by the wind, over the 
 surface of the water, screening them while so engaged, 
 from the observation of the enemy. In this way 
 probably two hundred succeeded in making good their 
 escape by keeping in the swamps till they got well up 
 the plains, when they worked their way towards Banks 
 Peninsula and other places inhabited by their friends. 
 
 Shrieks and cries of despair rose within the pa as the 
 northern men struck down their aged victims, or seized 
 and bound some trembling youth or maiden to be 
 despatched later on, or to be carried far away into 
 captivity. When all were either killed, or securely 
 bound, the conquerors adjourned to their camp, situated 
 on the spot now known as Massacre* Hill, : ' : on the North 
 Eoad, where the captives were finally disposed of. 
 Those devoted to the manes of the dead were fastened to 
 poles, erected on the summit of the knoll, and bled to 
 death, their bodies being afterwards removed to be cooked 
 and eaten in accordance with the national custom, which 
 required this indignity to be offered to the dead in order 
 to complete the humiliation of the conquered. 
 
 The total population of the Kaiapoi Pa at the time of 
 its capture, cannot have been far short of a thousand 
 souls. Of these, a part made good their escape, a part 
 perished, and a considerable number were carried off by 
 the conquerors to Kapiti. 
 
 Among the captives was a handsome lad named Pura, 
 (known to Lyttelton residents as Pitama) who took Te 
 Rauparaha's fancy, and was led by him into his whare. 
 
 * When the Eev. John Baven, one of the Canterbury pilgrims took 
 possession of the land in the neighbourhood of this knoll, the whole 
 surface of the ground between it and the lagoon was strewn with human 
 remains and weapons of all sorts. Mr. Eaven caused the bones to be 
 collected, and about two waggon-loads were buried by his orders in a pit at 
 the base of the sandhill, which has since been almost levelled. The 
 remains of the houses and fortifications of Kaiapoi were destroyed by the 
 fires lit to clear the land for farming purposes.
 
 230 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 To prevent his escaping during the night, the old chief 
 tied a stout cord round the boy's body and fastened the 
 end of it to his own wrist. During the early part of the 
 night Te Eauparaha was wakeful, and kept pulling the 
 cord to assure himself that his prisoner was safe ; but 
 when sleep overpowered him the cord relaxed, and the 
 boy who was watching all the time for an opportunity to 
 escape, successfully disengaged himself from his bonds, 
 and having fastened the check string to a peg which he 
 found in the floor, he crept cautiously out of the hut. It 
 was too dark for him to distinguish anything, and as he 
 passed out he overthrew a pile of brushwood, which 
 slipped down and completely covered him. 
 
 Old Rauparaha roused by the noise sprang to his feet, 
 and immediately discovered the trick which had been 
 played upon him. He at once gave the alarm, and 
 roused the whole camp. Suddenly awakened from 
 profound sleep induced by weariness after the violent 
 exertion and excitement of the previous day, and by the 
 sense of security ensured by victory, the northern 
 warriors were in just the condition to give away to panic, 
 and it was well for them that the circumstance which 
 caused the disturbance in their camp proved after all to 
 be of such a trivial nature. With loud shouts and cries 
 the men rushed hither and thither in wild confusion, 
 some calling out that the prisoners had escaped, others 
 that the camp was being attacked by their friends, who 
 were attempting to rescue them. Torches were lit and 
 seen flashing in all directions, guns were fired, and the 
 greatest commotion prevailed everywhere. 
 
 All the time this uproar was going on, the cause of it 
 was lying perfectly still under the fallen pile of brush- 
 wood, beside the commander-in-chief's hut. He knew 
 that if discovered he would be immediately put to death,
 
 THE SACKING OP KAIAPOHIA 231 
 
 as it was an unpardonable offence for a prisoner to 
 attempt to escape. Escape, however, at such a moment 
 was impossible, and poor Pura lay in the greatest state 
 of terror and alarm, expecting every moment that his 
 hiding place would be found out. Fortunately for him 
 that was not to be; and when the alarm subsided and 
 stillness once more reigned around, he quietly extricated 
 himself from his uncomfortable position, and groped his 
 way out of the camp into the surrounding flax swamps, 
 under cover of which he escaped ; journeying south- 
 wards till he fell in with the main body of the fugitives, 
 who were travelling on in the same direction till they 
 reached a place of safety. 
 
 He was more fortunate in this respect than a boy of 
 eight years and a girl of five, who got separated from 
 their friends on the march, and were not found for 
 several months afterwards, when an eeling party came 
 upon them in the river-bed of the Waikiriki (Selwyn). 
 These two children known in after years as Charley Wi 
 and Mrs. Wi Naihira, were told by their father to rest on 
 the bank of the river while he went in search of food for 
 them, but he never returned, having probably fallen into 
 the hands of Te Eauparaha's men, who were scouring the 
 country in all directions for fugitives. Left to shift for 
 themselves, they managed to sustain life by eating raupo 
 roots, and the tender shoots of the ti-palm, and the small 
 fish which they caught in the shallows and under the 
 stones. They found shelter from the weather under the 
 large flax bushes which lined the river bank, and by 
 cuddling together under a heap of dry grass, which they 
 had collected, they managed to keep themselves warm in 
 spite of their scanty clothing, which consisted of one 
 short mat each, about the size of an ordinary door mat, 
 and rather like one in appearance, though softer.
 
 232 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 ON A WE EETUEN TO KAPITI. 
 
 A few days after the capture of Kaiapoi, Te Eauparaha, 
 having repaired the damage done to his canoes, embarked 
 his army and the prisoners he meant to take with him, 
 and sailed for Akaroa Harbour, with the intention of 
 attacking the fortress of Onawe, and completing the 
 destruction of Tamaiharanui's kinsman. Finding on his 
 arrival there that the pa was strongly fortified, and likely 
 to be bravely defended, and not relishing the idea of 
 undertaking another prolonged siege, he resorted to 
 stratagem. 
 
 Accompanied by the most distinguished of the Kaiapoi 
 prisoners, he approached the gate of Onawe, and began 
 parleying with some of the defenders, whom he advised 
 to surrender the pa, and trust to his clemency, appealing 
 to the presence of so many Kaiapoi prisoners as a proof 
 that they might trust his promise to spare their lives. 
 While this talking was going on, the gate was opened to 
 admit some men returning from an unsuccessful skirmish. 
 In the crowd gathered about the gate were some of 
 Te Eauparaha's men, who, in obedience to secret 
 instructions from him, had crept up unnoticed to where 
 he stood, and succeeded in entering the pa without being 
 recognised. Once within the fortress, they commenced 
 killing everyone about them, a panic ensued, and in a 
 few minutes Onawe was taken.
 
 THE SACKING OP KAIAPOHIA 233 
 
 Te Eauparaha having established his object, gave his 
 warriors permission to return to the north, and having 
 received directions where to rendezvous on the coast, 
 several war canoes put to sea at once. The one com- 
 manded by Te Hiko,* chief of the Ngatiawa contingent, 
 not being quite sea worthy, was beached for repairs at 
 Okaruru (Gough's Bay). Amongst the prisoners Te 
 Hiko had with him was Tangatahara, or " ugly man," so 
 nick-named years before by a lady who resented his too 
 persistent attentions to her. He was a renowned 
 warrior, and the late commander of the fortress of 
 Onawe. He was particularly obnoxious to Te Eauparaha 
 owing to the fact that it was by his hand that the great 
 Te Pehi fell at Kaiapoi. 
 
 While Te Hiko was engaged repairing his canoe, a 
 detachment of Te Eauparaha's body-guard who had been 
 searching the neighbouring hills and forests for fugitives 
 oarne upon the scene. They were accompanied by two 
 women, near relations of the great chief, who on 
 recognising Tangatahara as the man with whom their 
 family had a blood-feud, according to custom demanded 
 his surrender, exclaiming " Light an oven, we must have 
 .a feast, here is our man ! " Te Hiko resented this inter- 
 ference with his rights as captor of the noted prisoner, 
 and refused to give him up, and to prevent his being 
 molested placed a guard of his own men round him. At 
 the same time he ordered a plentiful supply of food to be 
 given to his superior officers' friends, hoping thereby to 
 -conciliate them, and to divert their thoughts from the 
 man whom he had taken under his protection. 
 
 The women of the party were not, however, easily 
 appeased and drawn from their purpose. They persisted 
 
 * He was the son of Te Pehi, which made his treatment of Tangata 
 hara all the more noteworthy.
 
 234 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 for a long time in pressing their demand ; but finding 
 Te Hiko firm in his refusal, they begged since they 
 might not kill the Ngaitahu man, to be allowed to strike 
 his head with the kauru fibre they were chewing, and so 
 degrade him by pretending to use his head as a relish for 
 their kauru. This request was granted, whereupon the 
 two women went up to the prisoner who was seated on 
 the ground in the midst of a group of Ngatiawa warriors, 
 and struck him several times on the top of the head with 
 the kauru, which they then proceeded to chew. Te Hiko 
 was very much vexed by the disregard shown to his 
 wishes by Te Eauparaha's relatives, and made up his 
 mind there and then to release Tangatahara as soon as 
 they were gone. 
 
 Accordingly during the night he roused him, and told 
 him he might escape, which he did very easily as the 
 camp was situated on the edge of the forest, which then 
 covered the greater part of Banks Peninsula. His 
 escape encouraged a female prisoner, who, under the 
 charge of two women, had been taken to the outskirts of 
 the forest to collect firewood, to attempt flight. In order 
 that those in charge of her might grow accustomed to 
 losing sight of her person, she kept in front of them, and 
 never picked up a stick unless it was lying in such a 
 position behind a tree or shrub that in stooping to get it 
 she got out of their sight ; gradually she increased the 
 distance between herself and her guardians, and reached 
 the base of the cliff, on the western side of the Bay. 
 Observing a strong woodbine hanging over the face of a 
 steep rock she seized it, and drew herself up by it to the 
 top, pulling the woodbine up after her to prevent her 
 pursuers using it ; she then scrambled away with all 
 speed up the steep hill side, spurred on in her efforts to
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 235 
 
 escape by the shrill cries of her mortified keepers, who 
 were calling aloud upon the men to go in pursuit of her; 
 but she succeeded in reaching the shelter of the dense 
 forest where all trace of her whereabouts was lost, and 
 after a time rejoined her friends in safety. 
 
 Before the northern fleet got finally clear of Banks 
 Peninsula, a considerable number of prisoners escaped, 
 the chief person among them being Te Hori, known in 
 after years as the highly respected native magistrate of 
 Kaiapoi ; the only man of acknowledged learning left 
 amongst the Ngaitahu, after Te Eauparaha's last raid. 
 
 Fortunately for the Kaiapoi captives who were taken 
 to Kapiti, Te Eauparaha on returning home, found himself 
 involved in quarrels with some of the tribes on the 
 mainland, whose territory he had appropriated, and 
 this disposed him to treat his prisoners with more 
 consideration than he might otherwise have done. 
 Amongst others of them whom he employed in positions 
 of trust, was Te Ata o Tu, the warrior who had attracted 
 his favourable notice during the siege of Kaiapoi, by 
 engaging in combat with one of his officers, and over- 
 coming him. This man Te Eauparaha sent on one occasion 
 with an important message to the chiefs of Waikanae, 
 and on the way there a circumstance occurred which 
 tried his courage and ability to meet any emergency, 
 almost as much as his encounter with Pehi Tahau in the 
 outskirts of Kaiapoi had done. 
 
 Accompanied by his little son, a boy of six years 
 (Simeon Pohata), he crossed in a canoe to the mainland, 
 and started to walk along the beach to Waikanae. When 
 he had accomplished about a third of the journey, he 
 heard a bull bellowing close by, and soon afterwards saw 
 the animal trotting rapidly towards him. He realised at
 
 236 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 once the dangerous predicament he was in ; for he had no 
 doubt that the animal now approaching him was the same 
 about which he had heard very alarming stories. It was 
 once a village pet, but had taken to the bush, and ever 
 since it had done so, it always chased any persons it 
 came across, and it had already crippled a good many 
 people. Te Ata's first thought was for the safety of his 
 boy ; but what could he do ? An endless stretch of 
 sandy beach lay before and behind him ; to the right lay 
 the open sea ; to the left bare sandhills. 
 
 To run away would only encourage the bull to quicken 
 his pace, and hasten the approaching catastrophe. For 
 a moment his case seemed hopeless, when he espied 
 some slabs lying above high water mark at the foot of a 
 sandhill. If he could only reach them in time, he might 
 yet save his boy ; taking him by the hand he hurried to 
 the spot, and set five or six of them on end against the 
 sand hillock, and got behind them just as the bull came 
 up. The beast stood for a few moments bellowing and 
 pawing the sand, and walked by sniffing at the planks. 
 He did this several times, but the moment he caught 
 sight of the man crouching behind the slabs, he 
 charged them furiously, and tossed them over with his 
 horns. 
 
 Te Ata snatching up the child sprang from under, and 
 as the bull charged past him, he quickly replaced two of 
 the slabs, and put the boy behind them, telling him 
 in the event of his escaping, to make for Waikanae, and 
 inform the people there of what had happened to his 
 father. The bull seeing him standing close by did not at 
 once rush at" him ; but with head bent low, bellowed and 
 growled within a few feet of where he stood, as if getting 
 up his courage' for the attack.
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 237 
 
 Te Ata made up his mind at that moment what to do ; 
 and springing to the side of the astonished animal, he 
 put his right arm round the base of the bull's neck, 
 and pressed his body against his shoulder. The bull 
 tossed his head and tried to strike the man with his 
 horns, but in vain ; the man was too agile and quick 
 in his movements, and as he pressed with all his 
 strength against the bull's shoulder, the animal kept 
 shifting his position, and moved slowly down towards 
 the sea. The tide was coming in, and soon swept over 
 the spot where they stood. 
 
 Te Ata noticed a pukio, or niggerhead, floating on the 
 incoming waves, and as it swept past him, he seized it, 
 and made a dash for the breakers, into which he 
 plunged dragging the niggerhead after him. The bull 
 followed, and kept so close behind him that he narrowly 
 escaped being gored by it, but by continually '' diving 
 in different directions he managed to widen the distance 
 between himself and his tormentor ; but nothing seemed 
 to turn the brute from his purpose, and he appeared 
 as much at home in the water as on land. Loosening 
 his shaggy waist mat, Te Ata fastened it round the 
 niggerhead, and took several long dives before he 
 ventured to look round, when to his intense relief, he saw 
 the bull engaged with the niggerhead, which he was 
 pawing at, and poking with its horns, apparently under 
 the impression that he had at last caught his man. 
 
 Leaving the vicious beast to expend its spite on the 
 pukio, Te Ata swam some distance down the coast, and 
 then drew in towards the shore, and walked along through 
 the surf till he thought he could emerge with safety from 
 the water, and pursue his journey on terra firma. About 
 two miles down the coast he passed a canoe drawn up on
 
 238 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 the beach, and noticed his little boy lying asleep in the 
 stern of it, fright and fatigue having quite overcome the 
 child. Taking him on his back, he pursued his journey 
 to Waikanae, where he soon after arrived without any 
 further misadventure.
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 239 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 BETALIATION PEACE. 
 
 As soon as the fugitives from Kaiapoi had sufficiently 
 recovered from the terrible shock which their feelings 
 had sustained from their crushing defeat, they commenced 
 to organize an expedition for the purpose of avenging the 
 destruction of their pa and people. Their cause was 
 warmly espoused by their kinsman in the south, who 
 were so impatient to carry out the project of revenge 
 that two hundred and seventy of them started northwards 
 under the leadership of Tuhawaiki and Karetai, before 
 they had time to equip themselves properly for the 
 struggle. Their object in hurrying away was to surprise 
 Te Eauparaha, who made a practice of visiting the lagoons 
 near the mouth of the Wairau river every year at that 
 particular time, which was the moulting season of 
 paradise ducks and the other waterfowl, which he went 
 there to procure. These birds after being plucked and 
 cooked were packed in vessels formed out of large kelp 
 leaves, protected on the outside with strips of totara 
 bark ; the vessels so formed being air-tight preserved the 
 contents for a long time. 
 
 The Kaiapohian expedition which has ever since been 
 known as Oraumoa-iti (small Oraumoa) in contradistinc- 
 tion to a subsequent expedition sent up for the same
 
 240 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 purpose, called Oraumoa-nui (or great Oraumoa) was 
 within an ace of accomplishing its object. It arrived on 
 the spot along the coast where Rauparaha meant to land, 
 a few hours before he reached it, and having concealed 
 their canoes, they placed a number of men in ambush in 
 the woods, close to the beach ; but owing to one of 
 Rauparaha's men finding some trace of recent visitors at 
 a short distance from high water mark, he gave the 
 alarm, and though the southern men rushed from their 
 places of concealment, and attacked Rauparaha's force, 
 they only succeeded in killing a few of them. The old 
 chief escaped by hiding in the kelp near the rocks, till 
 one of his canoes, still afloat, approached near enough 
 for him to get on board. Paora Taki, the well-known 
 native assessor at Rapaki, who w r as with the expedition, 
 recognised Te Rauparaha, and might have killed him as he 
 brushed past him on his way to the water, if he had 
 only possessed a better weapon than a sharpened stake 
 to assault him with. 
 
 The Kaiapohians who did not think it prudent to 
 continue the pursuit of their enemies, who had recrossed 
 the Straits, returned home to reorganize and recruit 
 their forces. A few months afterwards, a second ex- 
 pedition numbering four hundred warriors, under the 
 command of Taiaroa, started for Cook's Strait in a 
 flotilla of canoes and boats. They proceeded along the 
 coast as far as Queen Charlotte's Sound, and at the head 
 of it they met a large force of Rauparaha's men, whom 
 they immediately attacked. The ground was very broken 
 and wooded, and only a portion of the men on both sides 
 got into action. Towards evening the northern men 
 withdrew from the place, and the southerners claimed 
 the victory.
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 241 
 
 For some days in succession, encounters between the 
 forces took place with varying results. In one of these 
 engagements which took place on a steep hill-side two 
 warriors were engaged in mortal combat, in a position 
 where their movements attracted the notice of their 
 respective sides, who watched with eager interest the 
 struggle between them. Clasped in a close embrace, 
 each one strove with desperate efforts to throw the 
 other down. Te Hikoia, the southern man, feeling that 
 his antagonist, Te Kaurapa, had the advantage over him 
 from his being on the upper side of the sloping ground, 
 and that he was about to be overcome, cried out, 
 " Iwikau e ! " I am going ! 
 
 His nephew r , who was armed with a fowling piece, 
 hearing his cry of distress, flew to his assistance, calling 
 out as he ran towards him, " disentangle yourself, throw 
 him over your hip ; " his object in giving the direction, 
 being to get a shot at the enemy without endangering 
 his relative's life. Hikoia, by a supreme effort, succeeded 
 in doing what he was advised ; and Iwikau seizing the 
 opportunity, shot his uncle's opponent, who fell dead at 
 his feet ; and then seeing the fallen man's weapon 
 (maipi) lying on the ground, he picked it up, and carried 
 it off as a trophy. 
 
 Te Eauparaha, who witnessed from a short distance the 
 whole transaction, remarked to his companions, "ikia 
 atu ano " (I told you it would be so), alluding to the 
 advice he had given his men not to come to close 
 quarters with their Ngaitahu foes, whom they knew 
 from past experience to be desperate fellows at a hand- 
 to-hand encounter. 
 
 The scarcity of food compelled the southern warriors 
 to return before they were able to accomplish anything 
 
 Q
 
 242 THE SACKING OP KAIAPOHIA 
 
 decisive. Shortly afterwards, circumstances occurred 
 which led to the total cessation of hostilities between 
 the two parties. Rauparaha's tribe quarrelled with their 
 neighbours and allies, the Ngatiawa, and fearing a 
 coalition being formed against him, the wily chief of 
 Ngatitoa resolved to make peace with Ngaitahu ; and 
 selecting the chiefs of highest rank from amongst his 
 Kaiapohia prisoners, he sent them home under the 
 charge of an honourable escort, desiring them to use 
 their influence with their friends to accept his friendly 
 overtures. The unexpected return of Momo, a chief of 
 very high rank, and greatly beloved on account of his 
 amiable disposition, and the noted Iwikau, and other 
 valued leaders of the tribe, accompanied by a band of 
 Rauparaha's trusted friends, whose lives were now in 
 their power to spare or take as they pleased, won the 
 goodwill of the Kaiapohians, who accepted the terms 
 offered to them, and made peace with their late foes. 
 
 But though peace was established the bulk of the 
 Kaiapohian prisoners carried to the north were still 
 kept in bondage. There were influences at work how- 
 ever on their behalf, which soon resulted in their release 
 and return to their own land. The humanizing in- 
 fluences of the Christian religion, which was first 
 introduced to the Maori people in the vicinity of the 
 Bay of Islands by the Rev. Samuel Marsden, in 1814, 
 had gradually penetrated the country, till in 1839 it 
 reached the tribes over which Te Rauparaha ruled, who 
 as soon as they embraced the Christian faith, released 
 all their prisoners, and assisted them to return home. 
 
 When New Zealand was proclaimed a British Colony 
 in 1840, several of the Kaiapoi chiefs attached their 
 names to the treaty of Waitangi, by which the Maoris
 
 The Kaiapoi Monument.
 
 244 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 
 
 transferred the rights of sovereignty to the English 
 Crown, the deed having been brought to them for 
 signature by the captain of H.M.S. Herald. 
 
 In 1843, Tamihana, the only surviving son of Te 
 Rauparaha, and his cousin Matene te Whiwhi, inspired 
 with the noble desire to repair as far as they could the 
 injuries inflicted upon the Ngaitahu by their relatives, 
 visited the South Island, where they spent two years, 
 during which period they visited every Maori settlement 
 in it, for the purpose of imparting to the inhabitants 
 a knowledge of the Christian faith, which they had both 
 embraced : having been baptized shortly before under- 
 taking their mission by Mr. Hadfield. During the whole 
 time spent amongst the Ngaitahu, these two young 
 men were in momentary danger of being put to death, 
 either to gratify the feeling of hatred cherished in many 
 hearts towards their kinsmen, or by someone who felt 
 impelled by the ancient custom of blood feud, not to 
 miss such an opportunity of avenging the death of 'dear 
 relatives who had perished by the hands of Te Eau- 
 paraha's tribesmen, during their various raids on the 
 south. The heroic courage and fervent zeal of the two 
 young missionaries was rewarded by the conversion of 
 the entire population, who were won over to the^ 
 Christian faith by witnessing in their conduct and 
 demeanour, the evidence of its divine power to change 
 hate into love, and the bitterest enemies into the firmest 
 friends. 
 
 In 1848, the chiefs of Kaiapoi, and other sections of 
 the tribe assembled at Akaroa to meet Mr. Commissioner 
 Kemp, who had arrived there in " H.M.S. Fly," for the 
 purpose of negotiating with them for the purchase of 
 their lands. The negotiations were successful, and Mr,
 
 THE SACKING OF KAIAPOHIA 245 
 
 Mantell was sent shortly afterwards to survey the 
 portions which the Maoris had reserved from sale for 
 their own occupation. Amongst the reserves made was 
 the site of the old Kaiapoi Pa, to which Mr. Mantell 
 referred as follows in his despatch to the Governor, 
 written in 1848: "I have guaranteed to the natives 
 that the site of the ancient pa, Kaiapoi, shall be reserved 
 to her Majesty's Government, to be held sacred for both 
 Europeans and Natives." As long as the old Maoris 
 lived who regarded with veneration the spot associated 
 with so many proud and pleasant, as well as so many 
 sad and humiliating memories of the past, the site of the 
 old fortress was not willingly and knowingly desecrated. 
 
 But since their removal by death, their degenerate 
 representatives have shown an utter want of decent 
 respect for the site of the ancestral home of their tribe, 
 and for the sake of securing a paltry sum paid as rent, 
 they have allowed an unsightly fence to be erected right 
 across the front wall of the pa, which was before that in 
 a state of excellent preservation, and cattle to be de- 
 pastured within the enclosure, the result being that the 
 walls have been trampled down, and the ditches filled in 
 and many interesting marks of its former occupants 
 obliterated. There is still time to rescue what remains 
 to mark a spot rendered famous by its past history a 
 spot which will be regarded with increasing interest as 
 years roll on. 
 
 Some years ago the Kaiapoi Maoris erected a 
 stone monument, on which the chief incidents connected 
 with the history of the pa were inscribed. 
 
 The story of the Old Pa is ended, and if it has been 
 properly told, the reader will concur with the writer in
 
 246 THE SACKING OP KAIAPOHIA 
 
 the opinion that amongst those whose deeds deserve to 
 be kept in remembrance by the people of this country, 
 are the brave defenders of 
 
 KAIAPOHIA.
 
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